It had been a family meeting from the beginning; every weekend, Ponyo would visit her sisters at the foot of the cliff Sosuke lived on. Ponyo giggled as her sisters kissed her toes after she had dipped them in the water. She would tell them about her week and how interesting the human world was.
Weeks went by. Then months. Then years.
Slowly, less and less of her sisters would come to visit on their weekend meetings. Then one day, they didn't come at all. It had only been five years. But she had faith, more faith than what anyone could give credit for. She still came. They never did.
"Ponyo, wake up!" Sosuke said from somewhere far away. Ponyo groaned, her cheeks were wet from tears brought on by bad dreams.
"Wake up Ponyo, it's only a dream..." Sosuke said again, this time not sounding as far away as Ponyo tried to open her heavily lidded eyes. Finally, she stared up at her friend. Closer to adulthood now, Sosuke still looked rather young, considering. Especially right now when he was concerned about the way she had been screaming in her sleep like someone was trying to kill her.
"It's just a dream, you're safe now."
Ponyo blinked a few times, coming to terms to where she was then hugged Sosuke as tight as she could. Surprised, at first, by the sudden embrace, Sosuke comforted his friend even more by hugging her back. Ponyo's slow increasing fear from being alone stemmed from the slow increase of being abandoned (for lack of a better word of) by her family, and it lead to nightmares. Bad ones. Sosuke knew this, and did his best to make her feel better when she felt alone, but most of the time it went ignored.
"Come on, we have to get ready for school." Sosuke softly told her, making her look him in the eye. Suddenly, Ponyo's eyes glowed with excitement.
"School?" she asked with an excitement that few kids had on the subject. Sosuke nodded with a smile.
"Then what are we just sitting in bed for? Let's go!" Ponyo said happily, nearly jumping out of bed and running to the closet. In five minutes flat, the spunky teenaged girl came back out wearing a knee-length red dress and a light washed denim jacket over her shoulders.
"Ready!" she declared to Sosuke, who was already dressed and had his backpack on his back.
"Shoes?" he reminded her. Ponyo looked at him confused for a second, then looked down at her feet and laughed.
"Right!" she agreed before dive bombing back into the closet to grab a pair of white strap sandals. She came back out with a small 'ta-da' escaping from her smiling lips. Sosuke smiled at her. Today was going to be a good day for her, he could feel it.