Holly wasn't suddenly independent, or even capable enough of blending into normal society, but having her own cellphone had surprisingly resulted in her wanting independence more than she ever had before. A lot of it probably stemmed from how having a tool that allowed her to see what other people her age were doing all day, every day, actually made her feel insecure. Holly was blind to a lot of social cues, and there were very few things that could actually penetrate through her optimism to allow her to feel negatively, but she wasn't stupid. Especially as she got older, she began to understand more and more that her upbringing wasn't normal or ideal, and that other people were luckier than her. Sure, she was still elated if Makayla bought her a gumball in a store, so it wasn't like her personality had suddenly and drastically shifted, but it was worth noting that watching Youtube videos every day, or seeing her classmates posts on Instagram and Snapchat did force her to realize that she was different in ways that she never would have taken notice to before. One of the first ways that she realized it, was when she started to see that all of her classmates didn't just socialize with each other in school. They went to the movies, or hung out at each other's houses, or got dinner at restaurants together. As obvious as that sounds, Holly never would have thought that that stuff happened as frequently as it did, and that the friendships that she thought that she had with people in school (which was normally her just talking to people, and them smiling or responding to be nice), was different from what real friends had. No one invited her to get pizza or to spend a weekend afternoon in Brooklyn, and she didn't understand why.
Makayla would insist that it wasn't a big deal and that she didn't need to be invited places in order to be liked, but it was something that bothered Holly nonetheless, and maybe it was only really significant because she had never felt bothered like that, socially, before. Not since she was a child living with her mother and stepfather, but that was an entirely different situation all together. For the first time, Holly was becoming aware enough of social norms, and how she didn't fall within them enough to be accepted by her peers, and while it was a bad thing for obvious reasons for her, at the very least, it was a positive sign for her mental and emotional growth levels.
With a few bags of groceries in her hands, Holly walked a few steps behind Makayla as they made their way to the fifth floor of the building. For some reason, today the walk up felt ten times longer and more tiring than it normally did, and that was saying something, considering that Holly enjoyed running and skipping and nearly dancing up them most days, with the amount of energy she possessed. "Remember how I told you how all of the girls from my classes always do fun things after school? Today they're going to that place I told you I really want to go to, that makes the rolled ice cream. Remember I told you about that? Do you want to go tonight, maybe? Maybe we'll see them while we're there!" she insisted, staring at her sister's back eagerly, as she continued upwards.