Pacifica POV

My punishment passed rather smoothly, with only my phone and dinner taken away for a few days. I got off easy, really, compared to past groundings.

And, of course, I got tickets to Two Routes. They were okay, but the real reason I got them was to possibly give to the Pines twins. I knew Mabel and her friends would probably love it, and I hoped to start making amends with them soon. Boy bands were probably a good place to start.

When I finally got my phone back I was relieved. Isolation was the worst punishment, something my parents knew full well. My friends had sent a few texts, but soon caught on to my grounding so they stopped abruptly. It made me sad, that they didn't seem to really care. But I thought back to how I had treated them in the past, and I knew it was my fault. I wasn't a good friend, so I shouldn't expect them to be, either.

I sprawled out on my bed and blew my bangs out of my face. The wound on my head was mostly healed, but I had been told it would scar. Nothing some makeup couldn't fix, but still it hurt that I would have the imprint of the bell on my face. Just seeing it scared me a little, which of course made me feel weak.

I already had a story for it. Something about some servants not knowing how to watch where they were going. They had been fired, of course, and replaced, and yes I was fine.

I knew it would hold up, it had happened before (though not to that extent) and no one ever questioned it. Dipper may wonder about it, but I assured myself that he wouldn't stir up trouble.

It was a lie, of course, and he certainly would. But I would burn that bridge when I got to it.

I closed my eyes tight and wished that I didn't have to lie about it, but I couldn't deny that I deserved it. After everything I had done in the past, Dipper especially shouldn't pity me. I was on my own, just like it should be.

I opened my eyes and rubbed away the unexpected tears. I had cried enough over the past few days, and I wasn't about to start again. It was unfit for a lady, as my mother would say. Not that I cared what she thought, but it didn't stop me from using that excuse.

A strange buzzing sound distracted me from my thoughts and I noticed the power surge suddenly. The light bulb in my lamp flickered for a moment, before all of the lights went out and my room was drenched in darkness. In the dark of the room I sat up slowly and I felt the hairs on my arms stand up.

That's... Odd.

I moved slowly to the window and looked out. My heart beat quickly in my chest and I grasped the curtains tightly. No storm, no ghost, gravity still worked. The only odd thing was the forms that seemed to slip across our side yard.

Oh.

I frowned. What monster was it this time? Surely not a robber, people around here were questionable but not that much so. So naturally the only logical explanation was a monster of some sort.

What is my life?

Of course, the monster theory didn't hold up for long. A grappling hook (preceded by a soft cry of "GRAPPLING HOOK!") launched up at my balcony, and I hissed and narrowed my eyes. Of course, the only people annoying enough to try and break into my mansion.

Pines.

I quickly scrambled across my room to the sliding doors and yanked them open just as two familiar brunettes grabbed onto the bars. Their sheepish grins met my scowl, but it was a servant's voice through the door that wiped the look off of their faces.

"Miss Northwest," I heard someone say through the door, "Everything alright in there? There seems to be a power outage."

No duh.

"I'm fine!" I called back, "Tell Mother and Father I'm going to bed!" I added hastily, "Please!"

"Very well, ma'am." The voice moved away, and I glared at the twins standing in front of me. I waited a few seconds for the servant's footsteps to fade before I spoke.

"What have you done?"

"Blocked all power to your house so that we could sneak in! We used this cool thing that Uncle Ford gave us, only I don't think he knew he gave it to us but Dipper says we're borrowing it. It can blog power and internet and everything!" Mabel chattered excitedly and held her grappling hook close to her. I leaned back a bit as the thing pointed towards me. Dipper hushed his sister and laughed nervously as he pointed the hook away from us.

"We wanted to check on you! We haven't seen you since the party."

I could hear worry underneath his awkward way of speaking, and I felt something warm inside of me. He was actually worried? They both were? Enough to knock out the power to my house and break in... Wow...

I kept telling myself I didn't want their pity or their help, but I could feel myself breaking. "I...I'm fine, thank you." I said, a bit more sincere and less bitter than I had planned on saying it. Before I could spill my guts, however, I turned and walked back into my room. They followed close behind and watched silently as I reached into my dresser and pulled out five pieces of paper.

"Just as well," I turned and waved the papers in the air, "I have something for Mabel, anyways."

Said girl squealed and grabbed the papers out of my hand before I could give them to her. I rolled my eyes at the rude behavior, but I couldn't deny that part of getting the tickets had also been seeing her reaction. It felt... Nice, to give someone something they wanted like that. It wasn't something I was used to doing-at least, not for something in return. But I didn't want, or expect, something in return from the twins. I only hoped for something like friendship.

"Two Routes tickets?!" Dipper barely covered her mouth in time as the girl yelled, and looked at the door worriedly. I suppressed a smile.

"My parents got them for me, but I figured you were a bigger fan than I am." I waved the action off, but she launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Her voice was loud and right in my ear, and that was far closer to Mabel than I had ever counted on getting. I blanched and tried to pull away, while Dipper gave an amused-and maybe even impressed-look.

"Shh!" I hissed as I attempted to pry her off, "Do you want to wake the whole mansion?" I knew she wouldn't, since my room was far away from the others (more of that isolation stuff, but also some out-of-sight-out-of-mind stuff), but her voice started to get on my nerves.

I was trying to be nicer, not a saint.

"Right!" She stage whispered, "But seriously! This is so cool! Thank you!" She giggled and finally pulled back. I took a few dramatic deep breaths, wiped off my outfit, and regained my calm and cool composure.

"That's pretty nice of you, Pacifica." Dipper noted, "And you got enough for all of her friends to go." He gave me a proud smile, and I felt a bit of pride bubble up in me.

"And then some!" Mabel cut in, "Me, Candy, and Grenda, but Wendy doesn't like them so that would leave Dipper-" The boy stuck out his tongue and I smiled a bit-"Hey! That means you could come with us, Paz!"

The nickname through me off the most, and I stared. Suddenly the twins shared a look and broke out in massive grins. A sense of impending doom ran up my spine.

"Road trip with Pacifica!" They yelled. I hushed them and they repeated it in a whisper, "Road trip with Pacifica!"

Actually, it did sound like fun. A real road trip, with possibly real friends. Of course there was their car, which was a mess but... It meant spending time with the twins, non monster related (hopefully) and it was away from my parents. My parents flashed into my mind just then, and I knew they would never allow it. Of course, they didn't have to know I was going with the Pines... And it wasn't for a week, so I had plenty of time to plan a lie...

"...Okay, I'll go." This time the hug was from both twins, and I blushed bright red at the attention. "But no more hugging!"

"You know what would make this perfect?" Mabel glanced at her brother, who nodded and smiled impishly-something I had never seen him do, be fore they both turned to me. "A sleep over!"

Sleep...over? At the Mystery Ha-um, Shack? My disdain must have showed, because both twins shrunk back a bit. Mabel offered a nervous smile, "I-I mean, it would be cool, but maybe some other time!" She glanced between me and Dipper. Her brother wore a concerned yet embarrassed look.

That's when I started to catch on. They knew more than I had suspected, or at least Dipper did.

I hesitated for a moment and looked back at the door. I wouldn't be missed until the next evening at the earliest, and it would be my first chance to get out in days. The cons, though, would be Dipper's snooping. And of course the Shack... Would Stan even approve of this? Who knew. He could turn me away at the door... That scared me.

My mind wandered in that direction, and I wondered if Stan would be mad at me. What if I got in trouble over there somehow? Would he be mad? Would he send me back? The anxiety that came with thinking about adults struck me, and my mouth felt dry. It almost didn't seem worth it. Everywhere I went there would be adults... But Dipepr and Mabel seemed to like Stan, so maybe... Maybe it wouldn't be so bad?

Dipper looked concerned again, and added, "You don't have to come over, it was just an offer to! It's kind of late and a spur of the moment thing..." He trailed off awkwardly, and I could see in his eyes that whatever plan he had had fallen apart. I almost felt satisfied at the lost look on his face... Almost...

"Actually... You're right." I turned to Mabel and attempted a grin, "A sleepover sounds perfect." Their shocked faces soon turned happy, and I cut in, "but, please, let's just go out the back door."