It was, admittedly, a good bet that any person not in the process of doing anything with an obvious purpose to it was new or at least lost in Red Oak. Sean had picked up on that pretty quickly. Whether or not he had actually expected this particular person to be new and/or lost, even as he had said it, was up for debate. It certainly wasn't the main point of concern in Sean's own mind at the moment. In fact, his thoughts were warring somewhere between being determinedly teenaged (there is a girl my age talking to me with opportunity for extended conversation. what is this? and she's cute!) and suddenly feeling... really bad, in a ridiculously sympathetic sort of way.
"Sorry," was the most important response, first and foremost, and he wasn't sure whether it went all the way back to almost running into her or if it belonged with the next part. "Is your school actually in Delaware?" Not that she looked like the kind of person who'd have friends who, like, got you fried out of your head and then dumped you somewhere (with your schoolbooks?) but, you know, anything was possible. "Because if not, odd are pretty good you're gonna want to sit down or something."
Man, in hindsight, he probably should have had a conversation or five with somebody about how to approach delicate subjects like welcoming people to the blackhole known as Red Oak.