I think I walked along the creek that morning out of habit. Because I’d been doing it on my afternoon scouting missions, hunting for Jasper. I don’t really think I had her on my mind at that moment. I was thinking about pancakes, and trying not to think about pancakes. I was chugging my water and stretching my legs.

But then I came around the bend, near the pile of old tires, and stepped out of the kudzu jungle, to find Jasper’s back to me, bent over something. When I saw her, I gasped, then choked a mouthful of water and spit it out, coughing.

She whirled around. “Crap!” she shouted. But then, in a quieter voice, she added, “Oh, hey, Leah. You scared me.”

I stood there, water dripping all down my shirt, still sputtering. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Sorry,” I said.

Then I noticed. Jasper was wearing a nightgown.

No matter how I tried, I couldn’t not stare at her. She was so out of place, with her big hair, long bare legs, and the nightgown—a billowing pink T-shirt that read Zzzzzzzzzzz . . . There was a sleepy-eyed teddy bear on it. The teddy bear was purple.

It had to be the ugliest nightgown in the history of nightgowns.

Jasper caught me staring and glanced down. “I’m . . . uh . . .”

It was like she was a different person from our first meeting. All of her calm was gone. Her brown eyes were huge in her face. They looked almost frightened.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Why are you . . . well, what are you doing?” I think we both knew I really meant Why on earth are you up at Red’s Farm at the crack of dawn in your nightie?

But then, in that moment, a funny thing happened. It was like I watched Jasper decide how to feel. Like I could actually see it happen, the transformation. One minute she was freaked out and embarrassed and unsure. And then, in a split second, she wasn’t anymore. Her mouth closed, her eyes softened, and her shoulders shifted back. She flashed me the same big smile that she had a week before and answered me with a shrug.

Then I noticed the big pile of crumpled laundry on the rock behind her. She saw me notice it too. And the small bottle of dish soap beside it. It took me a minute to put the pieces together. “Wait. Are you washing your clothes?” I asked. “In the creek?”