Chapter II
Dawn.
Golden light covered the mountains that, aided by their tall trees, captured grey clouds like dirty and worn silver. The city woke to the noise of vehicles and alarm clocks, the sound of bicycle chains in the suburbs, the wind in the treetops, the meadow's dew, the darkness of a room of closed curtains and a figure that nestled between warm blankets and cold feet.
The alarm clock started to play a sad Joy Division tune. "Love, love will tear us apart again" sang the alarm with depressing joy while Pacifica, who woke without greater discomfort, opened her eyes and smiled, feeling the warmth of the pillow against her face.
A bit more than a month had passed since she had arrived at her new apartment, at her new life far away from Gravity Falls, and she could not have felt better. The money obviously wasn't a problem, since her purchases had changed over to long afternoons watching movies in her apartment. She felt that what her parents had given her not only fully met her needs but gave her plenty to the point of ridiculousness. She had her own space with no one to control her, without anyone to depend on. She had a privileged freedom and was, of course, grateful for it.
Without waiting much longer she moved the sheets to one side, stretching her body (numb from the long night of sleep), and then turned on the radio that filled the house with the same music that a minute ago had woken her. One of The Smiths' tunes started to bounce between the stylishly colorful walls while the blonde made her way to the shower, leaving her clothes along the way. She entered the shower, feeling the warm water patter gently against her shoulders, making her shiver while the music continued playing from the other room.
She couldn't remember at what moment she began to fall in love with British rock; she figured that it had probably always been that way, except she never could have listened to something that wasn't identical to what the other rich and vacant girls listened to.
She shrugged at the thought, enjoying the melody and lyrics of the songs as they weaved through the vapor that slowly accumulated in the house's bathroom.
Not very far from there, in fact much closer than what either of the two girls had come to believe, in the Pines house, Mabel woke suddenly, struck by a strong sense of panic. She had overslept. She looked around, searching for her cell phone resting on the pink carpet. It was switched off, probably out of battery. She turned, looking once more at the clock over the wall that read 7:35 in the morning; too late to eat breakfast, but not to take a shower – she thought rapidly – darting from between the sheets in the direction of the bathroom.
It was 7:55 in the morning and classes started in about 20 minutes, not enough time for Mabel to walk the blocks that she'd need to in order to get to school. Even so she maintained her rapid pace, trying not to choke on the piece of cold toast hanging sadly between her teeth, which had been additionally dampened with the drops that fell now and then from her wet hair.
"Great going, Mabel,"she said to herself, "You'll be late to your chem quiz just because you couldn't keep your cellphone fully charged and also because your stupid brother isn't capable of noticing when you're still asleep." She tried to dismiss it with an angry snort when a small car approached her, slowing down.
"Mabel?" said a familiar voice that she could soon discern as that of her old nemesis.
"Oh, hi Pacifica," answered the girl, trying to sound indifferent.
"Need a lift?" she asked quickly. "Classes start in less than fifteen minutes."
Mabel had abandoned her desire to follow Pacifica a few weeks after her arrival, but she still wasn't accustomed to the whole idea. The evil and unpleasant girl she had met so long ago in the small town of Gravity Falls behaved in a completely different way than what she could remember. With Dipper involved they were even inclined to theorize about alien abduction or something similar that would explain such a radical change in the personality of this one-dimensional rich girl. Even so, and contrary to her principles, Mabel didn't want to be late. In truth she had prepared for this test too hard for something like this to stand in her way.
"Honestly…yes, my alarm didn't go off this morning."
Although Pacifica was also unaccustomed to the idea of being kind to Mabel, she felt a little knot in her stomach when she made her way to the car, shutting the door with a small rumble. "Thanks," Mabel added, fixing a wet lock of her hair.
The blonde looked quite elegant, the Pines girl observed. She wore a faux leather jacket with somewhat worn grey pants and a white blouse with matching bronze chains and earrings to pull everything together. She had always had a natural talent for dressing herself and making her best features shine. Her hair was a bit messy but even like this it appeared that every little detail had been put that way meticulously. She looked really beautiful, Mabel thought, biting her lip for a moment. She turned towards the radio to ignore her own thoughts.
"New Order?" she asked, trying to ignore the blush growing on her cheeks.
"You like them?" Pacifica said without losing focus on the road. Her shoulders twitched in a small sheepish reflex, accompanied by a friendly smile.
"Y-yeah! I mean, I love 80's music…"
"Then I'm not the only one," she responded, rolling her eyes at Mabel, who gave an awkward giggle. "The truth is I've always liked this kind of music, but I've never fully dedicated myself to collecting CDs and stuff," she commented breezily while parking in front of the school. "We're here."
"That was fast!" enthusiastically exclaimed the brunette, letting a rosy smile fill her face in a mix of emotion and gratitude. "Thanks, Pacifica!"
Wow, I said that? she asked herself while leaving the car, her lungs filling with the aroma of freshly cut grass. She took in the brilliant color of a morning that had played out in such an unusual way.
"You too," answered the blonde. Wow, I said that? she thought, feeling sort of dumb in the process. "It's always nice to find somebody to talk to on the road," she added awkwardly.
"I have a chem quiz, I should go now," Mabel said, stepping awkwardly onto school's front lawn. "I'll see you later!" she finished, breaking into a slight trot.
"It's always nice to find somebody to talk to on the road?" the blonde murmured to herself with a puzzled expression. This girl always brings out the worst in me, she thought as she watched her run towards the building. She was fundamentally the same stupid girl as always…so why couldn't Pacifica stop looking at her?