I know, I know, it's been, what, a month? Part of it was me being busy, but part was just my general laziness rearing its ugly head. Ah well. Better late than never, right? There's gonna be a bit of action next chapter, but until then, I'm here to provide the lead-up. Thanks for reading!

Jazz, fortunately, didn't have any urgent extracurricular-activity-related matters to attend to after school that day, so she was able to give Danny a ride home, and this time, the Pines twins tagged along. Danny was initially surprised to see them in the parking lot after school following Jazz to her car, though he supposed it made more sense than having one of their uncles come by to take them to the exact same place he and Jazz were going.

Still, the car ride with them wasn't exactly fun. Mabel, who seemed to have a total inability to sit still for longer than a minute, sat behind Danny and kept swinging her legs throughout the entire ride, hitting the back of his seat just lightly enough that it was probably unintentional, just hard enough that Danny could feel it and be irritated by every kick. Dipper, meanwhile, was staring at Danny on end, which the latter could see in the rear-view mirror and was trying his best to ignore.

Jazz had met the twins only briefly before, so she took the helm in regards to steering the conversation, asking them about what their lives were like back in California and how they were adjusting to Amity Park. Mabel, as usual, did most of the talking, Dipper mostly only answering when Jazz directly addressed him. All of it was information Danny knew already – their hobbies, their basic likes and dislikes – so he pretty much tuned out the whole ride, keeping his attention instead on the buildings flicking past the window.

They stopped at the Fenton residence for a brief moment to give the three younger teens the chance to drop off their school things and let Maddie, Jack, and Ford know where they were going. Danny and Mabel dropped their backpacks off in Danny's bedroom; Dipper, naturally opted to keep his with him instead. Danny didn't even bother attempting to argue.

The three of them unloaded in the mall parking lot just in front of the building – that is, Mabel and Dipper did. Before Danny could leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Jazz, her signature 'concerned' face plastered on in all its glory. "We're going to have to talk once you get back, you know."

"About what?" Danny asked.

"You know full well what. There's a reason you ducked out of breakfast this morning, isn't there?"

"You figured that out all on your own, master detective?"

"I'm serious, Danny," Jazz sighed. "Look, if there's anything you want to tell me now – "

"Hey Danny!" Mabel's voice interrupted. She had approached the passenger-side window and was now rapping on the glass. "What, are you stuck or something? Come on out, it's shopping time!"

Danny rolled his eyes and shrugged Jazz's hand off his shoulder. "Fine. I'll fill you in tonight. For now, I gotta go." He kicked open his door and hauled himself out of the car.

"Will you call me when you're ready to be picked up?" Jazz asked before Danny shut the door.

He shook his head. "Sam and Tucker are meeting us there in a bit. Sam's driver will take us home."

Jazz nodded and waved goodbye, letting Danny close the door and then pulling away from the sidewalk and out toward the exit of the parking lot.

"Sam's driver?" Mabel asked as Danny turned around. "Your friend has a driver?"

"Yeah."

"… So is she, like, rich or something?"

"Well, she prefers to keep it on the down-low."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Great," he muttered as he turned and began leading the way into the mall. "Just what we need to deal with, another stuck-up rich girl."

"Sam's not stuck-up," Danny protested. "Trust me, once you meet her, you'll like her."

"Don't take him too seriously," Mabel said, elbowing Danny jovially. "He just pretends not to like rich girls because he's embarrassed about his little crush." She said that last part louder, clearly intending for Dipper and everyone else in the vicinity to hear.

Dipper's face went pink and he shoved his hands into his pockets, keeping his head down as they walked so the brim of his hat was low over his face. "If you're talking about Pacifica, you couldn't be more off the mark."

"Uh-huh, and spending all day with her at the Mystery Fair last summer meant absolutely nothing, did it?"

"Mabel."

Mabel stuck out her tongue at him. "No need to be embarrassed, Danny doesn't know her. Besides, I think she's a cuter match for you than Wendy ever was. But hey, now that we're here instead, maybe you should try someone local? Hey, Danny, do you think Dipper is Sam's type?"

Danny didn't have the chance to get any response in besides an uncomfortable "um" before Dipper flipped Mabel's hair over her head, and she responded with a shove, laughing all the while. Danny was about to intervene, figuring roughhousing in the mall may attract some unwanted attention from a security guard, but they abandoned their squabble quickly in favor of the Tower Records they soon passed by, which they opted to go explore instead, Danny trailing behind like he was keeping a rowdy dog on a leash.

Even their shopping styles, Danny soon discovered as they bounced from store to store, were nothing if not reflective of the twins' personalities. Mabel favored all things bright and sparkly, getting caught up in a dance game demo in a GameStop, searching for flashy colors in every clothing store and asking people's opinions on various skirts and scarves before proceeding to completely ignore whatever they had to say, and even getting the boys to let her drag them into a Claire's for a few moments before Dipper insisted the merchandise inside was making him feel nauseous. He himself took a softer approach, browsing quietly through stacks or shelves, picking up one used 3DS game at the GameStop and a sweatshirt on clearance at an Aeropostale. He had at one point seemed to be making a beeline for the Barnes & Noble, but Mabel steered him away, informing Danny that if they let Dipper into that place, they wouldn't get to leave it until the mall closed.

It wasn't until they were a couple of hours into their shopping trip that Danny's phone buzzed with a message from Tucker letting him know that he and Sam had arrived and were on their way in. After checking the text, Danny tugged Mabel's sleeve for her attention. "Hey," he said. "Sam and Tucker are here. We'll meet up with them and then head over to Nasty Burger."

"Oh, good!" Mabel said. "About time, I've been starving for, like, the last hour!"

"You hadn't mentioned being hungry yet," Dipper pointed out.

"Well, we were busy, so I didn't notice."

"You'll have to hang in there for now," Danny said. "They're at the west entrance according to the text, so we'll have to go by the food court."

Mabel groaned. "Universe, why must you test me like this?" she sighed.

"One minute ago you were perfectly fine, and now you're starving so bad you have to be theatrical about it." Dipper shook his head and looked to Danny. "You see what I put up with?"

"She makes it hard to miss," Danny answered. He led the three of them across the mall until he spotted Sam and Tucker at the food court entrance and waved them over, ignoring the pout Mabel was casting toward the mall's many restaurants.

"Dipper, Mabel, I'd like you to meet Sam and Tucker."

"Hey, I know you!" Mabel cried, pointing at Sam as if in accusation. "You're in my study hall, aren't you? I love your lipstick, by the way! Purple's a good color on you. It matches your eyes!"

Sam stared at Mabel, then sent a quick is-this-girl-even-real glance at Danny before answering, "Uh, thanks."

"And I believe I've seen you in gym class," Tucker said to Dipper. "But never officially met, so, hey, it's good to finally meet the famous Pines twins we've heard so much about!"

"You've heard a lot about us?" Dipper asked, raising a brow.

Danny shot a glare Tucker's way while Sam subtly kicked him in the foot. Tucker grimaced at the kick and hurried to backtrack. "I mean, nothing unflattering, if that's what you're worried about. Just, you know, that you're at our school, your uncle works with his parents, the basics like that."

"So, ah, anyhow," Sam said, "How long have you been in Amity Park? How you liking it so far?"

"Been here around a week," Dipper answered. "And we're liking it fine."

Apparently he was being just as wordy toward Danny's friends as he was toward Danny. Probably to be expected. Danny looked to Mabel, expecting her to give a far more enthusiastic and long-winded answer, but she seemed to no longer be interested in the conversation, and instead was looking longingly back at the food court. "Mabel?" Danny asked. "Care to weigh in?"

"Oh my god, I smell cinnamon pretzels," Mabel said. "Does the food court have an Auntie Anne's? I think that's the smell. Oooh, I haven't had their cinnamon pretzels in so long."

"We're about to head over to Nasty Burger," Tucker said. "So if you're hungry, you don't have long to wait."

Mabel shook her head rapidly from side to side. "No, no, you don't get it, now I'm craving them. I don't suppose Nasty Burger has cinnamon pretzels? Because Mabel needs 'em bad."

"Might as well just let her get some," Dipper said. "Or we'll never stop hearing about it."

"Well, I'd hate for you not to be hungry when we get to Nasty Burger," Danny said. "Ruins the experience."

"Oh, don't worry," Mabel said, shaking her head again. "I'm hungry enough for, like, five meals plus dessert."

"Trust me, Danny," Dipper said flatly. "For Mabel, there's no such thing as a ruined appetite." He took Mabel by the upper arm and started toward the food court. "Just give us a few minutes and we'll meet back up with you."

"All right, well, hurry back." Danny watched them leave, Mabel chanting "Pretzels! Pretzels!" along the way, and turned to Sam and Tucker. "So? First impressions?"

Sam shrugged. "Based on what you've told us, I'd say fell right into expectations. Although, I did think you were exaggerating about Mabel. Don't think that anymore."

"For now, though," Tucker said. "Something more important: you know how Sam and I said we'd have to meet you here because we were working on a project?"

"Yeah…?" Danny had assumed that this was a project for chemistry class or something and hadn't bothered asking for elaboration.

"Well – " Sam reached into her purse and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, which she presented to Danny. "Behold our project."

Apprehensively Danny took the paper and unfolded it. At the top was the embossed letterhead of Amity Park General Hospital, followed my the name and information for general practitioner there whose name Danny didn't recognize. Below that, a letter had been typed out. "'To the teachers and staff of Casper High School,'" Danny read aloud. "'Please excuse Danny Fenton from classes and activities as he needs. I have diagnosed him with' – " He slowed down to sound the next phrase out. "'Detrusor hyperreflexia.' What the hell is detrusor hyperreflexia?"

"A variation of overactive bladder syndrome," Tucker said, smiling proudly.

Instantly Danny could feel himself blush brick-red. "What?!"

"It's to get you out of gym class! And other classes, too. You know, as ghost attacks warrant. It's a gift for you, see."

"Yeah, and you'd better be grateful," Sam added. "It was not easy to swipe that hospital stationery. And then of course we had to find the perfect diagnosis for you."

"It needed to be able to get you out of class repeatedly, but not be so bad that you'd have to be sent home."

"And we had to pay close attention to symptom stuff. Tucker wanted to go with irritable bowel syndrome, but that would mean having to fake all those stomach problems too."

"Plus the gas," Tucker added. "I considered supraventricular tachycardia, but since you've always been claiming to be going on bathroom breaks, I figured it'd be best not to bring a heart problem into it and just focus on that."

"Yep, eye on the bowels. Of course we thought of bladder infections, but we needed something longer-lasting, so we looked for anything that would get your bowels to be – "

"Would you two please stop talking about my bowels?!" Danny snapped. A group of shoppers passing by sent Danny a curious look, which only made his blush deepen. He shoved the doctor's note into his pocket with a scowl.

"You're welcome," Sam said, grinning.

"Thanks," Danny grunted, rolling his eyes. "Think Dipper and Mabel are about done?" He looked back over toward the food court. "The lines aren't that long."

"I think they're at the counter now," Tucker said, squinting. "Won't be more than a couple of – " He stopped and looked up toward the ceiling as the lights flickered.

Suddenly a chill went up Danny's back, leaving goosebumps on his neck and ending in a puff of mist leaking from his mouth. Sam and Tucker turned to him, neither having missed that tell-tale sign.

"Oh no," he whispered. Not now. Not while Dipper and Mabel were here, not when transforming might very well be a final piece in the puzzle for that nosy kid. This was definitely not the time for fighting a –

"GHOST!" came a scream from the food court.