•Tyler•

     That was her. I could feel it. And I just blew meeting her.
You're so stupid. You scared her away from staring at her too much. She probably thought you were some creep that wants to hit on her. Although, you're about as capable as attracting girls as a seal is capable to living in the desert.
   Staring at the door, I realize that I have two options: Follow the girl and return her locket, or try to find her another time by a stroke of luck. However, I don't think it would end well if I tracked her down. Staring at her scared her enough.
   The ukulele hangs limply and silent in my hands as I look down at it. I put it back on the rack, having lost motivation to play it anymore, and head out of the store back towards home.

   •Jenna•

    Seeing the pale yellow house up the street, I pick up my pace until I'm practically charging through the front door. My pace slows back down to a walk as I stride into the kitchen, which is now crowded with opened boxes. My mom is among the them, organizing utensils into cabinets and drawers.
  "Hey, Honey," she greets, still bent over. "How was the store?"
  "Good," I lie, a tight smile plastered on my face. I do not want to bring up the boy, at all costs. "They have pianos there. Nice pianos."
   "That's nice." My mom doesn't look up from her organizing.
   I sigh quietly and head upstairs. My room looks a little less cluttered. All of the boxes have been shifted to the side and the mattress has been put on my bed frame. The house is quiet, so I assume my siblings are busy or might've gone to town with my father for groceries. There's no telling with them.
    I sift through boxes until I find one labeled Bedspread. I pull out a red, black, and white comforter with matching sheets and pillow cases. After making my bed, I lay down on it and check my phone. 9:30. I'm not surprised to find my message box empty. The few friends I did have back at my old home weren't that close to me. They probably won't remember me by the start of school.
The front door booms shut from downstairs. I get off my bed and head towards the voices of my dad and siblings, who must've come back from town.
The bags are set on the table as my dad announces that he got Chinese takeout from a local restaurant in town. We all sit down and eat.
"You're mother tells me you went to a music store," my dad says across from me, clicking his chopsticks. "Anything cool there?"
I shrug. "There were some nice pianos."
My dad nods. "It's unfortunate that we had to sell the old one. It was nice hearing it when I'd come home from work in the evenings."
I stare at my food.
"Did you see any cute guys there?" my sister, Kristen, had to ask.
I roll my eyes and let myself smile a little. "No." The boy wasn't exactly cute. More like creepy. Kristen feigns disappointment. The conversation shifts elsewhere and I'm the first to dismiss myself from the table. I head back upstairs to finish unpacking.

I've got three-quarters of my boxes unpacked. I flop onto the mattress of my window seat. My phone reads 12:00. My fingers wander to my neck to play with my locket—a habit that I've caught myself doing when I'm bored—only to remember that it's not there. Sadness fills me until I look out the window, which holds hope on the other side. Pocketing my phone, I head downstairs and scribble down a quick note before sprinting out the back door in the direction of the woods.

I take the same route as yesterday, thoroughly searching the ground for any sign of my necklace. Nothing. No glimmers of silver in the sunlight or unnatural pinks in the ferns. I let out a huff of frustration and sit down on a nearby rock to think.
Where could I have left it!?
Putting my head in my hands, I close my eyes and try to visualize the location of my necklace to no success.
I stand up and decide to keep walking deeper into the woods. Leaves rustle with every step I take and a warm breeze blows through the trees. Patches of blue show through the leaves. It's so pretty out here. Maybe I should just forget about the necklace and rest for a little bit so my mind can recover the time I last had it.
Spotting a large tree, I lower myself to the ground and settle against it, the bark of the trunk rubbing against my back. I close my eyes and listen to the sounds of the forest: birds, rustling leaves, some squirrels, the nearby stream, cicadas, and.........a ukulele??? My eyes open in confusion as I hear the unmistakable chords of the Hawaiian-stereotyped instrument. I am not alone.
My heart racing, I scramble to my feet and wildly look around for the source of the sound. That's when the singing starts.
"I know, where you stand. Silent, in the trees."
The heck!??? Is this song improvised or a strange coincidence!?
"And that's where I am, silent in the trees."
My fight-or-flight instincts are awakened as adrenaline pumps through me. I can't seem to run, though. The voice is strangely hypnotizing and melodic, like the pied piper, but with a voice instead of panpipes.
The singing and ukulele strumming continues as I take a few tentative steps forward.
"Why won't you speak where I happen to be?
"Silent, in the trees, standing cowardly.
"I can feel your breath"—am I that close to him!?—"I can feel my death." The sound rises to a forte. I must be getting closer to the singer.
"I want to know you. I want to see..."
I come up to a large blackberry patch blocking my path, forcing me to take a detour around it. The voice sounds like it's on the other side.
"I want to sayyyyyyyyyy......"
I can't take it anymore. "Hello?" I call.
The voice stops.
I clear the last of the bushes to see a figure standing in the middle of a small clearing. They're in black skinny jeans with a black shirt and red vans. They have brown hair. The figure turns around and I almost scream. He grins at me. "You helped me finish my song. I've been at a loss of words forever." His eyes widen suddenly as they wander to my face. Mine do the same.
"You..." he squeaks.
"You," I spit. I knew he was a stalker.
The boy sets his ukulele on the ground and rushes toward me. I decide that this is the right time to leave. I turn to run but the hands grab my arm, causing me to freeze. How is he so fast?? I will not stand for this.
I whip around quickly and punch the boy in the jaw. He staggers back, obviously not expecting that. I land another blow to his stomach and he falls onto the forest floor. I kick him while he's down and he moans. I take off like a deer only to skid to avoid the blackberry patch.
"Stop!" I hear him call. I don't listen.
"L-locket," he croaks. I stop dead in my tracks as my heart skips a beat. Did he just say...?
"I have your locket," he says as I turn back toward him.
My eyes narrow. "Prove it." A shaky hand reaches to the pocket of his jeans, where he pulls out a delicate, silver chain with a heart on the end.
Shocked, I walk toward him in a trance-like state. How did he find it? Is that why he was staring at me earlier?
Grabbing his hand, I haul him to his feet. His head turns to avoid my gaze, but I use two fingers to grab it and tilt it in my direction. I use my thumb to wipe some blood off of his lip.
"I believe this is yours," he says in a quiet, shaky voice. Is he scared of me? I feel the metal chain of my necklace being pressed into my hands, although my gaze stays glued to his face.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"T-Tyler. Tyler Joseph."
"I'm Jenna Black." I sigh. "I'm sorry about the whole beating you up thing. I was just freaked out because I saw you watching me at the store and—"
"I know, it was dumb of me to do that. I just recognized your picture from the locket, that's all."
    "Thank you so much for returning it. You don't realize how much this locket means to me." I realize that I am still grasping his hands, so I pull them away awkwardly and fasten the locket's chain around my neck where it belongs.
     "Do you live around here?" Tyler asks.
     Should I tell him where I live now that I realize that he's not a creepy stalker? "Um, well, we just moved into a house on the other side of the woods, yeah."

"Okay, cool. My house is on the opposite side." He rubs the back of his neck. "M-maybe we could hang out sometime?"

I smile. "I'd like that. I don't really have any friends here since we just moved in yesterday."

"I'll be your fren." We both giggle. "Well, Jenna Black, I guess I'll be seeing you around." He bows to me, causing more giggles to erupt from my throat. He starts turning away, but I grab his arm and turn him back towards me. I envelop him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you," I whisper in his ear. "You don't know how much this locket means to me." Out of some impulse--I have no clue what--I kiss him on the cheek. Both of our faces heat up. "Bye." We turn and go our separate ways.

I think I've just made a new friend.