The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

The MALL.

By Joona Irene

~~still Lilac POV~~

        "Is this truly necessary?" I asked, looking meagerly up at the massive building in front of me. "I mean, it's so...how many people do you think are in there?"
        "Probably five hundred." Mabel shrugged. "And it's TOTALLY necessary. Not only do we need some creature-girl time, but you just have to, have to meet Candy and Grenda!" She smiled wide. Stanford drove away, leaving me to be...well...I really didn't know. As far as human girls went, they seemed to love this kind of stuff. Once I tried to be like that. It didn't go well, so I just wore the same thing and people didn't argue. I sighed, enjoying once again the flow of air. Suddenly Mabel squealed.
        "Oh my gosh they're here!" She yelled with happiness. She began jumping up and down. A car drove up to where we were standing on the sidewalk, and two girls came out. The shorter one was wearing glasses. Her shirt was green with pale green stripes, or the other way around. Her black hair was straight and short. The other girl was much larger in size, and wore a pink shirt with the word cool on it. I assumed it was in reference to the social status. Her hair was brown and was tied up in a pony tail.
        "Hello, my name is Candy." the shorter one said, "And this is Grenda." Candy pointed to Grenda.
        "Hey girl what's up?" Grenda spoke. I can honestly say that wasn't the sound I was expecting. But, I shouldn't judge. Puberty can be cruel. I smiled.
        "Hey." I said, waving. "I'm Lilac."
        "Ooh, like the flower!" Grenda fawned.
        "You're hair is really pretty." Candy said, making a move to touch it. "It is so long and white!" I laughed a little.
        "You can touch it." I said, holding it up. "I don't mind." Instantly the two were stroking it, getting their hands in deep as if it was a sacred object.
        "I wish my hair could be that long!" Grenda said. "But oh well!"
        "Girls, I am so excited!" Mabel said, who had also taken my offer to touch my hair. "We are going to take Lilac clothes shopping!"
Instantly they all shrieked with delight. The crazy high pitch was super annoying and I cringed.
        "Oh my gosh this will be so fun!" Grenda said.
        "I can't wait to fit you in a dress." Mabel said.
        "Agreed, this will be awesome!" Candy said. We all went inside, me last. I was reluctant to go because, as much as I wanted to fit in, I didn't like being around a lot of people. It was scary, and not to mention dangerous. What if I accidently showed something? What if I slipped up on my cover? People would stare, ask questions, at least freak out and begin to chase me...I shuddered at all the times that very thing had happened. Then I'd have to leave. Nobody could know...
        But now Mabel knew. Well, she didn't know what I really looked like, not truly, but at least she could help me out a bit. Candy and Grenda on the other hand, could not be trusted yet. I'd have to see.
        We entered the mall. It was spacious to say in the least, with huge sleek floors, moving stairs (I think they were called alligators...) and store windows placed inside the building. Buildings inside of a building, how clever.
        "Let's hit Stacey's." Mabel said, grabbing my arm and running. I kept up, trying not to trip over my own feet.
        "Okay, what do you want to start with?" Mabel asked me. I shrugged.
        "This was your idea." I reminded her. Grenda grabbed a nearby red feathered boa and hat, and placed them on herself.
        "What's up ladies?" she said. "Check me out, I'm classy!" Mabel and Candy giggled.
        "Let's start with shirts." Candy suggested, already grabbing some off the racks. "What is your size Lilac?"
        "...Size...?" I asked. I briefly contemplated pretending to know what she meant, but I figured that fashion was something I really needed education on anyways. It could prove useful while trying to avoid angry mobs in the future. "Uh, well...I'm short." I offered. "And my hands are really, really small...so are my feet..."
        "No, clothing size." Mabel corrected me. I made my cheeks get a blush on them.
        "I don't know...what you mean..." I said, looking at the ground.
        "Oh my gosh you don't even know what a clothing size is?" Mabel was, in a word, stunned. I shyly shook my head.
        "Not really." I said.
        "How have you  been ALIVE all this time?" Grenda asked. "Girls! We need to teach her about clothes NOW!"
They all agreed. Evidently, clothing size was dependent on your waist and shoulder width. So once they found my 'size' they insisted upon teaching me the rules of thumb.
        This consisted of colors, patterns, and what to wear when, and what to wear for certain occasions. They shoved me into the dressing room and threw in clothes over the door for me to try on.
        "How...does one...?" I whispered, holding the material. It was a bright red shirt with cute yellow flowers near the bottom hem. I hadn't worn real clothes in eons. Yeah, so I walk around naked, big deal. I've got no parts to hide. I simply mimicked clothes. Due to the texture I gave them, they stayed wet longer and held dirt longer too. People always believed that it was real clothes, and not just a part of me that looks and acts like clothes. I nervously made my fake shirt melt back into the rest of me, and made my entire torso match the rest of my skin color.
        Hm...there seems to be one hole bigger than the rest...is this where my head goes out? Or goes in? This looks like where my arms go...oh, I get it now.
        I walked out wearing the shirt. It felt weird. Confining. Like I was trapped. Is this how shirts are supposed to feel? Mabel, Candy and Grenda looked at me for a total of two seconds.
        "No." They all said unanimously. I sighed. They gave me ten more shirts to try.
        All of them felt equally strange. I didn't like it. The more shirts they gave me the less I wanted to wear them. I considered just leaving.
        "Oh...my...gosh." They all said as I walked out with the final shirt. It was black with a white circle near the bottom left corner. Just one, big circle.
        "Yes!" They all shouted.
        "Okay, good." I sighed. "I really don't want to do this anymore."
        "But you have to try on skirts!" Mabel cried.
        "And Dresses!" Grenda added.
        "Yes!" said Candy. "You are not done!"
        "But I want to be!" I huffed, re-shelving the shirts. "This is horrible!"
Mabel seemed to pick up on my annoyance. I had a feeling she might let me done, but Candy and Grenda looked about ready to hold me down. I looked at Mabel with pleading in my eyes. she looked at Grenda and Candy.
        "How about you try just three more?" Mabel asked. "Please?"
        "Fine." I growled. "Just three."
        And I walked out of Stacy's with four shirts. I was going to burn them later. Now that I had knowledge of clothes, I could use it later...when it actually mattered. But for now my original disguise had worked just fine.
        Unfortunately, we hadn't left the mall yet. Buildings inside buildings, remember? So I was still trapped.
        "Let's go to the food court!" Candy suggested. When do humans ever stop eating? We headed there until Mabel tensed up. I looked at her.
        "Mabel, are you okay?" I asked her. She was staring at somebody.
        "Oh no..." Mabel groaned. She closed her eyes and began to turn around and walk away. I looked at who she was staring at. It was an older man with a huge salmon-colored (before I would have said it was pink, but that was before I knew about clothes) Hawaiian shirt that had yellow flowers. The man was also wearing white pants and a straw hat.
        "Bud Gleeful?" Grenda said. "Isn't he the dad of-"
        "That boy you used to date?" Candy finished for her. They both nodded, and turned with Mabel to leave. I followed after taking a second looked at Bud Gleeful.
        "What just happened?" I asked, feeling completely lost.
        "Oh, Mabel used to date Gideon, and that's his dad." Candy said in a hushed voice.
        "Yeah, but then Gideon tried to kill her brother!" Grenda said in not-so hushed of a voice.
        "So we broke up." Mabel said, her eyes shut tight. "It was all just a big mistake."
        "Oh..."I said, trying to understand. I didn't know that much about relationships between kids their age, just the adult kind. Were they any different? I shrugged and decided they weren't. Now I understood a bit better. I wanted to ask Mabel why Gideon tried to kill Dipper, and also was Gideon her age because if so...that's one strong little boy.
        Thanks to Mr. Gleeful, we left the mall. I couldn't be happier. The sky was above me and there was a cool breeze.
        "Hey Lilac," Candy said, "I think that we should hang out again."
        "Yes TOTALLY!" Grenda said. "We can have a sleepover! What do you say?"
        "Oh! Uh..." I paused, remembering the last sleepover I had. I was still deciding when Mabel squeezed me in a side hug.
        "Of course we can have a sleepover!" Mabel answered for me. I smiled back, worried.