Chapter 1
"Of all the places in the world, of all the schools, it had to end up being specifically this one," a figure could be heard murmuring in the girls' bathroom, steps bouncing over the few meters of white tiles. The white light emitted a slight hum and Pacifica Northwest couldn't stop lamenting to herself, contemplating the mirror like the opportunity she'd seen completely turned to smoke. "Why, why Mabel Pines?" she finished, covering her face with both hands and letting an exasperated snort escape.
A new school should be a new start, an opportunity to make new friends and even to experiment with new or different spectra of one's own personality.
The shy girls who join the cheerleading team or look for boyfriends, the scandalous jocks who want to focus on their studies, or even the bad girls who only want true friends.
Pacifica was in this last category, because although she had been the terror of her birthplace, the blonde didn't have bad feelings towards the others. It was the only manner in which she knew how to act, the way she was brought up to behave, Gravity Falls being such a small place and the name "Northwest" being so well-known within it. Her options were dramatically limited. The familiar shame waited around every corner in the form of a negative comment, review, or observation that gave them away as something more than the perfectly happy and successful Northwests. Which is why, for as long as she could remember, everything in her life had been decided beforehand for her. Hair, clothes, manner of speech, and friendships. All this was sure to make Pacifica into a solid stereotype to the world. Soon she was surrounded with friends who only talked about other people and how they could be humiliated. And, to her misfortune, she had to accept that she was very good at it.
She was a monster and she knew it perfectly well, but she had barely had a choice. And now, just as she had the chance to leave this hellish circle, that girl with the long hair and giddy smile came to ruin it. She knew her, and not only that but she knew the worst part of her, to the point where Pacifica knew she had earned the girl's hatred in the years that she had visited the small town of Gravity Falls. That was enough for the personality change to be unbelievable; certainly she'd have told the entire world who she was, what kind of person she was, and now there was nothing left but to wait for other rich girls to surround her and compliment her family so she could get locked up all over again in the cage of smiles and superficial hypocrisy.
Her eyes wet with frustration, almost accepting her fate, trying to convince herself that it couldn't be so bad, Pacifica opened the bathroom door and gave a long sigh.
The hallways of the new school were overflowing with activity, but the flow was so mechanical that it didn't appear to really confuse anyone. The girl's expression was particularly sad as she walked aimlessly, looking at the green and white tiles of the long corridors.
"Northwest?" asked a voice, drawing her from her thoughts. "Pacifica Northwest?" asked a girl with neat red hair, as at the same time an impeccable smile stretched over her freckle-covered face.
Here we go, thought the blonde, pressing her lips together before responding. "Have we met?" she said.
"No, sorry," the girl responded with just-perceivable nervousness.
"I suppose you've heard of me," she added, rolling her eyes and waiting for it to begin, as usual: the praises of her family and their accomplishments.
"Something like that," said the redhead, letting loose a friendly laugh. "You're on my list," she said, revealing a table of paperweights with printed names. "My name is Daisy, and I'll be your guide at this school, since you're new. Right?"
Pacifica's eyes opened wide as a wave of disbelief hit her.
"Y-yeah! But, um…you haven't heard of my parents…right?" she mumbled inaudibly, feeling a small blush growing on her cheeks, to which the other girl only responded with a smile.
"Should I have? If it's for something bad, don't worry. Here in Solid Ale we don't usually worry about that kind of thing. Well, at least I don't," she finished saying, her fine white smile completely unaltered.
"Yeah, no…it's not important, thanks Daisy. Honestly I feel a little lost."
"Well, it says here your locker should be in the next row. Here you have your schedule, your list of electives, and a little map of the place. If you feel confused, look for me or ask anyone with the red initial of the school, we're something like volunteer interns," she explained rapidly while depositing papers and flyers in the blonde's hands. "I have to look for another one of my freshmen. See you, Pacifica," the redhead finished, stepping away relatively quickly into the masses that moved like a clock that avoided stopping at all costs. The blonde was completely speechless while trying to make space in her hands for the great quantity of papers and important information that she needed to hold. An awkward smile escaped as a little hope grew inside of her, the hope that for the first time she wouldn't live in the shadow of a name which, like almost everything in her life, she could not even choose.
The rest of the day passed without major mishaps; she had kept her profile as low as possible for a new girl, her classes mainly didn't draw attention, the people were friendly and there had even been a few interesting conversations in her history class. But what she didn't know was that a pair of eyes followed her throughout the process.
"This can't be good," exclaimed the brunette girl while she nervously bit into a gummy worm, opening her purse to call her brother for the fifth time. She took her absurdly-decorated phone and with superhuman speed dialed Dipper's number. He answered with some anger.
"Mabel, you can't keep calling me like this," he said with exasperation, keeping his voice to a whisper. "I almost got taken out of lit class because of you."
"Sorry, bro-bro," she said, pouting in a way her brother couldn't even see.
"It doesn't matter. Do you have something to report on the Northwest case?"
"She still hasn't done anything, but it won't be long until that's not true…"
"You called me because your old archenemy is doing absolutely nothing?"
"You don't understand, Dip! Pacifica is a monster! Who now shows up at my own school wearing jeans and a sweatshirt! This seems too suspicious to me…."
"And you don't think that she's trying to keep a low profile?"
"What happened to Mr. Perceptive? It can't be that simple, not with someone like Pacifica."
"I have an idea. You get close to her and ask instead of playing spies…by the way, shouldn't you be in class?"
"Oops, I'm losing the signal, Dipper! I'm going through a tunnel…"
"Mabel you know there's no…"
"AH, A TRAIN'S COMING! Bye-Dip-I-love-you…" she exclaimed loudly, hanging up and sitting on the cold floor of the hallway. Nothing good can come of this, thought Mabel, hugging her legs and breathing deeply, nothing good…
