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     CAMILO HAS NEVER been more elated to enter the library. not only was his own mother surprised, but even his grandmother was astonished by his sudden interest in the bibliotheca.

     curious, mirabel was sent to spy on the shapeshifter, to which she too had recognized the cerulean notebook from afar.

mirabel wouldn't say that she was best friends with the owner of the journal (yet), but the two did converse enough — especially over books — for them to refer to each other as friends.

in fact, mirabel had encouraged felicia to pull such a stunt, believing that perhaps the girl could truly gain a new confidant, and if not, they could resort to her way of making friends — which is actually talking to people face-to-face.

after all, the diaz family had only recently moved into encanto, during the rebuilding of casita. usually a welcoming party would been held, but since everybody was occupied with helping out the madrigals, it was easily looked over — not that the diaz family minded.

     though it did make it harder for felicia to make friends, as she was a bit on the shyer side.

     mirabel had then debated to herself, asking her conscience if she should allow her slightly reserved but kind companion to befriend her family's jokester. 

     'well, it can't be that bad. this could turn out to be more interesting than tío bruno's rat telenovelas', mirabel shrugged, as she headed back towards the madrigal house to go falsely report what she saw.

     as camilo was left alone with the exception of señora gloria and a few other stragglers in the library, he was pleasantly satisfied in finding that there was new writing in the journal.

     'dear camaleón,

     it seems that I've truly underestimated your abilities. apologies; allow me to redeem myself by giving you your very well deserved dare'.

camilo playfully gasped in an offended manner, as he could not believe the sass that was conveyed through the paragraph.

     "this dare better be worthy of my time", camilo softly grumbled.

     'for your dare, you are to write down the meaning of friendship on the opposite page of this sheet'.

the fifteen year-old shapeshifter was almost aghast at how simple this request was. but nonetheless, he complied.

     'once you've completed that task, you're to ask señora gloria for the book: a pineapple that connects us, by patricia woodward'.

without hesitation, camilo had headed towards the counter, where the librarian had seemingly expected the boy's presence.

     "excuse me, señora gloria, but may you direct me to the novel—"

     a tome that was dropped onto the counter had interrupted the boy's sentence. camilo, who was slightly startled, had raised a brow in befuddlement as to how the senior librarian had knew about the book that he was about to ask for.

     "she specifically asked me to prepare it for you", gloria smiled.

     "ah, thanks...", camilo replied with an airily laugh, for he had nearly dropped the book, as he slid it off the counter.

     not only was it thick, but the words were as minuscule as an ant. the middle madrigal was sure that there had to be at least one thousand pages.

     camilo had only prayed that the mystery girl would ask of him to carry the book around as a sort of exercise. he had only begged that he would not have to read it — anything but that!

'read all of it'.

aggressively standing up, camilo loudly declared, "NO WAY IN—"

"SHHHH!!", the people around the boy hushed in sync.

camilo immediately dipped his head with an awkward smile as an apology, as he cleared his throat and sat back down.

scooting his chair closer towards the desk, the fifteen year-old reread the girl's writing just to make sure that she had meant it.

'I most definitely mean it. you also have a deadline of three days to finish this book. it's honestly not that difficult if you ask me. after all, you did say to give you a challenge, right?'

camilo now had second thoughts about this whole truth or dare thing.

'I could just back out now and pretend this never happened', he thought to himself.

however, before the boy had decided to quit once and for all, he had skimmed over the lines of felicia's writing over and over again. his eyes squinted and his brows furrowed.

     sighing, camilo's forehead slammed onto the hardcover of the book, resulting a hiss from the curly-haired boy.

     irrationally standing back up, the young shapeshifter had snatched the hefty book, returning the blue journal back to its original shelf.

     resurfacing at the front of the library, camilo slammed the tome onto the counter with a fierce look of determination in his eyes.

     "checking this out? for how long?", gloria questioned.

"three days", the boy grumpily replied.

"oh dear, buena suerte, mi amor. it's a heavy load", the librarian lightly chuckled, marking down the dates of the checkout and the person's name on her data sheet.

"gracias...I'll need it", camilo dramatically groaned.

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félix was happily humming to himself and swaying his hips from side to side as he made his way into the kitchen, where he had instantaneously halted in his swagger moves.

     eyes widening and jaw pried open, félix was sure that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

     violently rubbing his eyes, the older madrigal made sure that he wasn't seeing hallucinations.

     "félix, what're you doing just standin—"

     "shh, shh! mi vida, do you see what I'm seeing?", pepa's husband weirdly murmured to her.

pepa quirked up her brow as she followed her husband's gaze, landing on their eldest son munching away on arepas.

"he's eating like always. what's so odd about that?", pepa harshly whispered back.

"no look! look at what he's doing!", félix gestured, folding and unfolding his hands like it was a book.

both parents tiptoed towards their focused child, looming over his shoulders, as camilo was about to grab another arepa before his hand had accidentally smacked his father's face.

     "¡AY, CARAMBA! YOU BOTH SCARED ME!", camilo heavily panted, placing his hand against his chest, as if to calm his erratic heartbeat.

     "mijo, are you feeling okay?? is someone threatening you??", pepa worried, as a storm started brewing above her head.

     camilo had to push the hefty book away for a moment, so that the droplets of rain didn't involuntarily decorate the pages.

     "I'm okay, mami, just reading to broaden my uhh...my view upon this lovely world", camilo smoothly lied.

     he didn't want his parents or any of his family to know about the mysterious book girl. after all, it was a game between them two.

     pepa suspiciously stared at her son, meanwhile félix had picked up the novel and looked at the title, just to make sure that it wasn't some children's picture book.

     camilo softly huffed, "and because mirabel said that I couldn't finish a book from beginning to end, so I decided to take upon that challenge".

     pepa's dark clouds immediately dispersed and transformed into a clear sky, with a little bit of visible sunshine.

     "ah, mirabel's such a good influence. well, you keep on reading, mi amor", pepa proudly smiled, giving her eldest son a quick hug before walking off.

     "FÉLIX, COME HERE ALREADY!", pepa roughly motioned.

     félix patted camilo's back and happily trailed behind his wife, though not before he had mumbled something to his son.

     "patricia woodward's one of my favorite authors, whoever told you to read that has put you in good hands".

     camilo had then looked up from his assignment, slightly baffled.

     'since when did papá read?!'

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     "welcome back, felicia! how were the recommendations that I gave you last time?", gloria questioned.

     "they were amazing as usual! I'm not finished with the last one yet, but I actually came by to check on..."

     "ah, yes yes! same shelf", gloria confirmed with a smile.

     "gracias señora!"

     the sixteen year-old had then pulled the navy notebook out from its placement.

     'dear mariposa,

     you must be a sadist (a new word that I've recently learned), because I spent all day all night reading the book'.

     felicia softly chuckled.

     'however, it was actually pretty decent. I've gained a new perspective of friendship after finishing the entire story. mariana and felipe's companionship was...devastatingly beautiful.

     friendship means going through thick and thin with someone, even if one passes, they will forever remain in their heart and thoughts.

     perhaps you could recommend me some other stories, just not as thick as this one. now, truth or dare?

     signed, camaleón'.

     the brown-haired girl had then wrote down some suggestions for camilo's future reads.

     "hmm...now should I allow him to get revenge on me or not?"

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