Author's Note: All right this has been a long time coming, an update to my first Gravity Falls fic that's been sitting on the backburner for a few years now. Hope you guys like it. Enjoy

Back To School

Chapter 2

The Back to School Bash

Early the next morning the kids were already at the breakfast cereal with Mabel cheerfully eating her Froot Loops while Dipper was aimlessly stirring his bowl of Frosted Flakes with a spoon when Stan came in his tank top and green striped boxers as usual joining them at the breakfast table.

"Stan?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah huh?" the old man asked reaching into pantry to retrieve the breakfast essentials.

"What were you really talking about with mom and dad last night?" the boy asked as the old man jolted a bit from the counter.

"Same thing I told you last night. Why?" he asked retaining his gruff façade as he looked back at him.

"No reason." Dipper said dejected as the old man sighed.

"All right kid, look I'm going to level with you." Stan old him as the two looked up at the old man from across the room who became extremely rigid now that they're little eyes were on him.

The old man fumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck and attempted to back pedal before this spiraled into a disaster.

"Well what's up?" he asked curiously, he was more than mature to at least know what was happening. But it was still going to be rough breaking the news to him as the old caretaker stood against the counter.

"The truth is…uh." he said averting his eyes for a moment as he continued to think. And started to rub the back of his neck again.

"The… the truth is…ahem!" Stan coughed and started choking on his words as he processed a million different ways to explain it to them as Dipper's face sagged with realization.

"They're getting a divorce aren't they?" he asked while Mabel spat up her cereal.

"What?!" she asked gobstruck while Stan continued to process the scene.

"Come on they wouldn't really do that! Our parents love each other!" Mabel said adamantly while Dipper held his gaze on Grunkle Stan before Mabel did the same.

"Uh…well…Y-you got me…Dipper.. It's not set in stone but they were talking about it." he admitted sadly as Mabel's face fell.

"They're getting a divorce? …Why?" she asked in a low soft voice.

"I'm not sure, kids your getting at the age where things will start to change. This isn't one of them I want you to know that! But sometimes when you're with someone for a long time…" the old man stated.

"Our parents are getting divorced because they've been married too long?" Mabel said confused when Stan realized his blunder.

"No, no…it's just…sometimes couples have to spend some time apart so they can realize how much they love each other. Believe me I've been there, I know what I'm talking about." Stan told them.

"But you were never married." Dipper said adamantly.

"You don't have to be married to have relationship problems. Look your parents asked me to look after you guys a little while longer, while they figure some stuff out." their grunkle told them.

"So what's going to happen to our family?" Mabel asked gripping her right arm.

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out." their uncle said turning his back to them.

"I know I may not be the most ideal caretaker but I made a promise to them that I would look after you two to the best of my abilities." Their uncle told them.

In truth there was more to the man than they realized, that he wasn't just a lying, conniving cheapskate of a great uncle. He was a man that had slowly accepted his role as parent and guardian of two young kids. And while he wasn't that fond of emotion, in his own gruff, irrelevant and cantankerous way…. he actually cared for them. It just took some prying on the kids' part to finally get through to him.

"Come on I said I was going to take you Back to School shopping today." their uncle told them as he left.

A short time later the trio were in downtown Gravity Falls as they walked past one of the many rustic storefronts peppering the town square with Mabel a few steps ahead of them as they headed into one of the local stores for supplies, a small bell above the front door jingled as they entered the store while Mabel raced to see the nearest confectionary booth that was filled barrels of candy near the cash register. As Dipper and Stan entered the former looked up to see Wendy just a few steps away with a handful of supplies. Dipper stammered as he stood in the doorway and was nudged in the back of the neck by Stan who was standing over him in the doorway and gave him a wily grin as he edged his way in leaving Dipper flustered as he adjusted his cap.

"Heh. S'up Wendy?" Stan said in an attempt to keep up with the kids' lingo while Dipper face palmed. The young redhead recognized his voice and turned to the door from her station.

"Oh hey guys. What are you doing here?" she asked as Mabel gleefully saw her presence.

"We're getting back to school supplies." She told the statuesque ginger.

"Whoa, cool so you guys are going to school here?" Wendy said with candor.

"Yep!" Mabel said with pride while Dipper's heart temporarily sank with the realization.

"Yep…" he parroted in a dejected tone.

"Well cool there's several stores where you can get everything you need. They have the lists for all the different schools over there on the rack." Wendy stated as she pointed over Mabel and Dipper's heads as the former raced over to grab hers in earnest anticipation while Dipper remained glued to the spot until finally Grunkle Stan shoved his way into the store.

"Kid your blocking the door." Stan mumbled as he ushered past him and went about his business until Wendy finally took notice.

"Whoa man…did someone die?" she asked with a worried expression.

"No, it's…well. Nevermind." He muttered as a concerned Wendy shelved the items she was holding and went over to him.

"Your not normally like this? What's wrong man?" she said as her frown deepened. Dipper tisked and decided to get straight to the point.

"Well…its just, I found that my parents are divorcing from Grunkle Stan this morning." He said dejected as the words hit Wendy as she dropped down to one knee with a heavy heart.

"Aww…Dipper. I'm…I'm really sorry to hear that dude." She said as she hugged the little man in a caring embrace. Normally Dipper would be over the moon with this sort of affection but it did little to quell the sickness in his heart.

"You know my parents divorced when I was little. I know how it is man." She said sympathetically.

"Really?" he asked looking back at her.

"Yeah I was 4 when it happened. Hey! I have an idea, why don't you come to the Back to School Bash?" she asked trying to renew his spirits.

"Back to School Bash?" he parroted.

"Yeah! It's a big celebration the town has before school starts. It's great!" she said.

"It's going to be in Circle Park at 4, that's when the concert begins but they have a bunch of rides going day and night!" she smiled.

"All right that sounds like fun." he smiled back.

"Great! Well I have to finish my back to school shopping, I'll see you in a bit okay?" she asked smiling.

"Yeah." He smiled back and had regained the boyish innocence she admired in him. And did her heart good to see him smile.

"Kay well you take care man." She said kissing his head and ruffled his hair a bit as she got up and left. Dipper straightened his hair and replaced his cap as his eyes followed her out and smiled.

"Heh. She actually cares about me." he mused. Normally Dipper would be gushing about this sort of thing, but a strange sense of maturity came over him in that moment as he saw her leave the store. Stan smiled softly having watched the scene from the corner of the store.

A few minutes later the duo were rummaging through supplies getting everything the store had on their list, namely the essentials such as pens, pencil and paper. Because let's face it in a rustic town like Gravity Falls tablets aren't exactly in style. It was actually kind of a relief not having to be tethered to technology like they were back home and even then they didn't have access to a tablet with the most advanced piece of tech they had was a desktop computer and an outdated Game Boy and game station from a few years ago which kept Dipper and Mabel more than occupied when they were home. Most of the townspeople here didn't see the point in staring at your phone all day and making status updates every five minutes, which was a larger city thing to most residents, unless they were teenagers or Pacifica Northwest. But that's beside the point.

About an hour later they finished their school shopping granting every item they needed on the list as the kids raced upstairs and threw their new book bags on their beds, each with their own unique design matching their personality and quickly rummaged through their things making sure they had everything, before Dipper and Mabel raced back down stairs meeting Stan at the door as they went to Back to School Bash in the park.

It was late in the evening having already been there for a few hours as Wendy and Dipper rode one of the sky bound octopus rides, sitting inside a two person bucket seat with a lap bar as the car spiraled around on a spindling mechanical arm representing its namesake as the two cheered and whipped around in the evening air laughing throughout the ride as it rose and fell as the octopus teetered around with eight other cars on the arms of the ride. The pair giggled as they were whipped about with Wendy's hair flowing all around them as the ride continued to spin, Dipper smiled and opened his eyes to see his summer crush and her long auburn mane whipping about and was a vision to him for her to be this happy and in the moment. This is the closest he'd been to her all summer and it was great. He'd been able to keep her away from Robbie for the long time he'd ever imagined it was almost as though they were on a date. She asked him to hang out with her so it had to be one right? He had to admit it was great, no phenomenal spending this much time with her.

He was tempted to make a move on her, like an actual move but he wasn't sure if he should or not. The timing felt right but there was a knot in his stomach telling him not to, but his heart and his mind were in conflict and he didn't know which one to listen to. He wanted to kiss her, just a little tiny peck on the cheek he was certain she wouldn't notice or mind. But what if she did? What if she was horrified and the ride, nay the world stopped then and there because of this sin? This breach of trust? He was coming of age now, should he do it? Should he chance it and be in the moment? Or should he respect the status quo and hopes it comes into play later on? He didn't know what to do in that moment, Wendy would probably hate him if he tried, but he may hate himself if he doesn't. He had to choose it was now or never, he started to lean in but the ride bumped them and slammed him into Wendy's right side as she looked down at the boy who was trying to make a kissy face towards her knocking his head into her right arm.

"You all right Dip?" she said unaware. Dipper groaned and rubbed his forehead slightly.

"Yeah I'm all right." he muttered as she smiled at him.

The ride let them off a moment later as they stepped off to his embarrassment while Wendy took his hand and led him over to another attraction. He smiled softly as the affair was all but forgotten about as his crush eagerly led the way. And were at the top of a giant slalom ride a few minutes later that stood about 30 feet tall as the stood at the peak with a pair of skies between them as they overlooked a narrow, rocky terrain as bizarre a sight this may be in other places it was a fairly common attraction in Gravity Falls as the two were buckled into their bindings with Dipper standing infront of Wendy on the two person skies with Wendy stabilizing the two of them with her poles.

"You sure you want to do this dude?" Wendy asked looking down at the hill.

"Are you kidding? With all the other crazy stuff in this town…*ulp* this should be a blast." he said with a tinge of fear.

"All right." she said as they started down the rocky trial with Dipper screaming as they made the first turn.

By then the paralyzing fear had passed as Wendy was enjoying herself as they made their way down the winding hill with Wendy in command the entire time only for Dipper's fear to subside when they were three quarters of the way down and started to enjoy the ride himself and were both laughing before the ride was over as the reached the bottom of the trail unscathed.

"Hey that was actually fun!" he said.

"You want to go again?" she asked.

"Sure." He said as raced back to the top.

The rest of the night continued without a hitch as they rode the roller coaster and went down the giant slide together on a blanket while Dipper tried his hand at winning a prize for her yet again though she seemed to have learned her lesson and hid behind Dipper as he tried to hit the target and struck the carney instead as they ran off. And could be found on top of the ferris wheel moments later with Dipper in the same precarious position as before. Wendy smiled having switched out her typical green plad shirt and hat for a yellow tank top and light blue Capri jeans and sandals with her arms stretched out as she reclined next to him.

"So you having fun tonight Dipper?" she asked causally glancing straight ahead at the night sky.

"Yeah I am actually. This is the most fun I've had in a while actually." He blushed.

"Cool man, glad to hear it dude." she answered looking out at the horizon as Dipper rested his head close to her.

"I'm glad you invited me out here tonight." he told her.

"I'm glad you made it. If there's anybody that deserves to be here tonight its you." she said as he poked his head up.

"R-Really? What do you mean?" he inquired looking up at her as she smiled.

"I mean you've done so much for this town man. Solving mysteries and saving the town from monsters and demons and shit and everything else that's happened. You deserve a night off from all of that. Tonight is your night dude!" she smiled back as he pondered.

Its true they had been through a lot, far more than any 12 year old should ever have to deal with. All sorts of town lore, monsters and manifestations that were well beyond his level of understanding. And had often wondered what this might mean for his and Mabel's mental development, or if he would have a future in hunting these beasts when he was older? A faint, muffled voice invaded his thoughts before he realized that Wendy was talking to him and were still on top the Ferris Wheel.

"Bipper...Dipper..." she said as he rose out of his cloud of thoughts to realize she was sitting right next to him.

"Dude you okay? You kinda zoned out for a minute there." she said with a worried tone.

"Huh? Oh yeah...sorry I uh, kinda get lost in my thoughts sometimes." he grimaced and looked away, rubbing the back of his short neck.

"Well don't get buried in there or I might have to call a search party." she joked and he shared a nervous chuckle with her. Which brought him back to the initial problem. And smiled a bit as he thought with his head facing away from her.

"Hey uh...can I ask you something?" he said earnest.

"Sure dude ask away!" she told him folding her hands behind her head as they sat at the top.

"Would you um...what would you think of a guy like me?" he asked rubbing his arm in comfort as he looked away from her. Her expression changed a bit and became more neutral as she looked back.

"A guy like you?" she asked, and sighed and smiled as she sat up straight in their bench seat.

"Dude...Dipper I think your a real sweet guy." she said as she leaned against the restraint bar in front of them. As he started to feel a hitch in his throat as she delivered these words to him.

"And I love hanging out with you and Mabel all summer, working at the shack and going on all these wild adventures with you guys. But...(sigh) I'm a little old for you. I mean I'm 15." she smiled.

"Ohh." Dipper groaned in disappointment before she interjected as though part of her plan.

"But! Your not out of the game just yet. If you ask me again in a few years, in say- high school then who knows? Might be different. And when you get to high school I promise to be your date to your first dance." she smiled.

The Ferris wheel started to shake as it started it slow descent back towards Mother Earth leaving Dipper to process this information.

"So your not weirded out by this?" he asked with a look of concern.

"Don't even worry about it, you know it happens to the best of us. In the meantime we can keep being the same awesomely close friends that we are!" she said as the fair carriage finally brought down to the ground and exited the platform.

"Thanks." he smiled as they continued walking.

"No problem, now since you already won me a stuffed animal. How about I win one for you?" she said as they laughed and headed back towards the game section of the fair and continued that way as they hung out together for the rest of the night.

The next morning the alarm clock rang in the twins' bedroom who were both fast asleep as Stan called out to them from kitchen, and was the start of the first day of school.

Author's Note: Alright so what did you think of that? I tried to take a more grounded approach to GF. I always try to put my own spin and try to do the opposite of what everyone does in fics to provide a fresh take on something. Let me know what you guys think.

Please Review,

Green Gallant