He didn’t have a chance to make heads or tails of it all before the cheerful girl began to head toward him, trying to drag the other girl along with her, and failing miserably. Finally, with a roll of her eyes, she let the pale girl hang back and walked right up to him, smiling brightly. He tore his eyes away from the other one to look at her, having to look down for at least a foot.

“Hi!” she said happily, waving up at him. “I’m Jessica, and this is my best friend, Jessica. I know, it’s ironic.” She laughed slightly. “Anyway, what’s your name, and what are you doing out here in the woods?” she asked, staring at him avidly. She seemed to be a very energetic person. It was a little annoying.

“I’m, uh, Jacob. Jacob Black,” he replied, looking over Jessica’s shoulder at the other Jessica. The suspicious look was gone now. She was still looking at him, almost scrutinizing him, it looked like. “I’m not really doing anything. Just sort of wandering around, I guess,” he lied. It wouldn’t really do to say, “Running away,” would it?

“Well, isn’t that a coincidence? That’s exactly what we’re doing!” the first Jessica exclaimed, beaming at him. “You want to walk back to town with us?”

“Uh, exactly what town would that be?” Jacob asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. The pale Jessica gave him that funny look again.

“Tallahassee, Florida,” the other Jessica informed him. “And it’s back in this direction. Where are you from and how did you get here? And why aren’t you wearing shoes or a shirt? You know, no restaurants are going to let you in,” she said, leading them back the way the pair of them had come. The pale Jessica trailed a few feet behind them as the happy one waited for his answers.

“Well, I’m from Washington State, and I, uh…” Jacob stopped. What could he tell them? He couldn’t exactly say that he had run all the way here. That was just too weird. “Uh…got dropped off,” he said, not meeting her eyes.

“By who?”

“Um…my, uh, grandparents. I wanted to come to Florida because it’s so sunny. In the town I lived in, it rained almost every day, and it gets kind of depressing after a while. I just wanted some sun,” he made up. It was half true.