"Com'n, dude. It's not called Spider Woods because it's known for huge, killer spiders. It's called that because it was discovered by the great explorer Phineas Spider!"
"You got that from somewhere."
"So what if I did? Even if it is crawling with huge man-eating spiders who want to suck out your brains, it'd be a good entry for your journal." Wendy swiped the Pine Tree journal from Dipper's hands, throwing it up in the air and catching it.
"Hey!" Dipper squeezed indignantly, snatching it away from Wendy before she could throw it again.
"Besides, you'll be getting away from your sister for once…" Wendy tempted, leaning against the tree as she grinned mischievously.
"I'll have you know, I like hanging out with Mabel. She's like the Yin to my Yang." Dipper huffed, looking down awkwardly as he nervously shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "Or is it Yang to my Yin?"
"Since when do you care about that Japanese junk?"
"Chinese." Dipper corrected, scowling at her. "The Yin-Yang in Chinese. Not Japanese."
"Chinese-Binese. Com'n, do you want to get away from Mabel or not? Don't tell me you think she's not a bother." Wendy groaned, disappointment flashing across her face at the realization that he might not actually want to come.
"Well, I mean, she hasn't been lately. Not really. But…" Dipper squinted at Wendy, confused. "Hold on. Why does this mean so much to you?"
"Well, it's Spider Forest! I've never been, but Dad won't let me go without someone. My brothers and practically everyone at school are chickens about this, except for Robbie and Tambry. But can you imagine going camping with your ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend? Talk about awkward."
"But you hang out with them all the time!" Dipper protested, tilting his head. "Don't you?"
"Yeah. With Lee, Nate, and Thompson. But those three are wimps, too."
"Oh. What makes you think that I won't shy away, too?"
"Well, you've got that book." Wendy told him, gesturing at the leather-clad journal. "You've hardly written anything in it for the last year, because you've been living in boring, old California, and you're itching to put something in it. And what could be a better place to get inspiration then a spider-infested woods ten miles west of Gravity Falls?"
"Well…"
"Stan II also told me that the borders of Gravity Falls stretches around the forest, too, so paranormal stuff is there." Wendy told Dipper, nudging him eagerly. "Please?"
"Paranormal stuff, huh?" Dipper asked, frowning at the journal. "Fine. I'll go. But why didn't you go with your Dad?"
"He said that he 'went there once and once was enough'."
"Waitwaitwait, if Manly Dan, YOUR DAD couldn't handle it, what makes you think I can handle it?"
"Um, because you're Dipper Pines, your Grunkles are literally Stanly Pines and Stanford Pines. One owns brace knuckles and spent thirty years messing with machinery he didn't understand but still got it up and running, and the other owns laser guns and is a huge nerd. Also, your sister has managed to stay alive on an all-sugar diet. If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is." Wendy shrugged, smirking at him as she adjusted the pine tree hat.
Dipper hesitated one more time, weighing the pros and cons. There were really more cons then pros, but pros still won out. "Alright. Spider woods?"
"Yep. I'll…um… 'borrow' Thompson's mom's van." Wendy winked, an adventurous look crossing her face. "I'll pick you up at noon tomorrow, deal, dude?"
"Deal." Dipper agreed, grinning at her confidently.
Hooonk! Honk honk Hooonk!
"Dipper! Com'n out! Spider Woods awaits!" Wendy's voice broke through Dipper's thoughts as he flipped through the science magazine.
"Aack! Coming!" Dipper stuffed the magazine into his duffle bag, pulling it onto his shoulder as he rushed outside, turning his head to look over his shoulder. "Bye, Mable! Bye, Soos!"
"See you, dude!" Soos called, waving from his spot in the employees-only room.
"Bye, bro-bro!" Mabel beamed, cuddling with Waddles as she somehow knitted a sweater at the same time.
The mysteries that involved his sister still baffled Dipper to this day.
"There you are, man!" Wendy grinned, sitting in the front seat of the van. "Get in; I packed it with everything. We're going to backpack in and junk."
"Really? Are you sure that's…safe?"
"Of course not! When has a Corduroy ever done something 'safe'?"
"…granted. Let's get this show on the road!" Dipper whooped, heading for the back seats.
"Dude. It's just us. You can sit in the front." Wendy grabbed his arm and pulled him into the passenger seat.
Dipper slipped in without a word, adjusting himself in the seat.
Wendy revved up the car again, making it preform a U-turn as she turned it onto the road leading away from the mystery shack. "I'm surprised you haven't already gone to Spider Woods without Stan II, yet."
"Oh, yeah. I'm not sure why; he hasn't even mentioned it before." Dipper admitted, sighing in confusion as he gazed out the window.
"I don't know, man." Wendy shrugged, pulling onto the main street. "I've heard from S.W. Camper-veterans that it's pretty hard core for even one night. I'll bet they're wimps, too. You don't have arachnophobia, right?"
"I don't think so." Dipper frowned, cocking his head.
"Good. Those doofuses probably have arachnophobia, so they couldn't handle all the creepy-crawlies."
"Well, I'll let you know tomorrow, then." Dipper joked and was rewarded when Wendy laughed.
"I'll let you know, too." Wendy grinned, shaking her head.
"As if. You're not scared of anything." Dipper scoffed, glancing at her as he hugged his journal to his chest.
"Ha, how do you know that I just want you to think that, and I'm actually one of those freaks who wear a lunch bag over my face most of the time?"
"Um…"
Wendy laughed again, shoving him with her free hand. "I'm messing with you, dude. I'm not one of 'em freaks."
"I'm not sure if they classify as 'freaks'…" Dipper unsurely contemplated.
Wendy shrugged, scoffing. "Whatever, Dipper."
They lapsed into silence, focusing on the road ahead as they quieted, thinking about the terrors hiding in the woods.
"Here we are!" Wendy announced after fifteen-some minutes of driving. "Woods-sweet-woods!"
"The place where nightmares are born." Dipper mumbled, squeezing his duffle bag to him.
"Com'n, no arachnophobia, no problem." Wendy snorted, leaning down to ruffle his hair, but only managing to wrinkle his hat. "Eh, close enough. Out, out! Spider woods awaits!"
"Is it just me, or are we already pretty far in?" Dipper asked, gulping nervously.
The tall, swamp trees were clouded in mist, dozens of meters tall, their wet, mossy branches seeming to reach for the two teenagers, hauntingly towering over them.
"The deeper we go, the crazier it gets." Wendy chuckled, slinging her own backpack on her shoulders. "Or at least, that's one of the many, random bits of trivia I managed to wrangle from my Dad. Cool, right?"
"That doesn't answer my question." Dipper contemplated, watching Wendy suspiciously. "Are we already pretty deep in?"
"Naw, only about a mile or so. See, the road's-" Wendy pointed, then paused, staring at the trees beyond her finger. "Huh. I could have sworn it was right there. Like, literally, right there."
"Okay-hey-hey...Wendy, this is already creeping me out. You have, like, a great sense of direction, and suddenly disappeared?"
"Dude. Chill. It's just the fog messing with us."
"Wen-Dee!"
"Dip-pore!" Wendy repeated in the same, whiny, voice-cracked fashion, mimicking his pose. "Re-lax. Keep calm. As long as we find our way back to the van, we'll be good. Besides, we've only been here, like, what? Thirty seconds? And you're already wussing out on me?"
"It's not-"
"If you wuss out, I wuss out. My reputation would be ruined, man. I might be a total teen, but I'm not going to rebel against Manly Dan, okay? I'm not going to run all alone through Spider Woods, just because my partner wussed out and I didn't. Okay? Be a man, man." Wendy cuffed him gently, smirking at his expression as it morphed from terror to determination. "Right! I only have to survive one night of this twisted horror." Dipper smiled, trembling slightly.
"Night's still a ways off." Wendy reminded him, seeming overjoyed with this realization.
Dipper, not so much.
Sure, all that had happened was that they lost the path…but from the brief horror stories woven about this place from the town's folk, you could never be too careful.
"Which is good." Wendy continued, smirking to herself. "We get the full, horrifying experience."
"I don't consider that a good thing." Dipper scoffed, nervously interchanging his weight between feet.
Wendy just rolled her eyes, grunting. "Stop being a wuss. You agreed to come, so stop whining."
"I wasn't whining, just stating facts!"
"That's also whining. Man up, and get ready!" Wendy stretched out her arms, gesturing wildly to the tress, grinning. "We're about to enter the unknown."