#*platonic*

Isabella flopped onto her bed, the sudden force rocking it back and forth as she elevated it slowly with her vines. God, it felt good to finally be alone. She'd had the most exhausting day- and her brain felt like it was ready to shut down instead of think of anything at all. But she'd had to push through the day anyway. Which was the worst. As the bed rose higher to conceal herself behind her flowerbeds near the ceiling, Isabella slowly turned over onto her back and rubbed her stinging eyes. She couldn't wait to finally be away from the chaos of the day for a little bit. It had been so overwhelming to keep pretending she was alright while her family kept her on her toes. It wasn't all bad. She loved her family, and the most they wanted to do was hang out with her. Antonio wanted to play tag games with the animals, and of course, wanted Isa to join them. Did she love it and have fun? Yes. Was she still drained after three hours of the same game? Also yes. Isabella sat up on her bed, feeling it slow down as it reached the top behind the flower curtains. The bed rocked gently once more as she scoffed to herself and plopped her head in her hands. The worst part of all of this was how she'd handled her exhaustion. It probably would have been way easier to just say "I'm out of energy, and need to go lay down for a bit" to her family before she left, for her social battery-recharging session. But no, of course she didn't think it through at first. Instead, she'd been passive aggressive all day, and very touchy to every interaction. It was as if her tiredness was making her irritated toward things she usually never would be irritated by. For example, Camilo came up to her, asking if she'd seen Mirabel? She had answered with a quick tight-lipped fake smile, and an accidental angry eye twitch before briskly walking away. And yes, that did actually happen. She sighed, a strand of hair flying away from her face as she reflected on her ill-tempered decision based on the heat of the moment. Of course, her exhaustion wasn't an excuse to have treated her family that way. Isa had tried her best to hide her irritability, but it just always seemed to present itself in the worst ways. The passive aggressive ways. Which she hated to no end. And now, she was left here wondering if anyone had noticed her bad temper as of today. She'd hung out around everybody, and the best she'd done at hiding her emotions was Antonio. Someone HAD to have noticed.

Isabella cursed under her breath, feeling terrible for how she'd acted. No one had pointed it out, but she could see the looks she got after she gave a snarky response to even the most polite question. She didn't mean to, but she still couldn't help but feel like it was all her fault. Isa rubbed her neck and laid her back against her pillows. Maybe she just had to get to sleep. It felt awful to sleep while she might have hurt her family's feelings, but.. maybe it was for the best. Thinking clearer might help, anyway. Just as her heavy eyelids began to close, she heard the familiar opening of her room's heavy door, a loud creak echoing through the room. She couldn't see who it was, because of the flower curtains obstructing her view. However, she didn't have to wonder for long, as she soon heard a voice she recognized. "Isabela?" The voice called out, as the aftermath of speaking caused the room to imitate it lightly. "You here?" When no response came, the person announced themselves. "Isa?.. It's Mirabel.." As if Isa couldn't tell already who it was speaking. The long haired girl groaned quietly and pinched the bridge of her nose. It never fails, Mirabel always had the worst timing. Then again, she did have to find SOME kind of opportunity to apologize for the way she'd been acting all day. So maybe it wasn't all bad. Slowly, Isabella sighed and lowered the bed down to the ground, Mirabel standing at the door on the other side of the room. When Mirabel's eyes landed on Isa, she smiled. "Isa! Hey, Hi! There you are!" She jogged over, her hair bouncing as she pushed up her glasses. She caught up to the girl and crossed her arms. "Where have you been? Camilo's been distracting Antonio while I tried to find-" She trailed off, her eyebrows raising lightly while she relaxed her arms. "Isa?" Isabella didn't answer, her eyes glued to her hands perched in her lap and gripping her dress. "Are you okay?" Mirabel gently asked, her volume lowering in concern. Her footsteps echoed through the room as she stepped toward her slowly. When she stepped up the stairs, she waited until Isabella glanced up at her. "Do you mind if I.." Mirabel motioned to the bed, in the spot next to Isabella. Hesitant, the long hair girl nodded and gently shifted to the side, allowing her sister to continue walking up the stairs and sit down next to her. The bed rocked under both of their weight. They both stared ahead of each other in silence. Suddenly, Isabella broke the awkward quiet between them. "Listen, I'm sorry about today, I just- I don't know, I felt super burnt out, I'm not sure why-" She followed her words with quick nervous hand gestures. Mirabel giggled and shook her head, furrowing her eyebrows at her sibling. "Isa, you don't have to explain anything! I already know." The long haired girl's eyes widened, as she looked at Mirabel, dumbfounded. "What-? you do?" "Well yeah," Mirabel adjusted her arms, putting them behind her and leaning backwards to put her weight on them. "I mean, you're not normally like this. Especially after Casita fell, you've been regulating your emotions so well." Isabella slowly let her hands drift down to her lap again, letting them rest as her sister continued. "You've been amazing actually, and everyone knows it. And if it makes you feel any better, barely anyone but me and Camilo noticed your 'attitude'." Mirabel used air quotes for the last word. "Seriously? I thought I was being so obvious." Isa rubbed her shoulder with her left hand in guilt. Mirabel shook her head. "Nope. Cross my heart, no one else saw it." She smiled, turning to look at her sister once more. "The only reason why me and Camilo saw it was because you get mad at us most often." She grinned and nudged Isa lightly with her elbow. "And you know it's true." Isabella giggled and crossed her arms. "Of course I know it, you two are the most annoying." She said in a teasing tone. Mirabel scoffed. "You were annoying to us first, you know. We just annoy you back." "Annoying?!" Isabella said in a

fake-hurt tone, smiling. "Oh please." "Duh." The short haired girl giggled and poked her sister in the side as emphasis. "You're the most annoying out of all the-" She paused and drew her hand back when she noticed her sister had jumped. "Isabella?" "Huh? Yeah?" Isa said, nervously looking Mirabel in the eyes. Mirabel's eyes narrowed, her head drawing back in suspicion. "What was that?.." Isabella brushed her dress in a slight panic. "What was what? I didn't do anything, what are you talking about?" She cracked a shaky smile and glanced away, and Mirabel noted a small tinge of pink glowing at her cheeks. "Hey!" Mirabel laughed, leaning forward excitedly. "What was that! Was it me?" Isa flinched and drew backward, moving away from Mirabel's face now close to hers. "You?? No?? Wh.. What are you talking about??"

"Ohhhhohhohoho.." Mirabel giggled teasingly, squinting her eyes and pointing at Isabella. "We should try it again." "N-no, we shouldn't-" Isabella shook her head and scooted quickly away from her sister, looking away. "HA! So you DO know what it was!" Mirabel shouted and edged herself closer to the long haired girl. "And iiiii.." She drawled in a sing-song voice, circling her finger around while pointing at Isa. "....think I know too." Isabella's eyes widened nervously. "What?? No you don't!" The bed rocked slightly under the girl moving backward as far as she could away from her sibling. "Yes I doooo!" Mirabel grinned and only inched closer and closer, until Isabella had nowhere left to run. "And since you know 'nothing' about it, maybe I could shed some light on it?~" " There was no hiding anymore. Isa decided to make a run for it. She quickly leapt to the side of Mirabel, trying to avoid her and get to the other end of the bed. The bed moved quickly under the sudden shift, however, causing her to rock and fall forward. "Where do you think you're going??" Mirabel teased, grabbing Isa as she tried to grab the bed sheets in resistance. "HEY-" Isabella protested, trying to flail her arms to throw off Mirabel's grip. But to no avail, Mirabel had her hands firmly pinning Isa's arms to her sides. Mira raised an eyebrow and smiled, not giving Isabella a chance to process the situation before she scurried her fingers into her ribs. "MirABEL!!" Isabella's voice hitched, releasing a couple of squeaks and huffy breaths. A shaky smile spread across her face, but she refused to go through with what Mirabel wanted. Now this was personal, and she WASN'T going to give that satisfaction to her. The curly haired sibling giggled. "Don't even try lying now, I know you know what's going on." She tilted her head teasingly, and didn't slow. She didn't plan on it- not until Isabella showed what she wanted her to. Mirabel's sibling grit her teeth and denied herself the impulse to laugh. Why was it so much worse when she couldn't?? It was tough as hell, but she wasn't about to give up, no matter how many times she had to muffle her giggles. "N-..NO I. DON'T!." Isabella's sentences broke, trying to hold the laughter that wanted to separate her speech. "Oh, come on!" Her sister furrowed her eyebrows, annoyance tipping itself into her tone. As she spoke, her hands quickly brought themselves to Isabella's sides. "Why are you holding back?? Laugh already!" Isabella broke.

"NOHOO WAHAHAHAIT- MIRABEHEHEEL!!" She snorted, trying and failing to swat at her sister's attacking hands. "There it is!! Gosh, took you long enough." Mirabel smiled, giggling along with her sibling's laughter. "Why didn't you just admit it?? I already knew, estúpida." "DOHOOON'T CAHALL ME STUHUHUPID!! YOHOU WERE THEHEE ONE BEHEHING ANNOYIHIHIHAHHAAH-" Isabella couldn't finish her sentence, as cheerful laughter filled her room. Mirabel beamed at the sight of her sister so happy, after a long day of not seeing a genuine smile from her. She almost didn't want to stop, just to keep her happy. "Jeez, you're so ticklish. Keep in mind, this was your fault," Mirabel continued talking nonchalantly, tossing some curls that had fallen in front of her eyes. "Y'know, with the denial and all." Isabella was offended, but too full of laughter to make a rebuttal. The only thing she could manage to get out was the constant giggles that spilled out of her. She tried once more to hit her sibling's hand away, but could barely lift her arm. "MIRAHHAAHBEHEHEL AHAHAAHA I'M GOHOHOHONA KIHIHIHILL YOHOOHOU" She sputtered, grabbing onto Mirabel's wrists. "Kill me?!" Mirabel laughed with fake offense. "Minus ten points. You're gonna get it now." "NOHO WAHAHAIT NOHO I WAHAS KIDDING, I WAHAHAHS KIHIHIDDING!!" Isabella cackled, as her voice nervously pitched. "Hmm.... you're sure you're not gonna kill me?" Mirabel drawled, continuing. "I don't know if you know this, but I kinda don't wanna die." "YEHES! OHOHOKAY!! FIHIHINE!! I WOHOONT KILL YOHOU!! NOW LEHET ME GOHOHOOHAHAHAAH" Mirabel lifted her hands up, releasing Isabella swiftly and grinning. "Jeez. Alright, alright. I'm done." Isabella laid still on the bed, still giggling as she caught her breath. Mirabel smiled and adjusted her sitting position so that she sat on her knees, and placed her hands in her lap. "Well, that proves that, then. I don't even know why you tried to hide anything- maybe you should just tell the truth right away next time." Slowly, Isa sat up, snickering off the phantom sensations. Placing a hand on her stomach to catch up to her breath, she smiled and furrowed her eyebrows at her sister. "Hey. Hehey, Mirabel."

"Yeah?" Mirabel smiled, a leftover teasing tone hinting in her voice. "Remember what I said about not killing you?" A pause. "..Yeah?" "That was a lie." Mirabel yelped, giggling as Isabella swiftly reached over and grabbed at Mirabel's arm. Isa had pretended she'd hated it, but, She didn't even feel as tired anymore. And she was already feeling a lot better.