Dipper's Past
Dipper's POV
I was waiting on the park bench next to the public restrooms. Wendy needed to go to the bathroom so I was sitting and waiting for her.
I could use the break thinking that my heart was about to explode with how close Wendy was getting with me the last few weeks.
She all of a sudden wanted to start spending more quality time with me and alone together if possible.
I didn't know what was going through the beautiful red-heads mind, but at this point I didn't care. I was happy to receive so much attention from her.
But I guess I wasn't the only one to notice how close Wendy was getting.
"Well if it isn't Dip-shit!"
I looked over to see a towering Robbie Valentino glaring down at me. Before I could speak he picked my light body up and threw me on the ground.
"I see Wendy has really taken a liking to you. She practically spends all her free time with you nowadays." Spat Robbie
"W-Well…I-I wouldn't know h-how much free time she has. I-I just hang out with her when she wants to." I stuttered
"Well it's too much if you ask me!" Robbie said as he slammed his foot on my stomach, then applying pressure so I couldn't wiggle out of his grip.
"It's getting to the point where everyone in town think you're a couple. And it needs to end. Now."
But Robbie glared daggers at me thinking I wanted a death sentence when a natural smile spread across my face at the thought of the town thinking that Wendy and I were a couple.
All I could think is, "Is that how it looks to everyone else? Does Wendy know?"
Robbie interrupted my train of thought by kicking me in the stomach.
"You sure have guts to smile like that in front of me. What do you like the thought of dating Wendy? You think you actually have a chance? Let me open your eyes here and now! Wendy is mine, and if you continue to be so close to her, I can guarantee you won't make it till the end of summer!"
But what I said next made a chill run down Robbie's spine.
I smiled quietly to myself.
"Wouldn't be the first time someone threatened me and it won't be the last…" I thought out loud.
Robbie was about to grab my vest and force me up when he got punched in the face out of nowhere.
"Robbie! What the fuck are you doing to my little Dipper!" Wendy shouted
"Nothing babe, just having a conversation. But now that I'm here, why don't you drop the kid at the daycare center and go on a date with a real man."
"You're a good liar Robbie, but it doesn't help that I heard and saw everything! I broke up with you because you are a complete asshole and you still are! Now leave me and Dipper alone and piss off!" Wendy shouted
"Pffft…whatever" Robbie said before he turned to leave. But at the last second, he gave me a look that said, "You better remember what we talked about or else!"
As soon as Robbie was out of sight, Wendy turned to me and kneeled down.
"Dipper are you alright?"
No, I wasn't. I was angry at myself for having to have Wendy come to my rescue. To have her defend me. I felt pathetic.
"Don't worry about me…I'm used to this kind of treatment." I thought out loud. But when those words left my mouth I knew I made a horrible mistake.
Wendy stopped everything as she heard what I said especially with the slight sadness in my voice.
"What does that mean?" she asked
"N-Nothing! It means nothing. You weren't supposed to hear that anyway." I said looking away from her and starting to continue down the park path.
Wendy grabbed my hand and stopped me. "Dipper you're a horrible liar! And I never thought you would try to lie to me. What did you mean by you're used to that kind of treatment? And while we are on the subject, what did you mean what you said to Robbie that "it wasn't the first time you've been threatened and wouldn't be the last?""
"Dammit, you heard that too?…" I mumbled
"Yes, I did!" Wendy said
I really had to work on keeping my thoughts, well thoughts.
"It's nothing that involves you or something that you have to worry about." I said
"So you admit there is something going on?" Wendy said with confidence growing inside her.
"You need to drop this Wendy…before you hurt the both of us."
"I won't drop this! Something isn't right about what you said and I want to know why!"
"Even if it hurts me and could change our friendship forever!" I shouted
Wendy was surprised. I had never yelled at her before. Hell, I had never shown any anger towards her before. She knew she stumbled upon something big and that I was worried about how she would react.
But still, Wendy didn't want to give up. She made sure to bring herself to my level and then glare at me. Her gaze almost felt as strong as her fathers. But it didn't paralyze me like when Mr. Corduroy does it. When Wendy stares at me, it makes me want to melt. My heart starts to race and I can no longer look her straight in the eye. If I do, I feel like I'd get lost in the emerald gaze.
But Wendy knew her victory was assured by looking at me like this. I couldn't ever say no to her glittering emerald eyes when they were like this. When they were so serious and filled with love and concern. Unflinching, showing no chance of backing down.
"A-Alright… You win…" I said defeated, still fidgeting under her gaze.
I grabbed her warm hand into mine and walked her towards the grass. We then sat down close together, still holding hands.
I could still feel her gaze on me as she waited.
"As you can guess, Mabel and I have always been the odd duo even before we came to Gravity Falls. Though our personal traits are completely different now." I chuckled.
"Mabel was always loud and outgoing. She could always make friends quickly and everyone loved her. Me on the other hand, I somehow became shy, nervous, fragile, held back and especially quiet."
"Became?"
"Ya…I can remember a time when I was exactly like Mabel. Scary thought huh!"
Wendy started imagining the hyper, enthusiastic girl and imagined there being two of them. It was a scary thought!
"But that all changed when we went to school… You see, Mabel and I had a habit of speaking our minds. Hers usually went to what she thought was cute or fun. But mine was more focused on the actions of people."
"So when I spoke my mind to the bullies at school and how I didn't like how they were treating their classmates, you could say I definitely caught their attention. I won't go into detail about what happened, but because of them, my personality started to slowly change over the years."
"I started to become shy because I never know what people will think of me especially when they see me get bullied every day."
"See you get bullied? You mean people saw signs of what was going on and didn't do anything!" Wendy said
"At first, I didn't understand it either. But now I know their reasoning, though I could never follow suit. Why should they risk their well-being or social status for somebody they didn't know? Somebody who didn't really affect their lives."
"I became more nervous because I never know what's around the corner. If they were sitting and waiting for me to pass by or if they're sneaking behind me to pass their daily judgment."
"I'm fragile because if I ever tried to fight back, it only made things worse. Even when I was finally able to explain the situation to the teachers and a couple of them were punished. It only made them come back and hit harder."
"I'm held back, because if I ever tried to befriend somebody or have fun, others paid for it. They would become targets to add to my misery. And most of the time the targets would hate me for it and never speak to me again. A couple even joined the group that was bashing and humiliating me out of anger towards me."
"And with all that happening, it just comes natural to be quiet. You want to not exist. To blend into the background. To become invisible. But somehow they still always find you."
"The Dipper you know Wendy isn't the real me. It's what's left after years of constant emotional torture and abuse every day."
I didn't notice while I was focusing on pulling grass out of the ground, but tears started to form in Wendy's eyes.
"The sad fact of the matter is, what Robbie did, didn't even make me flinch. Sure, he's older and stronger than the bullies back home, but there's only one of him."
"If I felt in danger because of Robbie, I could easily run or hide. I have all of Gravity Falls to use to my advantage. But…school is different. It's confined. Cramped. It's only private when you don't want it to be. At least from my own personal experience."
I could remember how I was suddenly alone so many times. Looking for a teacher, anybody that could help keep them from their daily routine of using me as a flesh punching bag. And only when they were done did it seem like there was no more privacy and the school was back to being crowded with classmates and teachers.
Wendy no longer knew how to feel about this. The way I described school made it sound like a battlefield. As if it was me against the world.
"Did Mabel ever find out about what was happening to you?" Wendy asked
"Of course not. I made sure of that! If she found out she'd probably go and try to beat them up. But that would only get her hurt or in the same situation. So I do my best to keep her blind to the whole thing."
"What if she sees them with you?" Wendy asked
"I tell her what I always do, that they're my friends."
All was silent. Wendy tried to take it all in. She now understood that Dipper had it rough. And that there was more to him that she initially thought. She didn't know Dipper as well as she thought she did. And with everything that has happened to him, no wonder his mind was so...complex."
"Ok, I'll admit that this was a depressing topic. But now you have to tell me the ending!"
"The ending?" I asked
"Ya the ending! Did Mabel come to save the day and beat the crap out of them! Or did the teachers find out and expel them! Oh! Maybe you outsmarted them to teach them a lesson!"
I sat there and didn't say anything.
"Come on Dipper tell me!"
I still showed no reaction.
"Dipper?...Di-"
Wendy looked at me as I looked away from her gaze. Silence fell between the both of us.
"Di…Dipper there is an ending right?" Wendy asked
"More like a pause…the same one I get every year…summer break." I said
"Wait…Are you saying once you leave gravity falls-?..."
I waited a few moments until I gave her my answer, by not saying anything at all.
Wendy was so confused and heartbroken from this. How could she come to terms with the fact that her brave little Dipper who has saved her multiple times during this summer and has defeated so many creatures of the forest, has not been able to defend himself against bullying. And it was still happening to him to this day!
"But Dipper, you're not going to let this continue right? I mean think of all the amazing things you've done this summer by yourself! Surely you can handle the situation now!"
"That only happened because I was defending you or Mabel. When it comes to you girls, there's nothing I won't do. But school is different. My courage and strength doesn't show when I'm trying to defend myself. Only when I defend those I care about."
It took a moment for Wendy to realize what Dipper just said.
"Wait… You still care about me? Even after I broke your heart?"
"Of course I do... Love isn't something that just goes away…" I mumbled
I was surprised to see Wendy suddenly having tears roll down her cheeks.
"Wendy! What's wrong?!" I said in a panic.
"I guess I'm just…happy." Wendy cried
"Happy?" I asked
"Dipper… Ever since I first turned your feelings down, I started to pay more attention to you. And I started to notice things. You're nervous fidgeting and the way you rub the back of your neck when you are nervous. The way you try to avoid eye contact with me or else you end up staring. You're thick tangled hair when you take your hat off. The way you chew on your pen when you're deep in thought until the point it explodes and you grab another one. Before I knew it, I started to spend all my free time with you, to notice more and more things about you. Soon the things I noticed became… The things I love about you."
"Dipper I love you! But now I find out how difficult things have been for you. I want to be there for you. I want to be somebody you can depend on. I know I have no right to ask this after breaking your heart, but please Dipper. Please accept my feelings?"
We sat there eye to eye as she waited for my answer. I began to get lost in them like I always did when I look at the sparkling emeralds within her eyes. I started to think about everything I noticed about Wendy when I first realized I was in love with her. Her emerald eyes. Her glistening red hair that shines in the sunlight. The way her curves fit tightly to her clothes. Her pure white smile when she laughs. The way she bites her lip when she's nervous. I learned a lot watching her. And now she's had the same experience with me. I still loved her and that was enough for me.
As our lips touched, I could feel the warmth of her love. And as she wrapped her arms around me, I felt the security she wanted to give me. The magical scene that only lasted a few moments, made me feel like I could make it. That I didn't have to disappear or become invisible. I realized that I didn't want to blend into the background. That I didn't have to go through life as a punching bag. With her by my side, I could do anything. Be anything. Could get through anything...
One month later… After encouragement from Wendy. I opened up to my parents and Mabel about what was going on. And feeling guilty about not noticing it sooner, they agreed to allow me to move to Gravity Falls Middle School so I could start over with a clean slate. Mabel of course followed me and we both stayed at Grunkle Stans who was happy to have us. And Wendy and I continued our relationship now as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was the beginning of another chapter in my life. And I was excited to see how everything would turn out.
