The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

The Group

[Sophia]

Apollo came back with snacks for the both of us. The Twins were skeptical about the food and refrained from trying it. After introducing Apollo to the Twins, he had this funny look on his face. They were both interested to know more about him as Apollo did with them.

We all sat down and I listened to Apollo and the Twins talk to each other for a while as I ate the snacks out of Apollo's backpack. Noon began to grow into evening.

"So there's just a whole strawberry field beyond the waterfall?" Apollo asked. I nodded.

"It's pretty cool. Some of them are huge! And there's super tiny ones too!" I said. I remembered I had a whole container of them in my bag and I went to go fetch it. As I did, the Twins asked what a strawberry was.

I brought my bag with me, the container of strawberries in my other hand. I sat down to show it to all of them.

"I didn't get many because of how big they were. But they look really good." I said, holding out the container to them.

"Wow, those are pretty big." Apollo said as he took one of them and observed it. Each of them were no bigger than a ping-pong ball. One of them was slightly larger.

"Can we eat these?" the Twins asked.

"No, we need to wash them first. Then we can eat them." Apollo told them. He put the strawberry back and I put the container away.

"You have to take me there and show me." Apollo said.

Suddenly from the smaller pools of water near us, bubbles started appearing on the surface. and we all stopped and stared. A green head burst through and the Twins and I shot back in surprise.

She wiped the water from her eyes and came closer.

"Hi Apollo!"

"Teri?"

Apollo knelt closer to say hi and the Twins and I looked at each other in confusion. I sat a distance away from the new girl and stared at her with an astounded look on my face.

"Who are you?" the Twins asked.

"Oh, my name's Teri. I saved Apollo the other day when she was being attacked in the lake."

"What?" I stammered.

"You saved him from what exactly?" the Twins asked.

"Blood sucking creatures. They almost got him, but I was able to fight them off. I don't think they'll come back." Teri said.

"There are blood sucking creatures in the lake?" I said in astonishment. My imagination started running and I saw how terrifying that would be. Not sure if it was as bad as a shark attack or worse. I began to have second thoughts about swimming in the lake again.

"It was a little strange to see them out there. Usually they're never too close to land and I just had to check it out for myself." Teri said.

"Maybe you shouldn't go back out there." I said to Apollo.

"Yeah no. I'm not going back."

"It's okay, they won't come back." Teri said.

"They can suck out your blood?" the Twins muttered.

From then on, it was just a whole mess of talk and it eventually turned to Apollo asking questions to the Twins and me asking Teri about herself. I'll be honest, I was practically amazed at her.

"So your Apollo's friend? It's wonderful to finally meet you!" Teri said happily. I broke into a nervous smile.

"So, you're actually... a mermaid?" I asked nervously. Teri nodded.

"Yep, tail and all. That's the human term at least." Teri's pink tail popped up for a second and then back down in the water. She hoisted herself up and rested her chest against her arms.

"How did you get up here Teri?" Apollo asked.

"Well, I wanted to see if you would come back and while I was swimming I found this small tunnel and I decided to see where it went and that's how I got here. I didn't even know the water could reach all the way up here." Teri chimed.

"There's a whole tunnel that goes from here all the way down to the lake? Wow, that must be a really long swim," I said.

More peaceful chatter ensued and I started to lose track of the time.

"Do you have wings like your friend?" Teri asked.

"Yeah, I do. But they're smaller than hers." I replied.

"Can I see?" Teri asked. I adjusted my jacket and slowly spread them out, making sure not to hit anyone. Teri's face lit up.

Wow, she's awfully cheerful, I thought.

"Wow! They really are pretty! How big are they?"

"They're twice the length of my arm." I said, extending both my right arm and wing for her to see. Teri was amazed.

Wing length usually depends on how big the person is and they grow a lot over time. When I noticed that Apollo was getting taller, we had to find better clothes that were able to hide his wings. Otherwise, there would be feathers poking out or it might've even ripped the shirt and people would be able to see them and might even point it out. And we don't want any of that attention.

"Do you really live underwater?" I asked. Teri nodded.

"Yep, the sea is my home and I do my best to protect it."

"I uh, hope you don't mind me asking, but how long is you're tail?" I asked nervously.

"Oh it's not very long. But soon it might grow to be as big as my Mother's." Teri explained. "Right now, it's just about the size of your legs." Teri said.

I knew it!

So mermaid tails really aren't supposed to be that long! Ha! I knew all those people were drawing it wrong! I'll need to remember that.

As I took note of that in my head I also got to notice Teri's other features. Her hair was surprisingly short, as everyone else I know that draws mermaids seem to think their hair is long, flowing and graceful. But Teri's hair is actually shorter than mine, like a puffy princess. And the fins on the side of her face where her ears should be were also cute and short. Both her hair and her skin were two different shades of green and her eyes was something that I forced myself to remember. The color was like that of an ocean in the early morning. A blue-ish teal to be more exact.

I also noticed Teri couldn't keep her eyes off my wings. Even as I folded them on my back again. When she looked down, she grabbed my left hand and observed it. At first, I was surprised by her action and confused as to why she was looking at it so intently.

"Wow, your fingers aren't webbed? That's so strange." Teri said as she examined my whole hand. I took notice of hers too and saw what looked to be a very thin layer of skin that webbed her fingers. Yet she could move her fingers as freely as I could with mine. Something I never took into account until now.

"Oh my goodness, your eyes!" Teri exclaimed.

"Huh? What?" I stammered. Teri suddenly leaned forward towards my face and I felt awkward.

"I've never seen eyes that color before. No one has multicolored eyes like that."

"Um, thanks?" I replied awkwardly. She wouldn't stop staring at my eyes and I couldn't help but avoid hers. It was starting to make me uncomfortable.

I've never been self-conscious about my eyes before, let alone any other part of myself. I never had problems with anyone if they were ever talking about me, it's not like I ever cared about them in the first place. So, no big deal right?

There was never once in my life that I ever had a problem with the way I look. I just made sure to hide my eyes and wings every time I went out so no one would see me and scream b****y murder. Even when I went to school, I never cared about what other people thought of me. (I hated everyone anyway.)

I even showed up to school in the sweatpants I slept in a few times because I was too lazy and tired to change my clothes. I'd just throw on a hoodie and then I was good to go.

More friendly chatter ensued until Apollo noticed that it was getting late.

"Sophie, we should get going. It's getting late." Apollo said. I looked up at the sky and was surprised to see it was almost sundown. I didn't know how to say goodbye to Teri without being rude.

"Oh, it's getting dark already? I should get going." Teri said.

"Nice to see you again Teri." Apollo said.

"Yeah, maybe I'll see you again sometime!" Teri waved goodbye and she dove beneath the surface and left. Apollo packed his bag and stood up.

"Wait, you're gonna leave us here?" said the Twins.

"You'll be safe as long as you stay in the tree house. We can come back tomorrow." Apollo said as he was getting ready to take off.

"But Sophia promised she would protect us," said Flyboy.

"She said we'd be safe as long as we're with her," said Fleetfoot. I opened my mouth to say something then quickly shut it. Apollo glanced at me and back at the Twins. He understood that they didn't want to stay here alone for the night.

"Okay, I guess you can come back with us. Then we can come back here in the morning." Apollo said willingly.

"What? But, where can they sleep?" I asked Apollo quietly.

I ain't giving up my room.

"It's okay, we can let them sleep on the couch. Does that sound okay with you guys?"

The Twins nodded.

"Yeah, that'll be perfect," they said.

At that, we started away and led the Twins back to our house in the neighborhood.

When we made it inside, Apollo turned on the lights and went upstairs to set his things down.

"Wait, why do you live in two places?" the Twins asked. With Apollo upstairs, I tried to explain as best as I could.

"Well uh, it gets cold at night and we live closer to places where we can get food. And we can go to the tree house whenever we want. We don't have to hide and we can just be ourselves," I said.

"Why do you need to hide?" the Twins asked. I looked away from them for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Well um, the people that live near us don't really, uh... like us. So we have to be careful when we go out. So you'll have to be quiet until we go out tomorrow, okay?" I said.

"Okay, we'll be quiet. But why don't the people like you?"

I was getting tired of explaining so much to them. I didn't want to make it sound so confusing, and it felt as if I couldn't get them to understand.

"Well, because uh, they're not like us. They don't have different colored eyes or wings. So if, um... they saw us they would freak out and they would send people to take us away." I explained.

The Twins had a sudden worried expression as they stared at me. They glanced at each other and looked back at me.

"Okay, we'll be quiet. And we'll be sure to stay hidden so they don't take us away," they said. I sighed, relieved that they understood my terrible explanation.

"Thanks," I said, then made my way upstairs to my room.

"Sophia?"

"Yeah?" I paused on the stairs.

"Thank you for protecting us and letting us stay with you tonight," they said in unison. I smiled warmly.

"No problem."

"Also, what's a couch?" they asked. I pointed to it, next to where they were standing.

"It's that thing. That's where you are going to sleep. Is it okay?"

The Twins nodded.

"Yeah, this is perfect. Thanks. Goodnight Sophia." they said.

"Goodnight." I said and headed upstairs. I quietly closed the door and threw my bag near the bed and sat down. A part of me hoped it would be big enough for the both of them.

Both Apollo and I stayed up late that night, watching videos on the internet before finally getting sleepy and resting for the night.

I had another weird dream that night. It wasn't a very long one, but I don't remember most of it.