HAT: Another chapter!... don't have to say so, enjoy.
(Edited)
Disclaimer: Let's just say if I owned Gravity Falls, a whole lot of messed up stuff would've happened to my favorite characters and it wouldn't be on Disney... it's a good thing I don't own it and Alex Hirsch does. However the plot and OCs I * throw in are mine.
Lessons about the paranormal were an... interesting experience to say the least. Stanford had journals absolutely filled to the brim about everything there is to know about the supernatural in Gravity Falls and was even in the process of making a fourth- which explains why he was shut up in his room when he wasn't doing some sort of domestic work (he has the "mom" role where he picks her up from school after track practice and takes her to track meets and the like, the "mom" work). Stanley had taken a different approach to teaching her and started applying the weaknesses and weak spots that Stanford told her about and showed her how to use those to her advantage using some of the appropriate display for the appropriate monster as an example.
Today was a normal day with no paranormal lessons from Stanford or Stanley or some paranormal thing attacking them- just a few days ago they had a run-in with a vampire bat- but she had some track practice after school, and is now hanging out in the Mystery Shack while "doing homework" with Soos and Wendy.
"Dude, how much you wanna bet that I can get at least fifteen marshmallows in my mouth?" Soos asks.
Pacifica scoffs. "Twenty's nothing for you. I wanna see thirty."
"Dude, that'd be so cool," Wendy chimes and elands forward. "Do it Soos!"
Soos nods seriously. "I am up for the challenge."
Pacifica ignores her homework and watches Soos stuff his mouth with marshmallows. He gets to about thirty when he starts slowing down. That's when Wendy starts cheering.
"Chu-bby bu-nny, chu-bby bu-nny!"
Pacifica joins in, wanting him to reach the goal she set for him. The chant seems to fuel him on because he ends up getting to forty and he keeps going. This seems to fuel Pacifica with the amazement and the urge to have him stuff some stupidly high number like fifty into his mouth.
He's gotta be some sort of fleximouthed-something, Pacifica thinks in amazement as he gets to thirty-one.
"Pep! Are you doing your homework?!" Stanley calls from the back.
Immediately the two girls quiet down.
"Keep going," Wendy whispers while gesturing with her hand for him to continue.
Pacifica sits up. "Yeah, Papa Stan!" She looks down at her Algebra with distaste- she doesn't understand it. "Almost finished with it!"
There's silence for a while and Pacifica thinks that he's forgotten about them and continues to watch Soos stuff marshmallows in his mouth. She thinks this until Stanley walks into the room and glares at them from behind Soos. Pacifica and Wendy go quiet slowly and Wendy makes a motion to spit out the marshmallows, but Soos makes a confused noise and stops putting marshmallows in his mouth because of that confusion. If Stan said anything Soos would probably choke on marshmallows which is the main reason the man is just standing there with his arms crossed over his chest while glaring at everyone.
"Spit out the marshmallows, Soos," Pacifica hisses, kicking the trashcan over to him.
Pacifica looks away when he spits all the marshmallows into the trash and then looks up when he yelps at seeing Stanley standing behind him. Pacifica knows that this isn't going to end well for any of them- especially if he sees her homework which is why it's being covered by her arm.
"This is what you call doing homework?" Stanley demands as he gestures towards Soos. He walks forward and yanks her homework from under her arm and looks at it with a frown and then looks at her. "Almost done, huh? You're not even halfway! I'm a conman, Pacifica, I can tell when I'm being lied to."
She lowers her head in shame. "Sorry, Papa Stan," she murmurs.
The employees take this as their sign to go to a different part of the shop to work- which Pacifica's more than grateful for as they slide away from their employer.
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Pep, you've gotta do the work otherwise you're not gonna pass."
"I know," she insists in a louder and more forceful than she meant for it to be so she gets a look from her guardian that makes her lower her voice and speak a bit calmer. "I just don't understand it. Math is hard and I don't get it!"
"Then why don't you ask the teacher?"
"I did," she replies and then crosses her arms and huffs. "He doesn't like me so he doesn't help me understand any of it."
He sighs and looks down at the floor in thought for a second and then observes her face. "Alright, c'm'ere." Pacifica follows him to the kitchen and sits at the table when he does. He puts the paper on the table so that they can both see it and points to the first problem. "Is this what he used as an example?"
"Yeah," she says. "He didn't really say much about what to do, just wrote it down and expected us to get it."
And everyone else got help, but me, she thinks sourly.
"Okay," he grunts and points at the problems. "So the point is to find x right?"
"Yep," she replies.
He looks at it for about a second or two when he says, "The answer's thirteen."
She stares at him in amazement and then down at the problem. "How'd you do that?"
"I may not be good at all the other subjects in school, but I'm the math genius in this family," Stanford informs.
Figures, he likes money a lot, she thinks. "So what'd you do to get that?"
"Add these two numbers on this side first... okay, so the numbers with the minus sign in front have to be added on both sides so add this and this to this side..."
"Like this?" Pacifica asks, unsure that she did it right.
He nods. "Yeah. Now add the others onto the other side."
"But x is still four. Do I multiply?"
"No, divide," he replies. "And your answer iiiiiiissss."
"Thirteen!"
"There you go! Now use what you did here everywhere else."
(A/N: It's been a minute since I've been in Algebra so I'm just going with what I know I learned in Algebra, people probably learned way more in their first few months in school than this... moving on)
Stanley watches her do the problems while every now and then correcting her when she does something wrong. It was very much appreciated because she's sure without his help that she wouldn't understand it and be stuck looking up everything and barely scraping by.
"Thanks, Papa Stan," Pacifica says genuinely.
"No problem, kid," he replies and ruffles her hair much to her displeasure. "If you need help with your homework don't be afraid to ask me or 'Ford."
"Okay."
"Anymore that you need help with?"
"No, I'm good. This was the last of the homework I got left," she answers truthfully.
He nods and gets up. "Alright- I guess you're done with that. Now we can get to the real work."
She frowns and raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Whaaat are you planning, old man?"
Stanford grins. "Oh, you'll see." Pacifica puts her homework in her backpack in the living room and then follows an excited- almost giddy- man out to the garage and he grabs a blindfold and holds it out to her. "Put this on."
She gives him a skeptical look, but at the pure excitement in his demeanor causes her to sigh in defeat and tie it around her eyes. "Where're we going?"
"Why would I tell you when I had you put a blindfold on?" He asks as he buckles her in.
She silently agrees with that reasoning and listens to him get into the front seat and start the car. "Buckle up."
"Oh, right," he grunts and puts his seat belt on.
Geez, how'd he survive when he was alone? Pacifica wonders.
Pacifica listens hard to the outside of the car so that she can hear the gravel crunching under the tires until they get to the smoother road that leads to the town. She feels a little apprehensive and tries not to let her mind to go to irrational things, but they do. What if Stanford and Stanley don't want to deal with her anymore and are excited to get rid of her and drop her off at some orphanage or something of the sort? Maybe he'll drive past the town and go somewhere to dump her? What did she do to be abandoned? Did McGucket feel the same way? Did Wendy and Soos? Did they all think that she was a burden and thought getting rid of her was what was best.
The car pulls to a stop and Stan calls, "Don't take off your blindfold just yet."
"Okay," she murmurs while trying to keep the trembling out of her voice.
Stanley helps her out of the car and then puts a firm hand on her shoulder. "Alright, you're gonna have to step up, there's a curb right here."
"Where are we?" She asks, hearing the usual sounds of the town.
"Hold your horses," he replies. Soon she hears a bell that signals that they're entering some sort of establishment that could be anything really- luckily she got over the sounds of the bell within the first month of staying with the Pines, but it's still one of her least favorite sounds in the world. Next sounds the sound of things being hit and people fighting. Suddenly she's stopped and his hand is no longer on her shoulder which makes her panic a little and a small whimper manages to escape her lips. "Alright, take the blindfold off."
She takes it off and is blinded immediately by light, but after her eyes adjust she sees that they're in a boxing gym. There are a few people working on the punching bags and a couple of adults going at it in the ring. She hasn't taken much interest in boxing, but she's fairly familiar with it- she watches it with Stanford every once. It still baffles her mind why they are here- maybe one of the professional boxers were around and he wanted to take her to a match.
It isn't until he sees that he has pink boxing gloves and head guard that she realizes that he's brought her here to teach her how to box.
"Uuuum... Papa Stan? What are we doing here?" She asks, hesitant to participate in something as physically damaging as boxing.
"This is the more fun part of your lessons when it comes to you learning about the stuff that goes on around this town."
"I-I dunno, I'm not really all into fighting people," she murmurs.
"C'mon, Pep, after that incident I can't just leave ya defenseless. I gotta teach ya something so you don't end up helpless when you're backed into a corner."
She bites her bottom lip and remembers last week's incident and rubs her ribs unconsciously where there are still bruises. "A-alright, fine... I'll do it."