The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#46 Along the Way

[Apollo]

While Sophia went back to the house to get ready, Apollo and the Twins headed off together to explore the rest of the forest. Apollo knew where to start and the Twins followed behind him. They flew all the way to the waterfall and went from there, since there was more ground to cover there than there was near the tree house. The Twins were nervous about it at first, but Apollo assured them that they'd be fine.
They just walked in a random direction and looked around for anything strange or eye catching.

Back when Apollo and Sophia were young, Sophia had a tendency to wander off and explore and Apollo would have to go and retrieve her before she got herself hurt. So they pretty much knew their way in and out of this forest.

"So Apollo, is Sophia your sister?" Flyboy asks.
"In a way, but not really."
"How so?" Fleetfoot questioned.
"Well, she's not actually related to me, but we've been together for so long that we're kinda like siblings." Apollo explains.
"How long have you been together?" they ask.
"We've been here for a really long time. For as long as I can remember, we've always watched out for each other," Apollo looked up at them. "Why don't you ask Sophie about this?"
"She doesn't seem to talk much." they said. Apollo smirked.
"Yeah, she's like that. She doesn't really talk to people all that much." Apollo explained.

He remembers the days when they first started living together in the tree house. Sophia didn't know how to speak English and Apollo had to teach her. She caught on pretty quickly and she has a really good vocabulary. But even then, she didn't say very much. Sophia doesn't really remember everything, but there were times when she didn't say anything at all. She just listened and hovered around Apollo, trying to figure out what he was doing and taking it all in. Apollo was patient with her and often let her discover things by herself. He had to admit, she was actually pretty smart.

"Why doesn't she speak to people?" the Twins ask. Apollo thought for a moment.
"Well... she doesn't like talking to people all that much. She's kind of an awkward sausage."
"What does that mean" they wondered.
"She's just a little socially awkward. She just likes to hang out by herself sometimes." Apollo tried to explain.
"I don't really understand." Flyboy said.
"Yeah, I don't really know either. She's just weird like that. But that's okay." Apollo said.
Apollo didn't fully understand it either and he didn't know how to explain it simply enough for the Twins to understand. Sophia's just weird like that. A definite oddball. But she never lets that stop her from doing... well, anything. Even if it's stupid.
Sometimes he'd check on Sophia and make sure she's doing okay and she's usually fine. Not really much to worry about. He began to notice things about Sophia's behavior when they started going to school together. Apollo did have some friends from his class that he'd sometimes hang out with, but Sophia never really joined them that often. And sometimes she would just disappear during lunch when they had the time to hang out. Most of the time, they would just sit down for a while, but usually Sophia liked to hang out by herself, either reading a book out loud or sketching away in that old notebook of hers. He kinda wished she talked more often.

"Sophia also draws a lot." Flyboy said.
"Yeah, she's really good at it." Fleetfoot added.
"Yeah, Sophie likes to draw. She's an artist."
"What's and artist?" they ask. Apollo didn't really know how to explain it to them.
"It's uh... her ability. You know, she likes to draw and create things because she's good at it. It's a way to express what you feel when you don't know how to tell someone about how you feel about something."
"Can you draw?" they ask.
"Yeah, I can. But I'm not very good at it." Apollo said honestly.
"Do you do anything else?"
Apollo looked away from them, "Well, sometimes I sing." he said quietly. "Sophie says I'm really good at that."
"Is that like an artist too?" Flyboy asks.
"Yeah, pretty much. Being an artist doesn't mean you can only draw something. You can do a lot of things and be an artist." Apollo explains.

They continue to walk through the forest as Apollo continues to talk to the Twins about other things they hadn't known before. They were very interested in what Apollo was trying to explain to them. They almost forgot about what they were supposed to be doing. But Apollo made sure they stayed on task.