I threw my school bag onto my bed. I reached to unzip it but stopped. What was the point of doing homework when you really didn't feel like it? Besides, I already had good grades so one missing assignment that only counted for 10 points really didn't matter. But, my "good student" side got the better of me. It took me five minutes.
I slumped in my desk chair, now able to relax. The school day had been stressful, but at least I always had my one stress reliever to come home to: a good show called Gravity Falls. But, I never imagined myself, not in a million years, living in my stress reliever. But it happened.
My name is Stella. I'm currently 13 years old, but at the start of my story, I was twelve. The same age as the twins. When they turned 13 at the end of summer, I still had another month to go before my birthday. But of course, I spent an entire summer in the course of a couple weeks.
So here goes.
I was sitting in the comfy, very large living room arm chair, awaiting for my packages that were expected to be delivered right around that time. Oh, I was very excited for a necklace, a bracelet, and a shirt. A very special delivery, with items that I could wear everyday as a symbol of my love for the show. It was a necklace of Bill, a bracelet with all the symbols as charms, and a shirt that showed the twins holding hands , The Pine Tree and The Shooting Star. I was already wearing my shirt, Bill Cipher and his gang of Henchmaniacs, chasing after the twins. Weirdmaggedon 3 was my favorite episode.
Just as I peeked out the window, the truck came hauling down the street. Excitement bubbled inside me as the bearded man hopped out of the UPS truck.
I jumped off the chair and and ran for the door. I flung it opened and smiled at the man, who smiled back and handed me the packages.
"Good day, little lady." He said, tipping his hat.
"Have a nice day sir." I said, bowing. He smiled and left.
I closed the door and ran to my mom, who was situated in the kitchen.
"Mom! Mom! My packages came!" I squealed. She set down her coffee cup, along with the newspaper.
"That's great, sweetheart. Let's open them up." She got up and grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer. She handed them to me.
"Great!" I said, a big smile plastered on my face.
The blades cut through the packaging like it was nothing. I opened the bracelet first, which was absolutely amazing. Dipper's hat shined in the light. As well as all the others. Mabel's sweater with the shooting star, Bill's triangular form, perfectly yellow, every detail engraved and etched perfectly. Grunkle Stan's Mr. Mystery Fez, and much more. At the end of the bracelet, Stanford's 6 fingered hand. My mom smiled.
"That looks incredible, hon. What else did you get?"
I took that as my cue to open the next thing. It was my shirt. The ink job was incredible, detailing everything correctly. The twins, all scratched up, holding hands on top of the Multi-bear's main head. And then, my necklace.
Stainless steel, the yellow bright and noticeable, and his eye seemed to look around when you moved it back and forth or side to side. But as I was about to set the empty packaging aside, a piece of paper fell out of it.
"To whom it may concern:
The following pieces of jewelry are not ordinary. Please consider this message as these items may lead to uncertainty and strange happenings. DO NOT READ THIS LETTER OUT LOUD!" I read aloud. My necklace vibrated. As did my bracelet.
"You couldn't have said that at the beginning of the letter?" I set the piece of paper on the table and my mom looked at me, questioning what I just read.
"You know, I'm not sure. Probably a mishap." I didn't know what to think of it.
"Well, I think I'm going to put the show on upstairs. This stuff put me in the mood to watch a few episodes." I told my mom.
As soon as I finished that, I could've sworn that the necklace vibrated again.
As soon as I got upstairs, I wasted no time turning my TV on and going to my DVR.
Every episode of season one and season two recorded chronologically on my watch list. I clicked on the first one: Tourist Trapped.
All of a sudden, there was a flash of light that exploded from the screen. I shielded my eyes with my arm away from the bright phenomena, temporarily blinded. When I recovered, I was under a bright sun. Trees surrounded me. I continued to look around until someone spoke.
"Ah, summer break."
No, no it couldn't be. It was Dipper's voice, but it was like it was all around me instead of floating into my ears from the TV. The camera panned over to a family, standing at a grill.
"So you want cheese on that, hon?" A man said to his wife.
"Sure, Hank."
Two children were running around. Then a thought fluttered through my mind:
What if… what if I was no longer watching the show, and I was IN the show? Everything that was on my TV screen was now all around me. Forest that I couldn't see before scattered all around, the sky, not 2D, but 3D now. Everything lifelike, engulfing me. But it couldn't be true. It was physically impossible for me to have been standing there, in the first episode of Gravity Falls.
"A time for leisure, recreation, and taking 'er easy." Dipper narrated. The camera kept panning until it stopped at the Gravity Falls "Welcome" sign. Oh no.
"Unless you're me."
I hit the ground and covered my head. Dipper and Mabel crashed through the sign in a golf cart, a giant gnome monster chasing them. Wood splinters and tree branches splattered all around me. I got up and bee lined it to the trees. I heard Mabel shout:
"It's getting closer!"
The monster reached out for the cart, but failed. The cart hit a rock and struggled to recover.
"My name is Dipper. The girl about to puke is my sister Mabel. The girl behind the tree is our friend Stella. You may be wondering what we're doing in a golf cart, or hiding behind a tree, fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror."
I froze. He said my name. He knew my name. Why? How? I gripped the tree so hard, the bark cut into my fingertips. The tree I was standing behind seemed to move. It did move. It was plucked from the ground and hurtled toward the twins. I ran to get new shelter.
"Look out!" Mabel screamed.
They crashed through the sign, and then they froze.
"Rest assured, there's a perfectly logical explanation." Dipper narrated once more. They remained frozen, in mid air for like 30 seconds. That's when I realized the theme song was playing. Come to think of it, I couldn't move either. I was frozen behind the tree. I tried and tried but I couldn't get any of my body parts to move. I started to panic.
"Let's rewind." The scene changed, obviously signaling the theme song was over. I could move again, and I suddenly stood in a house, in a hallway. Dipper's voice echoed around me.
"It all began when our parents decided we could use some fresh air."
The scene changed again, and I was standing outside near the Mystery Shack.
"They shipped us up north to a sleepy town called Gravity Falls, Oregon, to stay at our great uncle's place in the woods."
I walked up the front steps of the Mystery Shack. Run down and falling apart, but hey, that's what made it awesome. I opened the door and stepped inside.
"My sister tended to look on the bright side of things." Dipper narrated. I looked around, noticing a redhead at the counter. She had a bear cap on and a green flannel. Wendy. She barely noticed me.
"But I was having a hard time getting used to our new surroundings."
I hear a scream come from outside, followed by a wild hoot of laughter.
"And then there was our Great Uncle Stan. That guy."
A moment later, Stan was leading tourists around the shack. I hid behind a statue of who knows what. There was no way I could interfere with them, it would ruin the-
It hit me. It suddenly hit me. Dipper narrated from the future, a part of the show that already happened. I already HAVE interfered with the show, and Dipper knows me. I'm his friend, as he said.
"Our uncle had transformed his house into a tourist trap he called 'The Mystery Shack.' The real mystery was why anyone came."
I chuckled a little. This time, Wendy noticed me.
"Hey, Lady, are you going to buy something or just stand behind that statue forever?" She asked. Great.
"Oh, I'm just looking around." I said back. Idiot.
"Whatever." She said, a little laid back.
"Ladies and gentlemen, behold The Sascrotch!" Stan Pines yelled. Everyone goggled over a statue in underwear.
Dipper once again narrated, "And guess who had to work there."
I hear Dipper sigh not too far from me. I swallowed and made my way to the counter. I saw something on a shelf that caught my eye. Of course, the pine tree hats, Dipper's signature symbol. I wanted to buy one so bad, so gut wrenchingly bad but I couldn't jack his symbol, that could change literally everything in the show. I had to buy something, otherwise I'd look like a freak, standing around dazedly in a store full of scam merchandise. Mabel suddenly stood next to me. She reached for a large eyeball.
"Ooh!" She squeals, but Stan stopped her. He smacked her hand with the end of his cane.
"No touching the merchandise! Hey, look at this! A customer!" Stan said, looking at me. Well, since I'd already screwed the show up.
"I'm looking for something interesting, whatya got?" I asked. Stan scratched his head.
"Uh, cheap license plates?" He asked me. I shook my head.
And then I realized that I was wearing my Gravity Falls clothes still. My eyes grew wide and I looked down at my shirt, but, it wasn't there. Instead, there was a white tank top, with a dragon in the middle. An outlined, green dragon. My symbol, my very own symbol.
"It looked like it was gonna be the same, boring routine all summer. Until one fateful day…"
I suddenly stood behind the counter, behind Stan-bobbleheads. Mabel stood next to me.
"What are you looking at?" I asked, even though I knew exactly who she was looking at.
"Shhh! He's over there! He's looking at! He's looking at it!" She returned.
We both spied the boy with the piece of paper.
"Uhh… Do you like me? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely!"
"I rigged it." She looked at me. "Pretty clever, huh?"
I smiled and nodded. Dipper disagreed.
"Mabel, I know you're going through your whole "Boy Crazy" phase, but I think you're kind of overdoing it with the 'crazy' part." Dipper said.
"Oh Dipper, she doesn't think so. Right, uh?"
"Stella." I said.
"Dipper, meet Stella! She thinks that idea was just the best! And I agree." She raspberries Dipper before hopping out from behind the counter. I followed.
"And come on Dipper! This is our first summer away from home! It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance!"
"Yeah but do you have to flirt with every guy we meet?"
"Mock all you want, brother, but I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now."
Grunkle Stan abruptly entered, burping loudly, but the burp got stuck. He coughed in pain.
"Aw! Why!" Mabel cried. Dipper laughed, then they both turned toward me.
"So, Stella, do you live around here?" Dipper asked.
"Uh…" What could I say? I had no idea what was happening, but I went along with it. "Um, yes, I do. I live in the town. Cozy place, real cozy." I said, my voice emphasizing the "real cozy" part. Dipper nodded slowly.
"All right, all right, look alive, people! I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest."
"Not it!" Dipper exclaimed.
"Not it!" Mabel did as well.
"Not it!" I yelled enthusiastically, instantly regretting what I just did. Idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They don't even know you.
"Uh, also not it." Soos added, suddenly in the room.
"Nobody asked you Soos." Stan beamed at him.
"I know, and I am comfortable with that."
"And who are you and why aren't you buying anything?" Stan said, looking right at me.
"Who are you and why are you asking me to buy stuff?" I returned. That was lame.
"I'm Mr. Mystery and… well… buy something, kid!" He urged.
"Grunkle Stan, don't bug Stella. She's our new friend! Our first new friend since we've been here." Mabel gasps, "This is so exciting! We'll be best friends forever!" She booped me on the top of my head. I giggled. Grunkle Stan just looked at us blankly.
"Great. Wendy, I need you to put up this sign."
"I would but I… ugh… can't...ugh reach." Wendy faked.
"I'd fire all of you if I could. Hey, newbie, wanna hang up these signs?" He asked me.
"Yeah right, beer gut." I said.
"Beer gut? I only look like that in my pajamas, kid. All right, let's make it eenie, meenie, miney... You." He pointed to Dipper.
"Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched." Dipper complained to his great uncle.
"Ugh, this again."
"I'll go with him." I said aloud.
"What? But you just told me- all right fine. But if I catch either of you slacking, I'll personally come out there myself."
"Yeah, I'm failing at taking that too seriously. And I don't even work here, so even if I'm slacking you can't do nothin', old man." I retorted.
"Hey, you better watch yourself, kid. All right, Dipper and Stacy, you've got sign duty."
"It's Stella. Stelllllaaa."
"Hey Stelllllaaa, you want a job?"
"Uhm, sure I guess."
"You're hired."
"Yay! Stella you can hang with us all summer!" Mabel exclaimed excitedly. I was messing up all the dialogue that was already in the show. I sighed mentally.
"That's great, Mabel! I can't wait to get to know you guys." I said to the twins. They smiled, Dipper's a little smaller than Mabel's.
"But Grunkle Stan, I'm telling you. Something weird is going on in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out BEWARE."
"That says BEWARB. And you don't have to worry, Stella's going with you."
"Great, let's go Dipper." I said, grabbing the sign on my way out. Dipper followed shortly after.
"So, your name's Stella?" He asked me.
"Mhm. I live not too far from here." No, you live WAY far from here.
"Oh, that's good. Well, you got a job at the Mystery Shack, that's uhm… exciting."
"Yeah well, I wasn't really expecting to get one." I gave him a small smile.
"Don't worry, you can basically slack off on work. Grunkle Stan NEEDS us. Nobody else would want to work here. Except for Soos, he's the more passionate one."
"Oh really?" I pretended to be clueless, even though I knew everything there was to know about the show.
"Yup. Anyway, I'm Dipper, which I'm guessing you already know, my sister Mabel, Wendy, Grunkle Stan, and Soos."
"I'm familiar with the names."
"Let's hang this sign up here." He stops at an odd looking tree. I hand him the sign, and he tried to hammer it in, but the metal tree stopped him. He'd found journal number 3.
He knocked on the tree with the hammer again and opened the hatch. He fiddled with a couple of switches that were in there and then a secret hole in the ground opened up.
"What is that?" I asked. But of course I already knew.
"I don't know." He picked it up and flips through it. He gasps.
"What is it?" What did you see?" But before he could answer me, Mabel popped out from behind a log.
"HALLO." She shouted.
Dipper jumped a little.
"Ah!" He exclaimed.
"Whatcha reading, some nerd thing?" She asked, reaching for the journal.
"Uh, uh, it's nothing!"
Mabel mocked him.
"What? Are you actually not going to show me? Did you show Stella? If you showed her, I definitely get to know now!"
"Let's go somewhere private." Dipper said, trying to keep the book away from Gompers the goat.
We end up in the Mystery Shack, in it's living room.
"It's amazing! Grunkle Stan said I was just being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side."
He showed Mabel and me a page of the journal.
"Whoa. Shut. Up!" She gasped, shoving Dipper.
"What else?" I asked
"Well, get this, after a certain point the pages just… stop, like the guy who was writing it... mysteriously disappeared."
The doorbell rang, cutting Dipper off from his train of thought.
"Who's that?" He asked Mabel.
"Well, time to spill the beans." She knocked over a can of beans sitting on the table next to her. "Boop. Beans. This girl's got a date. Woot woot!" She shouted.
"Let me get this straight, in the half hour I was gone, you already found a boyfriend?"
"What can I say? I guess I'm just IRRESISTIBLE!" She giggled. Dipper turned to me, right as the doorbell rang. "Oh! Coming!" Mabel ran toward the door.
"So, what do you think, Stella? I want to find out who this mystery author is. I have so many questions."
"I think we should find out together. I'll help you."
He gave me a big smile.
"You will!? Thanks! This is great! Mabel would never help me!" Before I could answer, Grunkle Stan appeared in the doorway.
"Whatcha readin' there, slick? Oh, and Stella, I need you to man the counter for awhile cause Wendy's on break."
"Sure thing, boss." I said sarcastically. During our talk, Dipper managed to hide the journal and pull out a magazine.
"That's a good issue." Grunkle Stan commented, assuming he read the cover.
Mabel entered just as I was leaving the living room to "work." She had someone else hooked in her arm. Norman. "Norman."
"Hey family! Say hello to my new boyfriend."
I didn't hear anything else after that. I situated myself in the chair Wendy usually sat in and waited, "waited for customers."
"There was something about Norman that wasn't right. I decided to consult the journal." I jumped and squealed loudly as Dipper's narration caught me off guard.
I decided there was no point in working, no one would come in anyway. I jumped off the chair and ran to find Dipper.
"Dipper! Dipper!" I yelled out for him. A voice came from somewhere. It was faint but still audible.
"I'm in the attic!" He called out for me.
I ran up the steps as fast as I could. I wanted to help him more than anything else in the world. But I had to do it without giving any of the show away. It would be dangerous, extremely dangerous. I got to the top to find Dipper looking out the window.
"Oh no, Mabel watch out!" He screamed.
I rushed to his side. Outside, Norman was walking toward Mabel with his arms outstretched.
"Dipper, it's alright, watch." I said, cautious of the way I warned him. He watched for a second, and in that second Norman placed a necklace around Mabel's neck.
"We have to do some research, though. Collect evidence." I said.
"Good idea. Let's follow them."
We went through all the scenes, every minute Norman is with Mabel. Dipper, without knowing he was narrating, narrated.
"I'd seen enough."
Dipper and I end up back in the Mystery Shack, and we headed up to their room in the attic.
"Mabel, we've gotta talk about Norman." Dipper and I said simultaneously.
"Isn't he the best? Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!"
Dipper shrieked.
"Ha ha! Gullible. It was just an accident with the leaf blower." She said, flashbacking to when she tried to kiss a picture of Norman on the leaf blower. "That was fun."
"Mabel, Stella and I are trying to tell you that Norman is not what he seems." He shoved the journal into her face, she gaspsed.
"You guys he think he might be a vampire? That would be so awesome!"
"No, Mabel, it's Gnomes!" I yelled. Oh. My. God.
"No, no, Stella, it's a zombie, remember? All the evidence we found?"
"A zombie? Guys, that is not funny."
"We're not joking! It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp. He never blinks! Have you noticed that?" Dipper questioned.
"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking." Mabel suggested.
"Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? Trust no one!"
I listened in on their argument. I didn't think it the right time to say something. Although, it wouldn't have made a difference. I already screwed up the show and the dialogue.
"Well what about me, huh? Why can't you trust me?" She put on her star earrings.
"Mabel," he shook her, "he's going to eat your brain!"
She pushed him off. "Dipper, Stella, listen to me. Norman and I are going on a date at five 'o'clock, and I'm going to be ADORABLE, and he's going to be DREAMY." She shoved us out the door. "And I am not gonna let you two ruin it with one of your crazy CONSPIRACIES." She slammed the door in our faces.
We sat down at the table.
"What are we going to do?" He asked me. I shrugged.
The scene changed to five o'clock, Mabel coming down to answer the doorbell Norman just rang.
"Coming! Hey, Norman. How do I look?" She greets.
"Shiny…" He returned.
"You always know what to say." She walked away with him and Dipper and I are left to think about what to do. I already knew, I just waited for him to figure it out. He took out the video evidence we collected and watched it over again.
"Stella, Soos was right. We don't have any real evidence. I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and- wait WHAT? Stella, look at this!" He showed me the scene where Norman's hand fell off.
"What should we do?" I asked.
"We have to tell Grunkle Stan!" He yelled."Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!" He yelled yet again.
Stan was busy telling his tourists about the rock that looks like a face.
"Over here! Grunkle Stan!" Dipper tried to get Stan's attention. But to no avail.
"He's not listening!" Dipper groaned, obviously frustrated.
"He's too busy with his tourists!" I say.
"Stan! Stan!" Dipper tried once more, ignoring my comment. Then he sees Wendy drive the golf cart up to the shack. He ran after her.
"Wendy! Wendy! Wendy! We need to borrow the golf cart so Stella and I can rescue my sister from a zombie!" Dipper became frantic. She just tossed the keys.
"Try not to hit any pedestrians." She told us. Dipper looked at me.
"Well, I'm not driving." I say.
"Fine. I'll drive." He didn't sound too upset.
We were in the car a second until Soos stopped us.
"Dudes, it's me: Soos. This is for the zombies." He handed me a shovel.
"Thanks." Dipper and I say in unison.
"And this is incase you see a pinata."
"Uh… thanks." We said together once more.
"Better safe than sorry!" We hear him yell to us as we sped away.
"Where do we go?" Dipper asked.
"Take this trail and keep going. You should hear something along the way." I suggest. Moron. You can't help him figure out the climactic plot.
"Ok, but what about-" He's cut off by a shrill scream in the distance.
"Don't worry, Mabel! We'll save you from the zombie!"
We heard her call out for help.
"Dipper, through there!" I told him.
We end up at the scene of the crime, the gnomes holding Mabel, Jeff ordering them around.
"Let go of me!" She punched a gnome called "Steve" and he fell to the ground and puked a rainbow.
"What the heck is going on here?" Dipper yelld.
"Leave her alone!" I yelled with him.
Jeff hissed.
"Dipper! Stella! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks!" One tugs her hair. "Hair, hair, hair!"
"Guys! Look! The boy has brought us another queen!" Jeff yelled.
"What? No! Hey!" I shouted as gnomes gather around me and pulled me towards Mabel.
"Dipper! Do something!" I yelled. The gnomes started to engulf me, pinning me so I couldn't move.
"Stella, we were way off. Hold on, let me see if there's anything…" He reads about the gnomes, and while he does the gnomes manage to tie Mabel and me to the ground.
"Aw, come on!" Mabel says.
"Hey, HEY! Let them go!" Dipper exclaimed.
Jeff tries to explain. "You see, they're not in danger. They are just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our queens for all eternity! Isn't that right, honey?"
He looked at Mabel. Well. What did that make me? The side ho?
"You guys are butt-faces!" Mabel yelled the exact words I was thinking.
"Yeah!" I agreed. A gnome covered my mouth, and Jeff covered Mabel's.
"Give them back right now, or else!" Dipper threatened Jeff with the shovel.
"You think you can stop us, boy? You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Don't trifle with the-"
Dipper flung him away with the shovel. He cut us loose. We kicked gnomes away, high fiving as well.
"He's getting away with our queens! No, no, no!" Jeff yelled as the three of us dart away through the brush.
We situated in the golf cart. "Seatbelts." Dipper says.
We fastened in just in time. Well, I didn't worry about a seatbelt. Dipper started to drive away.
"Hurry! Before they come after us." Mabel warned.
Dipper stops the cart.
"No, no, no, what are you doing? Drive, DRIVE!" I yelled.
"I wouldn't worry about it. See their little legs? Those suckers are tiny."
"Think AGAIN!" I shouted as the gnome monster stomped in front of us. Dipper floored it, moving out of the way in time before one of the arms broke as it smashed the ground where we once were.
"Come back with our queens!" It shouted. "It" is more like Jeff.
"It's getting closer!" Mabel yelled. We hit a bump and I flew out of the cart. I barrel rolled on the ground, smacking several objects as I rolled onto them. Now I seriously regreted not fastening my seat belt.
"STELLA!" The twins hollered from the cart.
"Keep going!" I hollered back. I winced in pain as I raised my arms. My legs started to buckle from pain as well. But I couldn't stand there. I had to run for shelter.
I ran for a tree. I hid behind it, panting and gulping down air. I peered out from behind the tree, only to find it was moving. It was plucked from the ground and thrown toward the twins. I ran for new shelter.
Then I got something like deja vu. Like I had done something like this earlier in the show. I remembered I did. In the beginning, when I first arrived.
I felt a giant pressure engulf my abdomen and my arms. Then I feel like I'm being squeezed. I turn my head to find myself staring at the head of the gnome monster. It held me in its fist. Well, this certainly was not in the beginning. I squirmed and wiggled but no use. We head toward the twins, who have crashed the cart, now running toward the shack. The tree had caused them to flip over. We approached the twins, who had their backs against the Shack wall.
"Stay back, man! And let Stella go." He threw the shovel toward Jeff, the monster, who deflected it with his free hand. The twins grabbed hold of each other and cowered.
"Guys! It's okay!" I tried to comfort them.
"No, Stella! You're in the clutches of the gnomes!" Dipper says back.
"I gotta do it." Mabel says.
"What? Mabel don't do this. Are you crazy?"
"Trust me." She says, to both Dipper and I.
"What?" Dipper questioned.
"Dipper, just this once. Trust me. I know Stella already does. What about you?"
Dipper glanced at the gnomes, then to me, and then to Mabel. He backed away.
"Alright, Jeff. I'll marry you."
"Hot dog! Help me down, there Jason. And keep a strong hold on Stella."
"No, Jeff. Just take me. Let Stella go."
Jeff reached the ground, and pondered that for a moment.
"Alright." He snapped his fingers and I'm tossed toward Dipper.
Dipper helped me up and we turned to watch Mabel get married. She leaned in to kiss him when BAM. She brought out the leaf blower and sucks Jeff halfway in.
"That's for lying to me!" She says as she increased the sucking power and says again, "and THAT'S for breaking my heart!" She increased it once more and exclaimed, "That was for Stella! And THIS is for messing with my brother."
She handed the leaf blower to Dipper. "Wanna do the honors?"
"On three." He says.
They counted together and blast Jeff out of the leafblower, right into the gnome monster, smashing it back into tiny gnomes.
"I'll get you back for this!" Jeff's voice trailed away as he disappeared.
I giggled as I watched.
"Hey, guys? I um… I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You really were just looking out for me." Mabel apologized.
"Oh, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there." Dipper tried to be comforting.
"Yeah, you did great saving mine." I joked. They both awkwardly chuckled.
"I guess I'm just sad that my boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes."
"Look on the bright side. Maybe the next one will be a vampire." Dipper said.
"Oh, you're just saying that."
"Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper suggested.
"Awkward sibling hug." Mabel confirmed.
They hugged it out while I smiled. They awkwardly "pat patted" each other.
"And don't think we'd forget you, Stella. You're our friend now. We're going to be getting into a bunch of adventures together." Dipper said.
Oh, you have no idea, I thought to myself. I was extremely touched by this friendship recognition.
"Yeah, Stella. We're going to have so much fun this summer." Mabel agreed. They enveloped me in a group hug. I hugged back.
We walked into the Mystery Shack shortly after. Grunkle Stan was there, hanging around.
"Yeesh. You three get hit by a bus or something? Ahah!"
We started to walk away.
"Uh, hey! W-wouldn't you know it? I accidentally overstocked some inventory, so uh, how's bout each of you take something from the gift shop? On the house, y'know? Stella, you just started working here, and you seem to be good friends with my great niece and nephew so, employee's discount. On the house."
I smiled up at him.
"Really?" Mabel chirped.
"What's the catch?" Dipper asked, suspicious.
"The catch is do it before I change my mind, now take something."
Dipper picked the pine tree hat and Mabel the grappling hook. I watched them delightfully and I started to look for my item.
"Stella, we haven't got all day." Stan announced.
"Don't rush me." I say, jokingly. Stan smiled back.
"Kid, you've got some humor."
I look around until I found something. I had never seen it in the show before. Heck, I was never IN the show before. It was a sword. Dusty, and on a shelf. There were others but this one stood out to me. It was a medium sized blade with a leather hilt. On the end of the hilt was a sapphire gem.
"Grunkle Stan, is this real?" I asked as I brough the sword around to him.
"Real as water, kid."
I blew on it and see that the blade underneath is a shiny silver. "I'll take this." I say, still admiring the blade.
"Whooooooaaa. Stella, that's a real sword! We can so bust more gnomes!" Mabel gaped. I chuckled.
"Oh, I think there's a sheath for that sword around somewhere. I'll find it later." Stan says.
I hear Dipper narrate in the background.
"Our uncle told us there was nothing strange about this town. But who knows what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked."
I remember the end where Stan is in the basement, in front of the portal. I wave goodbye and headed outside, where a flash of light appears and I'm back in my bedroom, showing that the show has ended. I rushed to my window to see the darkness outside but I found the daylight, daylight from before I teleported into the show.
I ran downstairs and found my mom at the kitchen table.
"Hon, I thought you were going to watch the show?" She asked.
"Wha-? Uhm. How long was I gone?" I asked as well. My mom looked at me as if I have two heads.
"You just went upstairs, sweetheart. You feeling okay?"
"Yes. Fine. I'm not sure." I turned around and headed back upstairs. As I got to the top, I looked down at my clothes. I was in the clothes I had on before I entered the show. My Bill necklace seemed to dim. Yet, earlier it seemed to glow. As did my bracelet.
In my room, I saw that my TV screen was still showing the credits. I grab the remote and and click "watch from beginning" for Tourist Trapped.
I watched in amazement. I was in the show. Recorded. Filmed. Even my dialogue stayed. Everything I had done, everything I had said, everything I had changed, it was all in the show. Even the end, when I found the sword I had changed the entire dialogue. All of it was now a new episode.
I laid back on my bed, closing my eyes. And I hoped that no one would find out straight away that I changed the show. Found out that I was in the show, to be frank.