A/N: Recently I got a review that said it would have been better if Pacifica dealt with her life as a bald girl. Well there's a very good reason why I made Dipper restore her hair. It was symbolizing her new life with Dipper. She was bald during her years of living out on the streets, so it's time for her to move past that life. Plus now that she's no longer a blonde, she doesn't look like her old self anymore, showing that she has moved on from her past life as a Northwest. It's time for her to move on with her life with Dipper.
"Wait, are you serious?" Dipper asked over the phone. "You're coming here?" He paused for a few seconds. "Okay. See you soon." He hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Pacifica asked, having finished her breakfast.
"That was Mabel," Dipper answered. "She applied to every fashion school in the United States, so while she waits to be accepted, she decided to spend the summer here."
"That doesn't seem bad," Pacifica said.
"Trust me, it is bad," Dipper said. "Mabel has changed since the last time you saw her. She's still a nice girl, but she's...different."
"Good or bad different?" Pacifica asked.
"She deliberately set up a huge prank on our first day of tenth grade," Dipper answered.
"How bad was it?" Pacifica asked.
"It took place at the school auditorium," Dipper said. "The lights went out, frogs were unleashed on the students and staff, music and lights blinded everyone in the room, stink bombs were triggered, potato flakes rain down from the ceiling, the whole room was sprayed with disgusting green paint, and the sprinklers activated. Mabel got a full year of detention as punishment, but she didn't seem to mind."
Pacifica was horrified. Why did Mabel, who was obviously kind-hearted, do such a thing? She had to find out. "What happened to her?"
"What else?" Dipper asked in response. "She was tired of being the silly one, so she changed her image and reputation. She claimed it was because she grew up, but I don't think that's the case."
"When is she coming anyway?" Pacifica asked.
"This afternoon," Dipper answered. "But be careful."
"I'll try," Pacifica said.
That afternoon, Dipper and Pacifica waited at the bus stop, awaiting Mabel's arrival. Eventually the bus did arrive, but when Mabel stepped out with her bags, Pacifica was in for a shock.
Mabel looked so drastically different. Her long, slightly curly hair was shoulder-length, jagged, and completely straight, with the front portion slightly covering her left eye. She wore a pale blue t-shirt, black jeans, and pale pink sneakers, completing the look with a black spiked collar around her neck. She also wore makeup, although it consisted of black eyeshadow. There was a black star-shaped bag hanging across her chest from her right shoulder, the bag itself resting on her left hip.
Mabel looked over at Dipper. "'Sup, Dipper," she said, speaking in a somewhat dull tone of voice.
"Hey Mabel," Dipper said. "I'm sure you remember Pacifica."
Mabel shifted her glance to Pacifica, who smiled nervously. Mabel responding by smirking. "With both of your parents being brunettes, I had a feeling that blonde hair wasn't natural," she stated.
"Nice to see you too, Mabel," Pacifica said. She was still shocked about Mabel's drastic transformation. And it seemed most of her cheerfulness was gone.
"Alright Mabel," Dipper said, helping his sister with her bags. "I hope you don't mind staying over at my place."
"Not at all," Mabel said.
Once the three arrived at Dipper's apartment, Mabel started unpacking her bags, which were mostly sketchpads and drawing supplies. Pacifica still wanted to know how Mabel turned into a goth.
"So Mabel..." Pacifica said. "What happened to you?"
"Easy," Mabel replied. "I grew up."
"Yeah, I know," Pacifica said. "Dipper told me you were tired of being the silly one."
"He's right," Mabel said. "So right before I started 10th grade, I cut my long hair short and switched out my brightly colorful outfits for pastel tops with matching sneakers and black pants. And to make sure everyone took me seriously, I planned out the perfect school prank. Did Dipper tell you about it?"
"He did," Pacifica answered. "He also said you got a full year of detention because of it."
"It was worth it," Mabel said. "After the prank, I became the most popular girl in school. Guys wanted to date me and girls wanted to be like me, but I didn't care. I was more focused in fashion design. Of course, even with detention, I still got good grades in all my classes. Everything was going great for me, until the night of the senior prom."
"What happened?" Pacifica asked.
"I was crowned Prom Queen," Mabel continued. "Of course, the school quarterback, who was the nicest guy in school, ended up as Prom King. Usually the dance led to something romantic between the King and Queen, but as I danced with that guy, I felt absolutely nothing. That's when I realized something: I never actually liked guys in a romantic way. And after a bit of experimentation, turns out I wasn't attracted to girls either. That was how I found out I'm actually asexual."
"But that doesn't mean you have to give up romance," Pacifica pointed out. "Asexual people can still go on dates and get married."
Mabel scoffed. "Oh please," she said. "All those failed romances I had in the past made me realize that relationships are overrated. Besides, if I ever wanted to start a family, I'll just adopt a child and raise him or her as a single mother."
"Told you she changed," Dipper told Pacifica, overhearing the conversation between the two young women.
"But there's one thing that hasn't changed," Mabel said. She took a break from unpacking and opened her pocketbook. To Pacifica's surprise, a tiny pig stuck its head out from the bag.
"Is that your pet pig?" Pacifica asked.
"Yep," Mabel answered. "Me and Dipper knew our parents wouldn't keep Waddles around the house if they saw how big he was, so we shrunk him using Dipper's size-changing crystal flashlight and pretended he was a hairless guinea pig. He's been stuck like this ever since, not that I have a problem with that." She scratched her fingers under Waddles' chin, making him squeal in delight. "He's much cuter this way. So what happened to you, Paz?"
Pacifica was momentarily surprised with the sudden nickname, but she ignored it. "My parents accidentally left me behind when they fled the state six years ago," the former blonde explained. "I ended up living out on the streets because of that. Then Dipper found me a few days ago and I've been living with him ever since."
"Well I must say, my brother might not know fashion, but you look amazing," Mabel said, observing Pacifica's hot pink and black outfit. "And your new hair style and color looks better than what you originally had. But the whole outfit is missing...something."
"What?" Pacifica asked.
"I don't know," Mabel answered. She looked over at Dipper. "Can I borrow Paz for a few minutes?"
And so, Mabel dragged Pacifica over to Gravity Malls. When they got there, they went over to Blaire's, which was a preteen clothing and accessory store for preteen girls. This confused Pacifica.
"Uh, Mabel?" Pacifica asked. "What are we doing here?"
"Fixing your hair," Mabel answered, searching through the hair accessory section. "It looks so plain, so I just need to find the right item- Here it is!" She pulled out a cloth hot pink headband.
"Is that a headband?" Pacifica asked.
"A headband with some elastic," Mabel explained. "It's the perfect thing you need."
After buying the headband, Mabel brought Pacifica over to the mall's ladies room. There, she put the headband on Pacifica, pushing back the front portion of her hair.
"What do you think?" Mabel asked.
Pacifica looked at her reflection in the restroom mirror. Needless to say, she was impressed. Her hair was away from her face, and the hot pink color matched the red highlights in her hair. "I look amazing," she said.
"Of course you do," Mabel said. "People like you want to look as amazing as me, but they don't have time for fashion in their busy day-to-day lives. That's why I plan on becoming a fashion designer. With the right training and a lot of patience, I'll eventually become the host of my very own makeover show."
"Well you certainly know a few things about fashion," Pacifica said.
"Trust me, Paz," Mabel said. "With my help, you'll become the most fashionable girl in town."
Pacifica genuinely smiled. Mabel might have sort of gone goth, but she was still a genuinely nice girl. Maybe things were going to work out after all...
A/N: If you want to see how a certain character has changed over the past six years, let me know in your review. And remember: the more reviews I get, the more chapters I'll post.
Also, there will be a future chapter with Dipper's real name, but since this is supposed to be close-to-canon, I have to wait until July 26th for Journal 3.