Welcome

Sonata awoke feeling numb. Normally, she would bounce out of bed and help Aria wake up while Adagio make breakfast. Today she woke up feeling drained. With a sound mind, she would have questioned why she felt so tired, but she was too exhausted to even wonder why. So she sat there with her eyes closed, half asleep. She was next to something warm that had a familiar smell. Whatever it was comforted her greatly, and she snuggled a little closer to it.

Then Sonata remembered what happened yesterday. She let out a small whimper and buried her under Adagio's neck.

"Are you okay?" Adagio whispered.

"Yeah..." Sonata muttered, "Just worried."

"We already know grandpa is gonna be fine." Adagio stroked Sonata's hair. "Everything is going to be fine."

"I know, but I still feel bad."

"Why?"

"Well..." Sonata hesitated. "I'm not really the brightest girl around town, and-"

"Sonata," Adagio cut her off, "You're very intelligent, I know you-"

"Stop that!" Sonata yelled, "that's what you always say, but let's face Adagio, I'm dumb! I try my hardest and I only get C's and D's on my papers."

"There are many different forms of intelligence Sonata."

"I'm not good at anything though... I'm bad at farmwork, at school, I don't have any hobbies besides singing, and I don't fit in with the rest of the students at school."

"Really?" Adagio gave a small chuckle, "So when you sit at a table with a group of four or five, and you're laughing and joking along with them, you're not fitting in?"

"It's not the same! I'm that girl who you hang out with in groups but never on your own. I don't really have any friends!" Sonata pouted.

"I thought Aria and I were your friends." Adagio questioned.

"Family doesn't count."

"That's a shame." Adagio mused, "I guess I don't have any friends either."

"What are you talking about? People always come to you for help! Students ask for help with questions, teachers ask you for favors, adults around town ask you to fix things! Everybody knows you Adagio!"

"You might be exaggerating a bit, but I suppose that's right. Although Sonata, I'm very much in the same boat. I may know a lot of people, but I don't hang out with any of them, none of them are my friends."

"Yeah, but... people look up to you."

"Is that what's upsetting you? You feel no one looks up to you?"

Sonata grimaced and shuffled around a bit.

"I know that every little boy and girl in town would give anything to have you be their cool big sister." Adagio gently teased.

"Yeah, I can relate to little children, I don't think that's a good thing." Sonata grumbled.

"No, if you could relate to little children, you would be arguing with them, trying to steal their toys, and do a poor job trying to trick parents into giving you something you want." Adagio smiled. "Sonata, you are great at empathizing with children and are careful with their sensitive emotions. That's not just a skill, but a reflection of one's heart. I could not say the same of Aria or I."

Sonata blushed.

"Sonata, listen carefully, I'm going to tell you something grandpa told me once," Adagio closed her eyes. "Adagio, you're 14 years old, of course you're not ever going to feel good enough."

"What?" Sonata blinked.

"Sonata, you're 16 years old. Aria is only one year older than you, and I'm 18." Adagio sighed, "of course you're going to feel not good enough. Not also does the culture we live in try to give impression we need to be a huge success, but we're biologically hardwired to think we're inadequate. You know all those stories about adults doing stupid stuff as teenagers that they look back at with fond memories?"

Sonata nodded her head.

"You're becoming an adult, you're going to want to compare yourself to others, you're always gonna feel not good enough, you'll want to improve but not be sure how, and most of all, you're going to argue back with authority figures."

"I will not!" Sonata yelled.

Adagio simply smiled.

"...You did that on purpose." Sonata sulked.

"You aree a very intelligent girl, you have many talents that you might find hard to notice yourself. You are appreciated; I don't know what I would do without you and Aria. I have spent most of my life with you, and I think you're growing up to be a very respectable young women."

Sonata squeezed Adagio tighter. "Thank you..."

Adagio kissed her on the head. "No problem sweetheart, now go wake up your sister while I make breakfast."

"How come you always have to ruin my bad mood?" Sonata joked.

"Sorry, I'm just a terrible older sister," Adagio threw back, "being the tyrant that I am, I believe I will force you to eat blueberry crepes today."

"Really!?" Sonata squealed as she kissed Adagio on the cheek and bounced out of bed. "Thanks, you're the best!"

Sonata hummed happily to herself as she headed out of her room. Sonata was sure it would be alright, even though she felt like it wouldn't. Adagio said it would be alright after all, and she's never wrong. Just like she knew it would be alright, she knew talking to Adagio would make her feel better. The experience really reminded her how much she loved her family, and she started worrying about grandpa again.

"No," Sonata thought to herself, "I almost caused problems at the hospital, and I don't wanna make breakfast suck with my bad attitude. Adagio said it would be alright, I have faith."

Sonata smiled, she had this down to a formula now. She sneaked into Aria's room and tiptoed over towards the bed. Leaning in close, she carefully rolled Aria over onto her stomach. Gently, she started massaging her shoulders.

"Mmm..." Aria smiled.

"Hey Aria..." Sonata cooed.

"Mmm?" She mumbled.

"Wake up!"

"Ah!" Aria jolted awake.

Sonata braced herself for Aria to yell at her like usual.

...

Aria wasn't yelling at her like usual. In fact, Aria wasn't getting up like usual, or even getting that irritated look like usual. Aria laid motionless in her bed looking miserable.

"Aria, you okay?" Sonata asked.

"Mmm-Hmm..." Aria assured.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Mmm-Mmm..." Aria slightly shook her head.

Sonata noticed the book laying on the floor.

"You stayed all night reading didn't you?" She accused.

"No," Aria rasped, "I just..." She hesitated. "I just wanted to get a little light reading in before bed."

Sonata frowned, and layed down on the bed next to Aria.

"I'm sorry Aria, I was so nervous about grandpa I bugged Adagio and slept with her. I didn't even think about how you're doing."

"I'm fine," Aria said a little too fast. "I just spent too long reading last night, that's all."

Sonata was very perceptive of people's emotions, but she wasn't very good with words. She grew up with Aria and Adagio, and she knew Aria was lying, but she didn't know how to make her open up. She knew Adagio was telling the truth about everything being fine, but she didn't know how to convince Aria that Adagio wasn't just putting on a brave face. So, she did the only thing she could think of.

She got in Aria's bed, wrapped her up in a tight hug, and held her. The two sat in silence for what felt like hours to Sonata.

"Hey Sonata..." Aria whispered.

"Yeah Aria?" She whispered back.

"How can you be so optimistic about all this?"

Sonata frowned. "I'm not, I was really scared last night too."

"But here you are trying to cheer me up." Aria argued.

"That's what family does silly, we look out for each other." Sonata giggled.

The two stayed quiet.

"I wish I was as brave as you and Adagio are." Aria admitted.

Sonata didn't know what to say to that.

"I see you both keep going, and I think 'I gotta act tough, I have to be okay too so I can help out.' But while I'm trying and failing to act brave, you two are already way ahead of me," Aria sighed. "I just want to be somebody who can help out when things like this happen, not cause trouble."

Sonata burst out into laughter.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Aria accused.

"Us!" Sonata chuckled.

"Us?"

"Adagio was right, we're a stupid bunch of teenagers!"

"Adagio called us a stupid bunch of teenagers?" Aria sounded hurt.

"No, but we totally are." Sonata broke off the hug and looked Aria in the eyes. "Alright, now listen up silly. When Adagio knows things are going to be fine, or has a plan, she'll say 'Don't worry, everything is going to be alright.' But when Adagio isn't sure things are going to be okay, and can't think of anything, she'll say 'Don't worry, I'll think of something.'"

Aria found more than a few holes in Sonata logic, but felt reassured by how certain she sounded. Besides, Aria knew Sonata was probably right.

"Adagio knows were gonna be okay," Sonata continued, "and let's face it, Adagio is scary smart. We both know Adagio could be an evil genius if she wanted to."

"Adagio being an evil mastermind?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "Would that make us her evil henchmen?"

"And Grandpa the mad scientist!" Sonata cackled. "Together, we'll rule the world!"

"Get real, Adagio would crumble right when she would have to trick someone." Aria rolled her eyes. "I mean, I've never seen her lie or talk behind anyone's back. Heck, I've only seen her talk to a boy once and she practically crumbled up into a ball. That girl is a pure as the driven snow. Can you possibly imagine Adagio trying to deceive, seduce, or manipulate anyone?"

"Yeah, That'll be the day!" Sonata giggled.

The two laughed over the silly idea together, gradually settling into a pleasant silence.

"...Oh! I forgot Adagio was making us breakfast!" Sonata shot up from the bed.

"French toast?" Aria said with cautious optimism.

"I don't know, but she promised me blueberry crepes, so I'm pretty sure she made your favorite too." Sonata shot Aria a smile. "Come on, we've kept her waiting!"

The two sisters chatted happily while heading down the stairs. Aria motioned Sonata to stop though when she heard Adagio.

"May you explain to me what drug resistant tuberculosis entails?" Adagio said calmly.

Sonata seemed to wilt slightly. "What's wrong-"

"Shh!" Aria covered her mouth while listening closely.

"...Is it fatal?" Adagio said.

At the word 'fatal', Sonata and Aria felt as if their hearts stopped.

"...What are his odds? ...2-250,000 dollars?" Adagio stuttered. "...I see, thank you. ...Yes, I can come down later today to discuss the matter further. ...Thank you, good bye."

The younger siblings watched Adagio hang up the phone. She stood there unmoving, staring at the wall. The smell of burnt french toast snapped Adagio out of her trance, and she turned around the see her sisters.

Silence.

"...I have bad news." Adagio finally said.

The two said nothing.

"Grandpa's illness was worse than they thought. He's going to need some very expensive treatment." Adagio coolly stated.

"Are we..." Sonata took a second to collect herself. "Are we going to be okay?"

"Don't worry Sonata..." Adagio gave a strained smile. "I'll think of something."