A/N: Here we are! Another long chapter! I'm back from my hiatus on a strict "update when I can" schedule. Anyways, in a few chapters in this story I'll have an end-of-chapter cryptogram! Good luck solving them! Anyways, I'm gonna shut up so you can read the chapter! Read on!
"Wow, this place is huge for such a small town!" Krystal exclaimed.
Both girls had just entered the mall in Gravity Falls, which was quite large indeed. Mabel drug her cousin through various stores and they tried on several outfits and looked an uncountable amount of shoes and jewelry. The only thing they bought were skirts, headbands, and yarn for Mabel, and a pair of black and silver 'K' earrings for Krystal.
"Ok, we're done buyin' stuff. Let's got eat now." Krystal insisted.
"Not just yet. I want to take you to one more store here. It's really fancy and they have a lot of formal clothes." Mabel said as she pulled her cousin in the direction of the extremely classy and extremely expensive store.
As Krystal looked around, she spotted several boys her age or a bit older being dragged around the store by their mothers or sisters or girlfriends.
Mabel was occupied with picking out several dresses in different colors.
"Um, Mabel, none of those dresses are your size. They're too small." Krystal pointed out to the hyper-active teen.
"Well duh, silly! They're not for me, they're for you."
"Come again?"
The red-head was then pushed into a dressing room by her cousin along with several dresses.
"Come out when you have one on." Mabel told her.
Krystal sighed and slipped on one of the dresses. She tried on dress after dress, only for Mabel to shake her head and tell her to try on the next one. What the point of this was, Krystal wasn't sure. But she just went along with it.
Krystal looked at the last dress. It was red like salsa, with spaghetti straps and a sweatheart neckline. It looked to be made of silk, with a small black belt around it right under the bust of the dress, and the skirt of the dress was fashioned like a skort, so it was definitely not made for something like the Waltz.
Krystal slipped it on and turned to look in the mirror. The dress looked great on her, and ended just above the knees. Taking a deep breath, the red-haired girl turned to walk out of the dressing room. Before she could leave the dressing room, a pair of shoes were held over the top of the door.
"I saw the last dress that was left and decided to get these shoes to go along with it. Put 'em on, then come out here." Mabel said.
Krystal grabbed the heels. They were black, about three inches high, and had a cute web-like design on the top of the shoe. She strapped them on and walked out of the dressing room. She walked a bit unsteadily down the hall of dressing rooms, as she wasn't accustomed to wearing heels. When she stepped out into the main area of the store for Mabal to see her dress, she noticed almost everyone turn and stare. As she looked around, she noticed they were staring at her!
"Uh, Mabel, can I change so we can get outta of here? I'm starvin'." Krystal said, hoping to get away from the staring people as soon as she could.
"Krissy, that looks beautiful on you! But sure, go ahead and change and we can go." Mabel replied. "But first!" The brunette then pulled out a camera and snapped a picture of Krystal. "I never miss a scrapbook-ortunity!" she proclaimed.
Krystal breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go back to the dressing rooms when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw a brown-haired boy about her age, maybe a bit older. He had blue eyes and tanned skin.
"Hi, I'm Jackson." he said, holding out his hand.
"I'm Krystal." Krystal replied as she shook his hand.
"You're that girl that stood up to Pacifica last night, aren't you?" Jackson asked.
"Sure am! That girl had it comin', though. She shouldn't have been so mean to me." Krystal told him.
"She's had much more than that coming with all she's done over the years. Anyways, you're new around here, aren't ya?"
"Yeah. I just moved here yesterday from Texas. I lived in Dallas."
"I'd love to here more about that. How about over dinner this Friday, about six-ish? What do you say?" he offered.
Krystal was taken aback. Did this guy just ask her out? Krystal glanced over Jackson's shoulder at her cousin, who was giving her a thumb's-up. Turning her attention back to Jackson, Krystal nodded.
"Sure, I'd love to." she accepted.
"I'll see you then." Krystal held out her hand to shake his good-bye, but he gently took it and kissed it. "Until then, Krystal." Jackson then turned around and walked off.
Mabel was trying not to squeal as the boy walked off and a heavy blush spread across Krystal's face.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" she exclaimed. "Do you know what just happened?!"
"Uh, I got asked to join someone at dinner?" Krsytal replied, hoping the blush would disappear quickly.
"More than that, Krissy! You just got asked out on a date by a cute guy and you haven't even been here for more than, like, twenty-four hours!"
"Whatever." the southerner dismissed. Krystal turned and headed for the dressing room.
"Wait! We have to shop for your date!" Mabel insisted.
"Later, Mabel. I have to eat before I fall over dead like a rattlesnake that ate a poisoned rat." the southerner told her.
"Eww..." Mabel commented.
After changing back into her regular clothes, the girls left for Greasy's Diner.
"So, what are you thinking of Gravity Falls so far?" Mabel asked as the two girls walked down the street.
"Well, I stood up to the meanest girl in town and I have a date for Friday night, and it hasn't been much more than twenty-four hours since I arrived here. I'd say things are going pretty good. How about y'all?"
"It's been great! Especially since we have you here every summer."
"Great!"
Both girls walked into the diner and sat down on stools at the bar.
"Good morning girls!" Lazy Susan greeted.
"Hey Lazy Susan! This is my cousin, Krystal Pines." Mabel replied.
"Howdy, there." Krystal said.
"Hello Krystal. You sound like you're from somewhere in the south." the waitress commented.
"I am. I'm from Dallas, Texas." the girl informed her.
"Well, ya sure sound a lot like-" but the waitress stopped herself. She knew better than to say that name around here. And especially in front of Mabel Pines.
"I sound like who?" Krystal asked.
"Oh, it's no one, Krystal. Let's just order lunch." Mabel interrupted.
"Alright," Krystal said, skimming the menu. "I'll have a cheeseburger and a side of fries."
"I'll have the same." Mabel told Susan.
"Ok, and what to drink?" the older woman asked.
"Coke." both girls answered at the same time.
"Ok, I'll have your orders right out in a minute." The waitress then went back into the kitchen.
Krystal elbowed her cousin. "Hey Mabel, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I can't stand wearing this sweater any longer. It's way too hot."
"Ok," Mabel replied.
Krystal jumped off her stool and headed to the bathroom. But she unaware of a raven-haired man walking up to her cousin, who was only looking to start trouble.
"Well, if it isn't that little twerp's sister." a man with black hair said.
Mabel groaned unhappily. "What do you want, Robbie?" she asked the man.
"Oh, so you wanna act like that, huh? Ya know, you're suppose to respect adults. Now get out of that seat, my band is sitting here." Robbie told her, pulling back on her sweater.
"Hey! Stop it!" Mabel cried.
She clawed at the counter top, trying to hold on as Robbie pulled her off. A couple of his friends joined in, trying to pry the brunette from the stool.
Suddenly, Robbie was hit in back of the head with what felt like a spoon. Turning around, he saw a young teenage girl with dark orange hair and a pale complexion.
"Y'all better leave my cousin alone!" she told Robbie.
"And just who are you?" he asked. As he studied her further, he noticed something. "You're the little wimp that stood up to Miss Popular, aren't ya?"
"Yeah, I am. And I got no problem standin' up to y'all either. Now leave my cousin alone, and I won't be sayin' it again." Krystal demanded.
"Or what, shrimp? What'cha gonna do?" Robbie scoffed. "You couldn't beat up a ventriliquist dummy." he snickered.
"And you could?" Krystal challenged, her grey eyes boring into Robbie's brown ones.
"So you wanna get into it, huh? Well then, let's get into it." Robbie said, letting go of Mabel and marching up to Krystal, leaning closely to her face. "I challenge you to a competition. You, me, this Saturday night at seven at the karaoke bar. My band against you and who ever you can get to work with you. And just to raise the stakes; you're group picks out the song my group sings and vice versa. We only get one hour to practice. And the loser has to pay the winner fifty bucks!" Robbie told her.
Krystal smirked. "You're on!"
Robbie smirked back and leaned away. "Good." He turned around. "Let's go guys. This place has too many wimps." he said to his band.
"Oh, and Robbie? Y'all might wanna eat a whole pack of mints before the competition or the audience will be passing out. I can smell your skunk-breath from here!" she called to the guitar player as he walked out the door. She heard him mutter a string of curses as he exited the diner.
"Krissy, do you know what you just did?!" Mabel exclaimed, a hint of worry evident in her voice.
"Yeah, I stood up for ya! I ain't gonna let no one push me or my family around like that!" Krystal said, still fuming.
Lazy Susan came back with their food.
"Food!" she announced.
"Thank-you, ma'am." Krystal said to her.
"You're welcome," the woman replied before disappearing back into the kitchen.
Mabel continued to voice her worries to Krystal about what had just happened.
"You just accepted a challenge from Robbie V. who, if you don't happen to know, has been in that rock band for over five years! He's gonna crush you!" the brunette whisper-shouted.
Krystal smiled. "Mabel, for someone who's so optimistic, you're being such a pessimist. I have a chance. I won the talent show at my school a few months ago by singing. I'm pretty sure I can beat that guy. Especially if I play my cards right." the red-head replied in a slightly devious tone.
"What do you mean play your cards right? Are you going to cheat?!" Mabel asked.
"Heck, nah! I'm just gonna do a bit of mental manipulation, as grandpa calls it. He taught me some basic tricks to manipulation and the art of conning people last summer when I visited him." the southern girl explained.
"I don't think that was such a good idea."
"Ya think? His lessons earned me an overnight stay at the state prison!" Krystal muttered, remembering last summer. "I spent my 12th birthday in there."
"Say what now?" Mabel asked, interested in what had happened.
"Well, I'll tell ya what happened. It all started on a nice summer day, when I had to spend a week down here because my aunt Charlene had to take care of some important business here in Oregon, and needed someone to babysit me. Grandpa Stan found out about my amazing skills in painting and drawing. He asked me to help him with a little art project for the Mystery Shack. Before I knew it, the only thing I was painting was green rectangles."
"He made you paint dollars? Why?" inquired Mabel.
"You know him. counterfeiting purposes. I didn't know, though. And then, a couple days after the so-called project, he was taking me out to town so we could have some fun on the day of my birthday. Then the cops caught up to us and arrested him and I." Krystal explained.
"How'd you survive in there with all those prisoners? And why did you guys end up in the state prison? Shouldn't they have taken you to the county jail?" Mabel asked.
"Well, we were sent to the state prison because the county jail had some sort of problem. Something about a prison break or something. It had damaged a lot of the jail. Anyways, as to how I survived; Grandpa and I were separated, and put into opposite ends of the prison. But no one seemed to bother me. I don't think they really cared." Krystal answered. But the last part had been a lie. She'd never tell anyone what really happened.
"Did you meet anyone?" Mabel asked.
"Just some southern boy with white hair and few of his friends. No one else really talked to me." Krystal half-lied.
But Mabel didn't seem to hear that last sentence as she stared out into space.
A/N: Ok, so I lieD about you all finding out who it is that's targeting Mabel in this chApter. But you will find out in the nexT chapter. I promise! I know because I alrEady have the next chapter written. Anyways, how about and end-of-chapter cryptogram?
Mavovog whefw sekjhcm!
(Hint: This is a Vigeneré keyed cipher, like on the Gravity Falls Wiki. The key is hidden in the A/N. Good luck!)