Gracelyn was about at the end of her rope. She felt like she'd looked in every establishment in the entire Colorado Springs area, and still no sign of her best friend. Either the other girl was really good at hiding, or she'd fallen off the face of the earth. At this point, Grace was beginning to think the latter.
Being as this was her best friend, however, she refused to give up. As a last ditch attempt, she drove her rental car to a nearby hiking path, remembering how much Jo loved to be in the woods. "You'd better be somewhere in this God-forsaken forest, so help me..." Grace grumbled as she parked and got out, wearing an appropriate ensemble of a denim skirt and a tank top. What? She could totally hike in it.
Hands on her hips, she walked into the woods with attitude, her brows furrowed and her steps strong despite the fact that she kept tripping over random twigs and rocks. After about an hour, though, her pace waned and she began feeling the exhaustion of her trip. She finally stopped in the middle of a clearing, huffing and sweating and looking completely unlike her usually perfectly-put-together self. "Why in the hell did you decide to do this, Grace?" she asked herself, spinning in a circle and staring up at the sky. She was pouting, but no one could see her so she made no effort to be cute about it. No, she was full on moping right now, because she missed her best friend and she was terrified that something had happened to her.
Finally, when she thought that all hope was lost, she spun around and was in the exact right angle to catch a glimpse of blonde hair in the distance. Heart leaping into her throat, Gracelyn took off towards the person, not even caring if she was hallucinating and about to fall to her death. "Jo! Jo, is that you!?" she called frantically, pushing aside branches and stumbling as she struggled to get to the log where her elusive friend may have been sitting. "That had better be you!"