The President of Mexico

Michelle bursted into Roselle's room in the dark of the night, jumping on her. "Ro! We've got a gig today!"

Roselle screamed and fell out of her bed. "Why would you do that to me?!"

"Sorry, but I was excited. You'll never guess whose hair and makeup we're doing today."

She grumbled. "Yesterday was a one time thing. I don't feel like doing any more gigs. I just want to rest."

"Aww, come on. Please? The Reyes sister duo is finally back. What if I at least told you who our client was?"

Roselle heaved a sigh. She decided to humor her. "Okay, fine. Who is it?"

"Drumroll, please." Michelle created a drumroll with her hands on the bed. "The President of Mexico."

"No." She dug her head into her pillow. "I don't wanna."

"Why not?"

"Is this president gonna be yet another hot guy I'm going to fall in love with but can't be with? Because I've already experienced that."

"Relax. The President of Mexico is a woman. Unless you're secretly bi or something."

Roselle shook her head. "Nope. Straight."

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, what about the Vice President of Mexico then? Is he going to be there?"

"Mexico doesn't have a Vice President, so you're good."

She stroked her chin. "Treasurer?"

Michelle smacked her with a pillow. "Will you relax? Everything is going to be fine. We're going to be okay. This'll be a fun gig. It's at a university here in D.C. You've always loved universities and all that nerdy stuff, right?"

Correction: Roselle USED to love universities and all that nerdy stuff. She'd been avoiding it in recent years because of . . . the thing.

Even still, with a heavy heart, she agreed to go.

* * *

Apparently, there was an event at Washington D.C. University where several successful people who went there would give speeches to the students and whoever else wanted to join. The President of Mexico was one of those people.

The university campus had rooms at its personal hotel for all the invited guests, so the Reyes sisters (along with the army soldiers) went to the room that was instructed for them to go to. They approached the door.

"I think you'll like her," Michelle said as she knocked on the door. "I looked her up online, and she kinda reminds me of you."

Roselle stared at the floor. "What? Was she a high school drop out too?"

"Actually, yeah. When she was fifteen, she had to drop out of high school to support her family, but when she got older she finished her education, got a scholarship to this university, and graduated at the top of her class. It's actually a pretty inspiring story. We should stay for the assembly so you can listen to it."

"Well, I guess so."

The door opened, and a woman that looked around forty years of age smiled at them. She had shimmering golden-brown hair, and eyes to match. She was dressed up in a tan blazer along with a matching skirt, and her skin was a flawless shade of caramel. She was beautiful and glowing, just as Michelle said she was.

"Hello, girls," the woman said.

Michelle shook her hand. "You must be President Josephina Escobedo! It's such an honor to meet a female president. You GO girl!"

"Please, the honor is mine," President Escobedo said. She had a Mexican accent, as expected, but her English was flawless. "I'm so happy to be back here at my old college to give the youth a speech about the importance of education."

Roselle's heart sank when she said those words. 'The importance of education.' A deep knot in her stomach was formed. She felt great guilt out of nowhere, and she wanted it to stop, but she couldn't. She felt as though she'd already thrown her life away.

"Are you alright?" Josephina asked.

She perked back up in an attempt to hide her discontentment. "I'm fine . . ."

"Please, come inside."

* * *

The girls got to work on beautifying President Escobedo. The woman went into detail about her life and about how she conquered this problem and that problem, but kept persevering on despite everything. It was supposed to be inspiring, but to Roselle, it was a slap in the face.

'This woman was able to accomplish so much despite everything she went through, and I went through ONE hardship in high school and just fell apart,' she told herself. She felt even weaker than ever before.

Even after they finished her hair and makeup, Josephina kept on telling her life story to the girls. At this point, Roselle had already zoned out. She looked around the room for a bit, and she noticed a young man sitting in the corner on his laptop typing at lightning speed. He had skin that matched Josephina's, but his hair was jet black and he had bangs over one of his eyes. He resembled her a lot, but he didn't have her triumphant, accomplished glow. He looked . . . broken.

"Who's that?" asked Roselle.

"That's my brother, Celio," Josephina replied.

"I didn't even notice he was here . . ."

"Yeah, he's really a workaholic. He's giving a speech at the assembly later too, but he didn't want to come. I made him come with me because I thought it would be good for him." She pouted. "All he cares about is work, work, work. Look at the bags in his eyes! He looks dead inside."

Celio looked up straight at Roselle for a split-second, then back to his laptop. He had daggers in his eyes, which caused her heart to leap a little.

"Does he know English?" Roselle asked.

"Not only English. He's fluent in ten different languages, which is ironic because he hates talking to people."

"Woah . . ."

"He's actually somewhat of a genius, and he graduated with a Ph.D. in economics when he was just seventeen years old, but I'm concerned about him these days . . . I just wish he had some sort of passion project, or a hobby, you know? It's not healthy to be in front of the computer all day and night like he is."

Celio slammed his laptop shut and glared at his sister. "Why do you always have to tell my business to other people?"

Josephina exhaled. "Well, they asked, so I answered."

"Leave me alone." He got up, taking his laptop with him and stormed out of the room.

"Ouch," Michelle said. "How old is he? He acts like a teenager."

"He is. He's nineteen years old." President Escobedo stared at the door as if she could still see her brother through it. "I should have never appointed him . . . He wanted the job, but it made him even more isolated and moody than ever before."

Roselle blinked. "Appointed him? Appointed him as what?"

Someone knocked on the door and entered. "President Escobedo, it's time."

* * *

Hundreds, if not thousands of people were gathered in the university's auditorium to listen to the speech of Madam President, Josephina Escobedo, along with her brother, and other successful people that have graduated from the university. The Reyes sisters were fixing Josephina's hair and makeup a little because the snow messed it up a bit somewhat.

"Oh no!" Michelle exclaimed. "This isn't good. She's on in ten! AH THE MAKEUP IS EVERYWHERE!"

Roselle finished fixing the hair and exhaled in relief. "That looks like YOUR problem then," she said, walking away.

"RO!"

Roselle searched for the boy--Celio. She wanted to make sure he was alright. Why though? Maybe it was because she recognized something in him . . . something about that boy reminded her of herself.

"Ro?" A voice behind her asked.

She spun around, and to her surprise, the Vice President was standing right there. "Eliot? What are you doing here?"

"I'm giving a speech at this university."

"YOU went to college?"

"Well . . . Yeah." He looked around to ensure no one was listening when he said this next part. "I just barely passed. Grandma made me go here even though I didn't wanna. She paid people to help me cheat on the exams and do my projects."

Roselle nodded. "And now the world makes sense again. Wait a minute, what about Armani?" She spun her head around looking for him. "Is he here? I didn't think he ever finished college with his age and everything."

"Oh yeah, he's here. He went to this college, but he didn't finish his degree yet."

She felt nausea. "Oh boy. Where is he?"

Eliot pouted. "Hey, I haven't seen you in a long time. Why do you wanna see Armani? Pay attention to ME!" He gave those infamous puppy-dog eyes.

"Yeah, I'm asking because I'm trying to avoid him."

Eliot's face froze suddenly, so he pulled out a hat from his backpack and shoved it onto Roselle's head.

"HEY!" Roselle protested. "What do you think you're--"

"Shh! You wanted to avoid Armani, right?"

Armani walked over to him. "Eliot, have you seen Roselle? I could have sworn she was here."