"Mabel Pines, 17, recently dumped by the hottest hottie in school," she sighed as she flopped onto the grass and watched the clouds pass overhead in her Northern California backyard. The birds were chirping and the weather was warm, but not hot enough to abandon her sweaters. She was still reluctant, but these days her wardrobe had expanded to graphic designs on shirts with differing sleeve lengths. Looking back at the end of her senior year, high school really had turned out to be the dumps as her old pal Wendy had once informed her. Wendy; the girl who defined a summer for her twin. Perhaps she was part of the reason he stayed in Gravity Falls.

With her brother gone, it was as if her parents had gone through a divorce; even though the two were still together, and sickeningly in love, she might add. Sure, Dipper had come back to visit every month, but he'd quit school somewhere after their junior year when Mabel was all googly-eyed over her newly recent ex. Oh, if she wasn't distracted she would have gone with Dipper. She would have asked him to stay! Yuck, she thought back on it. Sure Chad was a dream boat on the outside, but the boat may as well have been a garbage barge. Cheater. She pouted, hating herself for being so blindly in love. Always, always! So blindly. Next time she'd keep her eye open. If there was a next time. It's just that this one didn't take a week of her life. He'd taken a whole friggin' year!

She picked up a dandelion breathing out again as the seeds filled the air, "I want to go back to that epic summer, I want everything to be the same. Simplistic and sure." She hadn't changed much at all, she was still the same innocent and creative girl she'd been at thirteen. She knew deep inside that Dipper wasn't all that different. He'd been building on the same journals he had at twelve. His apprenticeship for Ford was really paying off, so he told her. Although, he did say something about the weird activity dying down in the absence of a certain triangle... She wished she was a genius. The best she could do was apprentice for Gruncle Stan, and what, she scoffed, swindle the town?

"That's it!" She bounced back from her depression. "I'll tell my parents that I got an internship like Dipper! Then they'll let me leave school early and join them and return the Mystery Shack!"

"A fashion designer? In that sleepy town?" Her mother scrunched her nose.

"Yes! She summers there to get away from the hub-bub of the city. Pleeease!"

"I don't know," her father frowned, "how did she hear about you anyway?"

"I have a blog you know, sheesh!" She exclaimed, "I followed her on her sites as well and we've been going back and forth on ideas all year." Okay, well that wasn't exactly a lie. There was a lady near Gravity Falls that lived in Portland. She would make some weekday trips from the Mystery Shack and everything would be right as rain!

"Does Stan know about this lady?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"Dipper does!" Mabel nodded, "You trust Dipper right?"

"Yes, honey, and we trust you too. We just want you to be safe."

"I will be."

"But, you're so close to graduating," her father put a hand to his chin.

"I will! I'll put in overtime to get out of town early. I'll take work with me if I have to. Dipper got his GED and he's taking college courses already. Just say yes, SAY YES!"

"All right, dear, yes." Her mother kissed her full brown hair, "I haven't seen you so excited about something in a long time. How could I say no?"

Her father placed a hand on his mother's shoulder, "We're proud of the both of you."

She felt a twinge of guilt, but promised herself she would follow through. How hard could it be?

Riding the bus again felt like a spaceship through time. Maybe it was because the bus wasn't any newer than it had been since she was twelve. She shoved her luggage onto the shifty shelf over her torn seat and felt the widest smile that she'd kept hidden since that summer. It was nice to not have her cheeks cut on the metal of her braces. It was smooth gliding from here on out. "Hi!" She shook hands with a sleeping old lady who jolted awake at the contact, "I'm Mabel, want to be friends?"

As she stepped off the bus with suitcase in hand, she knew at her very core that she was home. She'd never head back to the flakes and nuts of California. Heck, a floating triangle was more real than they were. Oh, that's right, whatever happened to good ol' Bill? Sorry- bad ol' Bill. She couldn't seem to remember. Hey, her prison hadn't been such a punishment. In fact she thought about it often. Heck- she could dream, couldn't she?

A dusty fez peeked out of the doorway at her 'Shave and a Hair Cut' knock. "Come back with a warrant!" He growled until he saw her face, "Well, if it isn't Mabel! Come here you little Scamp!" He ruffled her hair with a genuine smile.

"Good to see you too, Gruncle Stan!" She said through her hair.

"Mabel?" Her brother's voice echoed up the basement steps, "Mabel!" He gave her a toothy grin when he saw her, picking her up and spinning her around in the living room.

"Woah there, Bro-bro," she laughed as he put her down, "when did you get so ripped?"

"You think so?" He stopped to make a muscle that seemed to fall back down like a cartoon.

"Sure thing, Bro!" she laughed.

The reunion stalled as she noticed Uncle Ford by the vending machine, "Hey there, Mabel," he nodded as he looked up from the device he was working on. "Looks like we've got some new activity Dipper, I'm heading back to the lab." That guy had always been standoffish toward her. What's his deal?

"Be there in a minute!" Dipper hollered back. "I had no idea you were coming Mabel. Why so soon, did you blow up the science lab?"

"Nu-uh," she shook her head, "We're not just Mystery Twins, we're GED twins!" She held up her fist in the shape of a G for a bump.

"Mabel," he tilted his head, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"What do you mean? It's already done." She observed his hurt face, "Why?"

"Did you do that to come here, because of me?"

"No, I just got sick of Cali."

"But what about your future, I mean, Mabel…" he paused, running a hand over his hair, revealing the characteristic birth mark. Where had his hat gone to?

"What do ya mean, Dipper? You've got classes at a good college and-"

"Yes. But, Mabel, do you have a plan? I mean…"

She felt her Gruncle's warm hand on her shoulder at the same time she felt the sting in her heart. I know I'm not as smart as you Dipper, I KNOW ALREADY!

"Let's, uh, get you all settled upstairs," Stan guided them out of the room. "Sorry, Mabel," he spoke as the ascended the steps, "I had to deal with all that I'm too smart for you- you're holding me back crap when I was young too. But don't take it to heart! Look at me, who's the smart guy now, huh?"

She observed her uncle in a ripped shirt and bunny slippers as dust flew through the attic around them. "You are, Gruncle Stan," she patted his stubbled cheek, "you are."

He smiled back as he set down her bags, "Whatever happens Mabel, you do you. You be who you are. Never try to be something you're not, or you'll regret it all your life. Trust me." He turned with truth in his voice, "And don't hold anyone else hostage for your happiness. Legal stuff gets messy."

"Thank you, my dearest Gruncle," she hugged him, burying her head in his chest for a time before he left and she began unpacking.

As she laid down on her old twin bed, she realized it was decorated in the exact same way. Some sock puppets were still hanging from her bed posts. Dipper's on the other hand, had some maps and other crazy diagrams. There was a geometric rug on his side, some bean bags and an updated work desk. Were those pictures of new friends? "I guess the guy lives here now, it's only natural," she shrugged.

"Yoink!" She whispered as she grabbed a bean bag and stared out the window. Wait a minute, the window was a circle now! What happened to the triangle?!

"Dipper! Dipper!" Mabel ran down the steps to the basement.

"Mabel?! What are you doing down here? This material is highly unstable!"

"Sorry!" She stayed on the steps as if the floor were lava. "I was wondering what happened to our window."

"You'll find that all triangles are gone," Ford replied blankly.

"Whaa?" Mabel quirked her head.

"Each and every one that we could find has been eradicated," Ford explained.

"Because of B-"

"Don't say his name." Dipper quickly covered her mouth.

"We don't know what would cause a resurgence. As you can see on my monitor, the probability of him arising again seems to be at a peak. According to my calculations it should go down in a week or so as long as no anomalies occur." Ford looked to Mabel, "In layman's terms: Don't. Do. Anything. Stupid."

Mabel's brows furrowed as she chomped her brother's finger and quickly turned up the steps.

"Lay man? Pssh. What is that? A guy that lays on his butt all day?" She spoke to Waddles, the now fully sized pig that resided in a pen out back. Her parents wouldn't let her take the poor guy home after her thirteenth summer. They were too afraid he'd muddy up the house. At least she had been up as often as she could afford to make sure he was as happy as a pig, well, where he currently was.

"Bweek," Waddles responded.

"That's right! Good talk," she patted him on the head with a sigh as she noticed him digging with his snout. "What is it boy? Timmy's in the well?" She leaned over the pen.

"Up, down, across… A triangle," She breathed. For the moment the air was still. Then the leaves rattled in the breeze. With that, Mabel jumped into the mud and scattered her friend's design with her star studded rain boots. "Don't let them catch you making any shapes," she bent near her pig's ear. "I've seen the way they look at bacon in the diner!" She left the pig with an apple and a kiss before returning inside.

She tried to stay up as long as she could to have a midnight chat with Dipper. But the time came and went. After a long and eventful day, her eyes began to drop as the clock struck 1:00.

"Starlight, star bright, a Shooting Star I see tonight!" The familiar voice reverberated in her ears.