[Nearly 4 Years Later]
[June 2016; Last Day of Junior Year]
The clock hit three in the afternoon and the final bell rang. The school year was officially over. Students started flooding out of classrooms, stampeding down the halls. Everyone was rushing to get home and start their summer vacation, finally getting a solid three-month break from the constraints of high school.
Students began to burst straight through the main doors, rushing toward the designated areas of their transportation methods. Some students stayed back though, whether to socialize, wait to be picked up, or take part in the ongoing after-school extracurricular activities.
Dipper Pines was one of these students that stayed on campus, but he had other plans.
The sixteen-year-old stood by his locker, cleaning it out of his personal belongings before leaving for the summer. Verifying he had everything he needed, he closed it and looked to his right.
A few lockers down was Madison Calias, a smart girl Dipper knew in some of his AP classes that he has also been interested in for some time now.
Throughout his time in high school, Dipper has admittedly fallen for girls that were far out of his league. But slowly, the idea of getting together with the beautiful popular girl seemed like nothing but an impossibility for someone like him, so he tried to mainly stick to people within his obtainable range. Someone like him. To him, Madison was really attractive and seemed to fit well enough within his league so it wouldn't look like he was paying someone to go out with him if they did hit it off. Although they didn't talk more than he did with any of the other average acquaintances he made during the school year, he wanted to try and change that by asking to keep in touch over the summer. That is, of course, if his nervousness doesn't interfere more than he expects it to.
She stood by her locker, talking with her other friends. Dipper looked intently, already beginning to feel his nervous sweats beginning to drip down his forehead. He quickly took off his lumberjack hat(which he still held onto and continued to wear since Wendy gave it), wiped away the sweat with his hand and then brushed his hair back. He placed the hat back on his head and took a deep breath. Realizing he'll only be progressively less ready the more he waits, he decided to walk over to her.
He quietly stepped over toward the group until he halted right in front of Madison. He may have stepped over a bit too quietly, however, as all the girls seemed to not even notice his presence, and kept talking with one another. After standing there awkwardly for a few seconds and not knowing how else to get their attention, he cleared his throat loudly, bringing the girls' heads his way.
They stared at him blankly for a good moment while Dipper kept silent, but he felt like he could hear his heart about to break out of his chest.
"Um, h-hey Madison," he managed to force out of him, his nervousness continuing to increase every passing second.
Madison acknowledged him. "Hey, Dipper," she casually responded.
Her friends began to turn away, quietly bidding goodbye to her before walking off, leaving the two alone. This somewhat alleviated Dipper's stress, as he no longer needs to worry about embarrassing himself in front of a whole crowd now. It still didn't make him any less sweaty.
Madison turned toward her locker and opened it as she spoke to Dipper. "So how did you do on Brook's final?"
Mr. Brook was his AP U.S. History teacher. He had literally just come from finishing his exam for that class. He nervously cleared his throat, trying to keep himself together. "Oh, just fine. Easy test. It was all common sense."
"Right?" she agreed as she grabbed a book out of her locker. "I didn't think it was nearly as bad as the others made it out to be. It's good to know you feel the same way."
"Exactly," Dipper nervously chuckled. "And speaking of feeling the same way-I mean-!" He panicked, cutting himself off.
"What?" Madison asked, turning toward him with a confused look.
"Nothing!" Dipper lied, currently wanting to strangle himself for letting something so stupid come out of his mouth. Clearing his throat once again, he tried to shift the conversation. "Anyways, I was gonna ask you, um, what your summer plans are?"
"Oh," she said, dismissing his previous outburst. "Nothing too interesting, I guess. Just doing a bunch of community service this summer to rack up service hours for graduation, working on online summer college classes, working with the student government with my plans as president for next school year, and going out with my new boyfriend."
"Wow, that actually sounds like a busy sum-" Dipper began, but stopped upon processing her last part. "Wait, new boyfriend?!"
"Yeah," she said dreamily with a blush. "Greg Menkins asked me to be his girlfriend earlier and I said yes!"
Dipper stared at her in total shock for a good moment before he's able to speak up again. "G-Greg Menkins?"
"There he is!" she said, pointing to the side.
Dipper looked over and saw Greg walking over to them at that very moment. He was a scrawny kid with long, bright orange hair and pale skin. His glasses were bigger than his face and he was wearing the brightest red shirt he could've picked to wear that day. To top it off, he was about a foot shorter than him.
"Hey Maddy," Greg said as he walked right up to Madison. She then bent down so the two could share a quick kiss on the lips.
"Hey babe," she said with a dreamy smile.
Greg noticed Dipper, who was staring at the two with his mouth agape and his eye twitching.
"Who's this?" Greg asked skeptically as he scanned Dipper from head to toe.
"This is Dipper," she clarified. "You know him. He's in our AP US History class."
"Oh right," he said, shaking his head at his mistake. "My bad, Dipper. Should've known from the hat."
"It's...fine," Dipper bitterly responded, still shocked at what he's currently witnessing.
"Anyways babe," Greg said, turning back to Madison. "I have a bus to catch. Just wanted to see you once more before heading out. See you at dinner tonight?"
"Absolutely," she responded with a bright smile.
"Great," Greg said. He turned back to Dipper. "Have a good summer, Dipper."
Dipper was too bitter to say the same back. But it didn't matter, as Greg already had begun walking off before he could even respond anyway.
Madison sighed dreamily as she watched him walk off. "Can't believe such a nice and smart guy like him would ask me out. He's so humble too. Seeing him so nervous when he asked me out was so cute!"
Dipper didn't know if it was possible to get any more irritated than he currently was. But this revelation did just that. He turned toward her and responded the best way he could at the moment. "Yep."
She turned back toward him. "So anyway, what are you doing this summer?"
Dipper's brain had basically given up on the entire situation, so he just continued to respond in the most lifeless way possible. "Um, you know. Stuff, I guess."
She chuckled as she grabbed another book from her locker, completely oblivious of his bitter nature. "Well, don't work too hard."
Dipper knew she was joking, but he was in no mood for it. He wanted nothing more than for the conversation to just end already. "Heh, I'll try not to," He blankly responded.
Madison closed her locker shut and turned back toward him. "Well, I should be on my way. I guess I'll see you next year?"
"Yeah, probably," Dipper agreed blankly.
"Cool," she said, walking off. "See ya!"
Dipper watched her walk away until she left the building through the main entrance at the end of the hall. He sighed, slumping himself against the lockers in frustration. He felt embarrassed with himself despite not having anything to truly be embarrassed by at that moment.
He hadn't been successful with a girl since the road trip he went on with Grunkle Stan. That trip, he received the numbers and emails of several different girls using Stan's 'technique'. Even then that wasn't successful, as he basically made himself look like a playing jerk in the end. But at least he was able to actually talk to girls. How he's only gotten worse at it in only four years is one of the few mysteries that he can never solve.
He was suddenly startled by a clapping sound. He turned around and saw Derrick, his best friend, approaching him while slow clapping.
"Way to go," Derrick said in a sarcastic tone as he stood in front of Dipper.
"Wait, what? You overheard all of that?" Dipper asked frantically.
"Overheard? Nah," Derrick denied, casually placing his hands in his pockets. "I was standing by that door back there and watched the whole thing," he clarified, gesturing toward the door down the hall behind him.
"Ugh!" Dipper exclaimed, tugging down on the flaps of his hat in embarrassment.
"Hey man, it wasn't that bad," Derrick defended. "I remember when you asked out Angie Michaels to homecoming. At least this time, it wasn't your fault."
"C'mon man!" Dipper said, cringing as he remembered the Angie Michaels incident. "You promised you'd never speak of that day!"
"Alright, fine," Derrick said, accepting the blame. "I'm just saying that this is nothing compared to that."
"Yeah, well, I feel just as dead inside as I am after any of my other failed attempts with a girl before," Dipper said, beginning to walk down the hall.
"Why are you even trying to ask someone out now?" Derrick asked as he followed. "Aren't you going away for the summer anyway?"
"Yeah, I guess," Dipper answered, remembering his upcoming trip to Gravity Falls. "I wasn't really trying to ask her out though. I was gonna ask to keep in touch, but I guess that's out of the question."
"Is having her as a friend not good enough for you?" Derrick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"C'mon man, it's not like that," Dipper defended, "It's just...freakin' Greg Menkins? Seriously?"
"I got you, man. I was just joking," Derrick clarified. "But I think it's a safe bet that you have a shot if their relationship goes south this summer."
"Maybe, but I'm not gonna bet on that happening. Nor am I going to worry about it," Dipper said, working up a smile. "As you mentioned, I got a summer in Gravity Falls to look forward to."
"Right. Gravity Falls: the town of mythical creatures and mystery," Derrick said in a dry tone, rolling his eyes.
Dipper realized Derrick's tone and lowered his eyebrows in annoyance. "And you still don't believe me."
"Dipper, you're my friend, but you're trying to convince me that there's such thing as gnomes and unicorns," Derrick chuckled. "And coincidentally, I just found out that my grandfather lives in Gravity Falls himself and the weirdest thing he's ever seen is a spork."
"Wait! I think I've read a creature called a spork before in one of my Great Uncle's journals," Dipper said, turning to the side to think it over. "I think it was some sort of large hybrid between a stork and a pig that roams somewhere within-"
"For god's sake Dipper," Derrick cut off with a facepalm. "I'm talking about the utensil!"
"Oh."
"Yeah," Derrick said. "My grandfather doesn't get out a lot. It took him until his early 70s to figure out there was such thing as a spoon-fork combination. I'm not talking about some weird stork-pig hybrid. Look, man. I know you're smart, but that's just crazy. Along with the fact that you've never even shown me proof of any of these weird things you talk about, can you really blame me for not believing you?"
"I have shown you proof!" Dipper exclaimed, getting in Derrick's face. "Remember that one time you came over and showed you Mabel's scrapbook?"
"Your sister's little coloring book isn't proof, dude," Derrick said, lowering his eyebrows.
"Scrapbook, man! Scrapbook!" Dipper reiterated, stretching his arms out frustratedly.
"Alright, whatever," Derrick carelessly replied with an eye roll. "Look, if our school yearbook team knows how to edit a photo so it looks like our football team won homecoming, I'm sure it's not impossible that your arts and crafts freak-of-a-sister knows how to do the same with the pictures in her book."
"You seriously think she went through the effort to edit our summer photos to make it seem like we were encountered monsters?" Dipper asked. As he thought of his question again, he realized that Mabel is exactly the type of person to go through the effort for something so crazy.
"Do you even know your sister, dude?" Derrick asked, which was the exact thing Dipper expected once he realized the flaw in his own question.
"Yeah, you're right. Nevermind," Dipper retracted, but a confident smile then struck his face. "Alright, you know what? Forget the scrapbook. Since my parents just bought me a phone earlier this week, I'll just take pictures and text you evidence myself."
"Alright, whatever you say," Derrick chuckled. He still wasn't buying into Dipper's crazy ideas about weirdness in Gravity Falls, but he didn't want to keep drawing out an argument they've been having for years. "And wait, your parents just bought you a phone but your sister has had her own for years now?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I'm not much of a phone guy," Dipper admitted as he took his phone out of his pocket to show him. "Our parents just figured that if we're going to Gravity Falls again, it would be better if I was the one keeping them up to date since...well, you know how Mabel is."
"Unfortunately," Derrick said distastefully.
It's never been a secret to Dipper that Derrick disliked Mabel and vice versa. Their first meeting may have been opened by a petty accident, but that one accident destroyed all good impressions of one another for the future. When Dipper finally revealed to her that he had befriended Derrick, she wasn't a fan. Besides their bitter first meeting, she just wasn't a fan of his mannerisms, appearance, behavior, and dark nature. And in the same way, Derrick wasn't a fan of Mabel's quirky nature and behavior. The two were almost total opposites of one another and they didn't attract at all.
So Dipper did try to keep his promise of keeping the two apart but occasionally stepped over the line in various attempts to get the two to get along. Upon reminding them about how petty they were about their first meeting, this would convince them to at least try and put their differences and past beside so they could try to be friends, but it never seemed to work out. The two would just continue to hate and make fun of one another. Every future meeting and interaction with one another was always bitter and petty nonsense, despite Dipper's attempts at being the peacemaker.
"Well," Dipper began. "I gotta go meet up with her so we can head home and finish packing. We leave for Gravity Falls in the morning. So if you don't feel like being around her…"
"I'll just come with," Derrick shrugged. "We can walk and talk a bit more before we part ways for three months."
"Alright, I guess," Dipper said. He didn't have any problem with Derrick's decision, but he hoped that he and Mabel wouldn't cause a scene once they met up.
Mabel preferred that Dipper wouldn't keep being friends with Derrick because of his bad background. Dipper knew Derrick had done bad things before. But Derrick didn't like talking about them. Despite how much Dipper had opened up to Derrick about his own problems, Derrick kept to himself with most of his own issues. The most he knew was that Derrick had a bad relationship with his dad. He also knew his dad was divorced, but Derrick had never made any mention of his mother, yet he always talks about how much he resents his father. Beyond that, Derrick's history was mostly a mystery.
But it never really mattered because Derrick has always been a good friend to him. Despite what might be of his background and his bad relationship with Mabel, he was never bad to Dipper. Even if he befriended him because he saved him from a bully, they actually connected really well with one another. The two hung out often and generally looked out for one another. Derrick may not be the nerdy best friend one might expect Dipper to have, but he was great to have around. Especially since he only had Mabel around growing up, he never really had many masculine influences from his surroundings, so having Derrick around for nearly four years has kind of balanced things out a bit.
Derrick was a good friend, despite their arguments about existing weirdness in Gravity Falls. And Dipper was totally ready to prove Derrick wrong once he got evidence back in Gravity Falls anyway.
In the art room, Sammy was looking up at Gretchen, who stood on top of a ladder holding a box up to a shelf. Holding her breath, she pushed and slid the box directly on top of it. She let out a deep breath and began inhaling and exhaling heavily in exhaustion.
"There!" she called back down at Sammy. "All the art supplies are put away."
"Great!" Sammy exclaimed joyfully. She turned back toward Mabel, who was standing in the corner of the room beside a counter. "Mabel! I think we've packed up everything for the year."
"Oh, that's great!" Mabel said dismissively as she picked a jar of glitter from the counter to examine it.
"Mabel?" Sammy asked, grabbing Mabel's attention as she walked up to her. "Why's the glitter out? We're supposed to have all the supplies packed away already."
"Oh I know," Mabel assured with a smile. "I'm just checking to see which glitter I want to bring home that will go great with the new outfit I'm designing."
"Mabel! You know we can't take any art supplies from the school home with us!" Sammy exclaimed fearfully. "You know they'll blame us for anything the school finds missing in this classroom!"
"Exactly! Which is why instead of taking home one of these jars of glitter, I'm going to dump it all over me. Instead of stealing, it'll be a mess that I'll have to go home and clean up with a vacuum. Then I'll have gotten the glitter from school without stealing!" Mabel clarified, confidently smiling at the presumed effectiveness of her plan.
Sammy gave her a questioning look for a good moment as Gretchen walked over to join the two. "Why don't you just go out and buy more glitter?"
Mabel thought about the question for a brief moment before taking a jar of green and blue glitter and dumping it on her head, with Sammy and Gretchen promptly standing back to avoid getting covered in glitter themselves.
Looking back at Mabel, they saw that the glitter quickly spread across every bit of her hair, clothes and exposed body. She was sparkling green and blue from head to toe. Mabel appeared to be thinking again for a moment before smiling widely.
"Yeah, this is way more fun," she said, before promptly sneezing, making a cloud of glitter that filled the surrounding air.
"It sure looks like fun," Gretchen admitted, with Sammy nodding in agreement.
"Girls!" a voice called from behind. The three turned to see Angela sprinting up to them excitedly with her phone in hand.
"What's up Angel-ah-ahh-AH-CHOO!" Mabel sneezed again, forming yet another cloud of glitter. She looked up with a guilty smile as she rubbed her nose. "What's up?"
"Firstly, gazuntite," Angela said politely, before building up her excitement again. "And secondly, I just found read that Madison Calias is going out with Greg Menkins!"
"Awww!" Sammy and Gretchen exclaimed excitedly.
"Wait, what?!" Mabel exclaimed in concern. "My brother liked Madison. And I think he was going to ask her out today. I hope he doesn't get too hurt about this when he finds out."
"Yeah," Angela agreed. "At least it isn't as bad as what happened with Angie Michaels." She started chuckling until Mabel gave her a stern expression as if she was warning her. Angela quickly noticed and lowered her head guiltily. "Sorry."
Mabel rolled her eyes. "Anyways, hopefully, he doesn't take the news too bad if he heard it already. We're leaving for Gravity Falls tomorrow and I don't want this to get to him. I might have to bust out an old list of rebound crushes I had made for him last time we were there. Just in case he has trouble moving on, and believe me, he usually does."
"And what about you?" Sammy asked her with a smirk.
"What about me?"
"You talked about all those boys you met during your last time in Gravity Falls," Sammy explained. "Are you going to look for another summer romance?"
"Ooooh," Angela and Gretchen said excitedly.
"Oh no, not this time," Mabel said sternly. "Absolutely not."
"Awww," Angela and Gretchen then said disappointedly.
"Why not?" Sammy asked.
"Because I'm happy with how I am without a boyfriend," Mabel said, crossing her arms. "I already spent enough summers before I went to Gravity Falls hunting a summer romance. It never led anywhere. Sure, I met some cute boys in Gravity Falls and had my first kiss but it's not like any of that led anywhere. It was just a waste of time."
"So no boys at all this time? No cute merman or even a dreamy centaur?" Gretchen asked.
Mabel sighed. "Look, if I come across someone who I feel is really special, then I'll go for it. But I'm not gonna go around chasing every opportunity at getting a guy like I used to do. I used to be really crazy about boys before and even pushed my brother aside for them. I don't want to do that again."
"That's sweet of you to think about putting your brother before yourself, Mabel," Angela said earnestly.
"Yeah, and we're gonna miss you when you're away in Gravity Falls," Gretchen said sadly, Angela and Sammy nodding in agreement.
"Aw, I'm gonna miss you girls too," Mabel said solemnly, pulling them together into a big group embrace, the other girls not even minding that she's still covered in glitter.
If there's anything Mabel was going to miss during her trip back to Gravity Falls, it was her friends. Unlike her brother, she had made several other friends growing up. However, those friendships couldn't keep up as her friends either moved away, changed, or just stopped talking to her out of the blue. Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen were very simple friends but they were always there for her since she met them in eighth grade.
Mabel had never forgotten about Candy and Grenda and actually kept in touch with them during her time in Piedmont. What was a shame was how she would probably never get to join these two groups of friends together. She knows that if she could bring Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen together with Candy and Grenda, they'd have the best friend group imaginable. But unfortunately, the likelihood of either group meeting the other was too unlikely outside of video chat. But even video chat wouldn't be quite the same, as even Mabel didn't even find video chatting Candy and Grenda to feel the same as when the three were hanging together in Gravity Falls.
"Woah," a voice intercepted from behind the girls. They broke their group hug and turned to see Dipper and Derrick standing by the door looking at them. "What kind of love fest did we just stumble upon?"
"Oh great," Mabel said, eyes narrowing in annoyance. "Dipper, why'd you bring him here?"
Dipper opened his mouth to speak up, but Derrick cut him off. "My best pal's leaving for a few months. Am I not allowed to chat with him once more before he leaves and has to put up with no one else but you for three months?"
"Derrick, please. We literally just talked about this on our way here," Dipper reminded, narrowing his eyes at him warningly. Derrick just crossed his arms and looked to the side silently. Dipper then turned back toward Mabel. "Anyways, ready to get going, sis?"
"You bet, bro-bro!" Mabel said, her sour attitude caused by Derrick immediately reverting back to normally cheerful attitude. She quickly grabbed her handbag and walked up beside Dipper. He was suddenly hit by a few specs of the glitter that she was covered in, prompting him to move a few steps away from her.
"Um, why are you covered in glitter?" Dipper asked as he used his hands to fan away the specs from his face.
"Because it's more fun than buying glitter from the arts and crafts store," she said, her tone making it sound as if the answer was obvious.
"That's just-" Dipper started, preparing to tell her how ridiculous her reasoning is but immediately realized the pointlessness of his argument. "You know what? Nevermind. Let's just get going. We have to finish packing tonight."
"I got it, Mr. Impatient," Mabel poked. "Just let me finish saying goodbye to my friends."
She turned away from him and walked back toward Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen. They extended their arms out and formed one last heartfelt group hug.
"Goodbye girls," Mabel said wistfully to the three.
"Don't forget to send pictures of cute centaurs if you find any," Gretchen reminded sorrowly.
"Of course, Gretchen," Mabel told her. "If I find a cute centaur, I will send you as many pictures of him as you want."
Dipper and Derrick stood watching the four girls from behind. Derrick looked completely uninterested in everything.
"Why are girls so emotional? They know it's only gonna be three months, right?" Derrick asked, expressing his annoyance of the situation.
"Just chill out, man," Dipper requested. "I don't want to have to deal with separating you two again on the day before our trip."
"Whatever," Derrick dismissed with an eye roll. "I guess I'll just get going myself."
"You do that!" Mabel called out, having overheard Derrick's statement.
"Aaaand I'm just going to ignore that," Derrick dismissed. He then held his fist out toward Dipper. "I guess I'll see you again next year granted you don't get eaten alive by one of those giant man-eating spiders that you claim exist."
Dipper chuckled, bumping his own fist against Derrick's. "You joke now, but I'm telling you. I'll get you real evidence this time."
"Oh man, and I absolutely can't wait," Derrick said sarcastically, turning around. He waved his hand back once more. "I'll see you around, Dipper."
"See ya, Derrick," Dipper waved back as he watched Derrick walk out of the room.
Mabel walked up to Dipper and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Dipper. I'm sure Soos will provide you with enough brotherly love to get your mind off that freak."
"Shut up," Dipper chuckled, slapping her hand off of his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go home."
Dipper walked out of the room, with Mabel about to follow him until she glanced back at her friends in the room. They waved at her, which prompted her to wave back at them one last time before following her brother.
The girls put their arms down, the three now left on their own in the room.
"Man, I'm gonna miss Mabel," Gretchen sighed. Sammy and Angela gave her a weird look, which she notices. "What?"
"Seriously Gretchen," Angela began. "What is with you and centaurs?"
"What? They're dreamy!" Gretchen defended. "They're half horse and half man. What doesn't sound dreamy about that?"
"The half horse part," Sammy argued, eyes narrowing in disgust. "Like, what is dreamy about that?"
"You two pick on me for liking centaurs but no one says anything about Angela's vampire boyfriend daydreams," Gretchen argued back, causing Sammy to start snickering as she looked over at Angela. Seeing Sammy laugh, Gretchen couldn't help but start giggling herself.
"Hey, at least they make movies about attractive vampires!" Angela defended, blushing. "What mainstream movies today are about hot centaurs?" However, Sammy and Gretchen couldn't stop laughing. Embarrassed at how the tables had turned on her, Angela just crossed her arms and turned away as her face burned red, leaving Sammy and Gretchen to crack up without interference.
It was 9:30 PM. The sun had already set upon the day and the night sky was clear and the neighborhood was calm and quiet.
Mabel, glitter already cleaned off of her, was in her room scavenging through her closet. Waddles sat beside her opened pink-polka-dotted purple luggage on her bed and it had more than a reasonable amount of clothes stacked inside. A bunch of different sweaters, tops, bottoms and even dresses were also spread out across her room as if she couldn't decide what she was bringing.
Every single bit of Mabel's wardrobe was handcrafted by her. Of course, she had been born with a natural talent and love for art and fashion. She picked up the ability to knit all on her own. She had a habit for designing mainly sweaters growing up, especially during her time in Gravity Falls. By the time she reached high school, her fashion sense expanded and she had begun going beyond sweaters(not to mention, having a sweater-heavy wardrobe wasn't really a blessing during hot summer days).
She soon started to design her own tops and bottoms, exclusively in her own unique style just like her sweater designs. Not only that, but she designed for others as well. Rather than getting a regular part-time job during her time in school, she found it pretty easy to profit off making outfits and other clothes for the students at her school. It was probably much more profitable than any part-time job she could've acquired anyway. She was great at what she did and all the other teens loved her style and how unique it was, aspiring to look just like her.
Now she searched her closet trying to figure out what she wanted to bring along with her to Gravity Falls, as she didn't have room for everything. And she would absolutely take everything if she could.
She then pulled out two hangers holding two different outfits. One was a sleeveless orange and yellow top with a smiley-face sun on the front, paired with jean shorts. The other hanger held a navy blue sundress patterned with yellow stars paired with a navy floppy straw hat. She ran up to her night desk which had her tablet stood on top.
"Alright," Mabel began. "Next we have a cute sun top with jean shorts and the starry night sundress with a cute hat to go with. Which one screams 'Girrrl, I didn't know it was summer until I saw your adorable outfit!' more?"
On the tablet screen, Candy and Grenda were displayed on the other end of an ongoing video call. The two girls were seen visibly examining Mabel's two outfits.
"Hmm," Candy said as she looked at the outfits. "It's a hard decision, but I think the sundress is much cuter."
"Agreed," Grenda said as she nodded her head. "The sun top screams 'Man, I'd punch her in the face for that outfit.' But the sundress screams 'Man, I'd literally kill her for that outfit!'"
"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Mabel exclaimed cheerfully. She walked back to her closet and put away the orange sun top and jean shorts before walking back to her luggage and placing the sundress on the already large stack of outfits. "Sundress it is!"
"I still can't believe it's been nearly four years since you came to Gravity Falls," Candy awed.
"Yeah. I still remember all of our times together like they was yesterday," Grenda added. She then looked to the side to think. "Although, that might be because of the concussion I got a few weeks ago. I still haven't completely recovered and I've developed a bit of short-term memory loss."
"Ah," Mabel chuckled nervously. "Um, but you're okay, right?"
Grenda still appeared to be thinking until she looked back at the screen. "Wait, what were we talking about again?"
Mabel stared at the screen for a moment, not knowing how to respond.
"It's okay. I've been helping look after her," Candy assured. "She does this."
"Um, okay then," Mabel said, simply taking her word for it. "Anyways, it stinks that we won't be able to meet right away with where both of you guys are going this week."
"Oh, don't worry," Grenda responded. "I usually get kicked out of wrestling camp early because of how much better I am compared to everyone else."
"And band finals usually take about two weeks," Candy added. "So it won't be too long before we see each other again anyway."
"Yeah, true," Mabel agreed. She sat down on her bed next to Waddles and began to pet him. "I'm just wondering about what's changed in four years. Has anything changed since we were last there?"
"I can't say," Candy said. "We live here. It's hard to tell what's changed when we're basically living every single change like it's normal."
"I mean, there are new people, but most of the old townspeople are still around too," Grenda explained. "I don't think it's too different, but then again, it's kind of hard to tell. It's also hard to tell if I'm even remembering this properly."
"Oh! They're about to finish a big new pier by the lake," Candy explained excitedly. "Big enough to host a funfair!"
"That sounds fun," Mabel admitted. "But is that it? What about the Mystery Shack?"
"We haven't really had much of a reason to go there since you left," Grenda admitted.
"I think I saw someone new working there when I passed by this one time last month," Candy said, visibly trying to think about it.
A beeping noise was then heard from Candy and Grenda's end of the call. On the screen of Candy's tablet, a dying battery sign flashed.
"Oh no, my tablet is about to die!" Candy exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Mabel. But we're going to call back later."
"No, don't worry about it," Mabel told her. "I'm going to be going to sleep in a moment anyway since I gotta wake up early for the bus. Since both of you are going away, I guess we'll just meet again in Gravity Falls."
"Totally!" Grenda exclaimed, with Candy nodding in agreement.
"Well, see you girls soon!" Mabel said, waving at the screen.
"Bye Mabel!" Candy and Grenda said together as they waved back.
At that moment, the call ended. Mabel grabbed her tablet and put it to the side. She sat up on her bed again and sighed as she looked down at Waddles and pet him again. The thought of someone new working at the Shack didn't seem to settle well with her for some reason. Not that she didn't like having a new person to meet and get to know, but she was mainly stuck in a mindset that she'd return and things would be just like how they were when she and Dipper left. She was afraid that too much change would take away from the same charm that she felt from Gravity Falls before. That the reason she loved Gravity Falls so much wouldn't be as present.
She considered all these thoughts until there was a sudden knock at her door.
"Come in!" Mabel called out.
The doorknob turned and the door slowly opened. Dipper's head peeked inside.
"What's up, Dipper?" Mabel asked.
"Hey. You finished packing?" he asked, looking around the room to see the scattered outfits everywhere and her overloaded luggage.
"Umm," Mabel thought, quickly glancing around her room as well. She looked over at her luggage, then back at Dipper. "Yeah, I'm finished. You?"
"I've been done," Dipper said as he walked into her room. He leaned himself against the wall beside the door. "Unlike you, I don't have a hundred outfits that I'm overly decisive about."
"Yeah, because you're not a girl," Mabel retorted. "News flash: most girls don't just throw on the same unwashed hoodie over the same colored shirt and call it a day the way you do."
"Hey, for your information, I do wash this hoodie," Dipper defended, opening up the dark navy hoodie he wore over his red shirt.
"When? Like a few months ago?" Mabel said, covering her nose. "Ugh, I can even smell it from over here!"
"Really funny," Dipper sarcastically remarked. "By the way, how did the 'cover myself in glitter and vacuum it off me' trick work?" he asked with a smirk.
"Not as well as I had hoped," Mabel said, crossing her arms disappointedly. "Turns out glitter is not the easiest thing to vacuum off clothes. Or skin. Or hair."
"Yeah, I figured," Dipper chuckled.
A ringing noise came from Mabel's tablet. She quickly picked it up and gasped. "Dipper! Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are video calling!"
Dipper's eyes bulged excitedly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Answer!" he commanded as he ran up beside her in front of the screen.
She pressed the answer button. It took a few seconds to load, but eventually, Stan and Ford's faces were visible on the screen. The two were wearing winter mountains and appeared to be in a dark, cavern-esque space.
"Hi, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel greeted excitedly.
"Hey, Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper also greeted, waving at the camera.
"Kids!" Stan and Ford exclaimed in unison, smiling brightly.
"Man, I swear you two look older every time we call you," Stan added.
"And both of your hairs look grayer everytime we see you," Mabel joked.
"Ha! A joke about us getting old," Stan chuckled. "It's both funny, yet hurtful because it's true. Glad to see you haven't changed a bit, sweetie."
"I try my hardest!" Mabel gloated.
"So, if I recall, I believe today was your last day of school, correct?" Ford asked. "How did that go?"
"Nothing special," Dipper responded, despite Madison Calias coming to mind. "We're just excited to finally come back to Gravity Falls and see you guys tomorrow."
"Yeah!" Mabel agreed. She placed the tablet on her lap while she grabbed Waddles and placed him beside her. "And someone else is also really excited to see you two again," she said, placing Waddles up close in front of the camera.
"Oh, can't wait," Stan said, pretending to be excited.
"Actually, kids, we called to let you know that we, unfortunately, won't be in Gravity Falls tomorrow," Ford revealed.
"Wait, what?" Mabel questioned, putting Waddles down.
"Why not?" Dipper asked, also shocked.
"Well, as you can see," Ford began, pointing their camera to the side to reveal that they are in a confined space, with large amounts of snow outside. "We're still in the arctic circle."
"What are you guys still doing there?" Mabel asked, curious.
"A few weeks ago, I received a strange signal with a heavy strength that lined up with some unworldly anomalies I've researched before," Ford explained.
"Aliens?" Dipper asked. "Something like the saucer we went in?"
"I'm not certain," Ford admitted.
"Wait a minute," Stan halted, turning to Ford. "You never told me about aliens."
"Either way," Ford said, dismissing Stan. "It was a mandatory investigation and we still haven't quite found the source yet. But we're close. We just wanted to let you both know that we won't be back in Gravity Falls right away, but we won't be too long either."
"How long will you both be?" Mabel asked.
"I can't give an exact date, but rest assured that we'll be back before the end of the month," Ford assured. "Whenever that is, we'll still have plenty of time to spend with you two upon our return."
"Yeah," Stan agreed. "Don't wait on us. Soos, Wendy, and the others will still be around at the Shack for you two. Just, ya know, don't tell your parents we aren't there."
"But you promise that you two will be back as soon as you can?" Mabel asked.
"Of course," Stan assured. "Believe me, I've seen more than enough snow to last me a lifetime. I want nothing more than for this whole investigation to be over with so we can head back and see you kids again."
"Stan's correct," Ford said. "No need to worry kids. Provided there are no obstacles on our way back, it'll shouldn't be longer than a few weeks before we meet again."
A large gust of wind is heard from the Stans' end of the call.
"It appears that the snowstorm that I tracked earlier is beginning to weigh in on our location," Ford said. "We're going to have to end the call now."
"Alright. Just be careful," Mabel told them.
"Will do, pumpkin," Stan said. "Be safe on your trip back. Both of you."
"And Dipper?" Ford called. "While I don't have time to explain to you now, I think you'll be very pleased to learn about all of the discoveries we've made these past few years."
Dipper smiled widely. "I can't wait to hear all about them when you get back."
"And I can't wait to hear about what you've written down in your own journal," Ford said.
Dipper's eyes bulged upon hearing this. He opened his mouth to say something but his mind was at a loss for words.
"Farewell, kids!" Ford said as he waved.
"Stay safe!" Stan added, waving as well.
Dipper and Mabel waved back as the video call ended. Mabel placed the tablet back to the side. They both slumped back with dejected expressions on their faces.
Dipped sighed. "So, I guess Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford are going to be a bit late," he said.
"Guess so," Mabel agreed solemnly.
He turned toward to her and noticed her sad expression. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," Mabel said, lying back completely on her bed. "I'm nervous about going back."
"Why's that?" Dipper asked. He had always figured Mabel was the least likely one of the two to be nervous about going back.
"What if Gravity Falls isn't the same as it used to be?" she asked. "It's been almost four years. What if the town just isn't the same as we remember it. Candy and Grenda say there are new people, new places…" she explained. "Candy even said she saw someone new working at the Mystery Shack!"
"C'mon, Mabel. Every town gets new people, new buildings, and other new things as time goes by. And if there's a new worker at the Shack, then Soos probably needed them. It's all completely normal," Dipper explained.
"But Gravity Falls isn't normal," Mabel argued.
"So you're saying you're worried about going back because there are gonna be a few random people on the street you don't recognize?" Dipper asked.
"No, it's just…" she began, looking up as she thought of how to explain how she felt.
As if a light bulb flashed above her head, she snapped her fingers and quickly rushed to her closet, crouched down and started digging through the bottom. Dipper watched curiously, wondering exactly what she was trying to find. After a moment, she made a noise as if she found something and crawled back out of the closet.
In her hands, she held her old scrapbook from that summer.
"That's your old scrapbook?" Dipper questioned, still not following the point she was trying to make.
"Just look," she said, sitting beside him on the bed and flipping the scrapbook open.
The two looked through the pictures of that summer. All the pictures of their various adventures were there. Neither of them had looked through it in years, so going through this scrapbook was the first real trip down memory lane that wasn't directly from their memories. As they flipped through the book, it had just occurred to Dipper how much effort that Mabel had really put into this scrapbook. It was something he never noticed at the time she made it, but the attention to detail and color to really make every page and picture pop was incredibly admirable. He smiled as he looked at every photo, occasionally cringing when they passed some of the really awkward ones.
Overall, reminiscing in those old adventures they had was an unexpected experience. It brings back the complete perspective of those moments rather than just a memory that may have a few details slightly remembered differently. The fear of being chased by the Gobblewonker. The exhilaration of playing 'Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons: Real Life Edition' against Probabilitor. The joy of going trick or treating with Mabel on Summerween. All these forgotten feelings and moments came rushing back all at once. He remembered loving that summer, but now he remembers exactly why he loved that summer.
"I loved the Gravity Falls we went to back in 2012. I'm scared I'm not going to love the Gravity Falls we go to this year," Mabel explained. "Does that make sense?"
Dipper sat on her bed, thinking about it deeply as he continued to stare at the scrapbook. "Yeah, I guess it does," he admitted. "But how do you know you're not gonna love it more?"
Mabel looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
"Here," he said, turning the pages back in the scrapbook. He turned back to the first page, which had their first day in Gravity Falls. He pointed at an average picture of the two on that day. "Look at us. No journal. No weirdness. No excitement. That day, we were just two kids whose parents sent them to stay with their great uncle for the summer. Gravity Falls was nothing but a boring, sleepy town. But soon enough, I found the journal. You got a boyfriend. I thought he was a zombie but he was really a bunch of gnomes. At that point, all bets were off. We didn't know what kind of craziness that town had in store for us. That's the thing about Gravity Falls, Mabel. We didn't know what we'd find, who we'd meet, or where we'd go. The summer just went along and we just went along with it. So yeah, things might be different this summer. I mean, I doubt it'll be exactly the same. But honestly, Gravity Falls has always been unexpected. Who knows what will come of this summer? Maybe we'll love it, maybe we'll hate it. Maybe it'll be exactly the same, maybe it'll be totally different. Who knows? We just gotta go with it. The same way we did last time. And it worked pretty well then, don't you think?"
Mabel looked to the side and thought about it, then glanced back at Dipper with a smile. "Yeah, it did work pretty well, didn't it?"
"It did. So let's just give it another shot," Dipper proposed. "We didn't know what would happen last time."
"And we don't know what'll happen this time," Mabel added.
"Exactly," Dipper said, smiling. "So let's go into this next summer with an open mind and reserve judgment until a bit later, shall we? There might not even be anything to worry about."
"You're right," Mabel agreed. "My mind is all the way open," she said, placing her hands on her head.
"Great," Dipper said, placing his hands on his own head as well. "So is mine."
The two laughed together at their own goofiness, something that still hasn't disappeared after all these years. After a good laugh, the two sighed.
"Thanks, Dipper," Mabel told him. "I needed that. I feel like I'm ready to go to Gravity Falls again."
"Anytime," he said. "Anyway, I gotta go dig out my old journal. Since there's like no anomalies here in Piedmont, I never really found much use for it. Maybe now that we're going back to Gravity Falls, I can finally give it a purpose again and have something to show Ford once he and Stan come back from the Arctic."
"You do that," Mabel said, now trying to zip her overloaded luggage shut. It takes a minute but with full sheer force, she somehow manages to zip up the unethical amount of clothing she's bringing. She turns back toward Dipper. "Success!"
"Are you sure that's not, like, gonna explode?" Dipper asked, face displaying concern at her oversized luggage.
"Nope!" Mabel confidently assured.
Dipper stared at the luggage again for a moment before just chuckling at her sister's overconfidence. He took a step out the door, grabbing hold of the doorknob as he kept his head peeking back inside. "Good night, Mabel."
"Good night, Dipper," she returned as he closed the door behind him, leaving the room.
Mabel placed her luggage off the bed and onto the floor. She got in bed and tucked herself under the sheets. She leaned forward to pet Waddles once more.
"Good night, Waddles," she whispered to him. "We have a long day tomorrow."
Mabel gently kissed Waddles on top of his head. Waddles responded with a quiet oink as he shut his eyes for the night. Mabel leaned over to her night desk and shut off her lamp, nothing but moonlight emitting from the creases of her blinds to just barely light up the room.
She lied back and thought to herself. She was worried about coming to a different Gravity Falls before, but now she's just excited that she's finally coming back to Gravity Falls at all. After all this time and after all the delays.
There was never meant to be so many delays for this second trip in the first place. She and Dipper should've gone back the very next summer after their first trip, but couldn't because the flu had spread around their house that summer. The summer after, they couldn't go because their father injured his leg and they needed to help their mother look after him and the house while he recovered. Then they couldn't go last summer either because their parents planned a vacation in Mexico, which is a place their parents always wanted to go to for some reason. It wasn't a bad trip per say, but it was no Gravity Falls. Winters were off the table because of other visiting family and the week-long spring breaks and other short vacations don't warrant enough time to spend in a place as a big as Gravity Falls. If they were going to have another trip to Gravity Falls, it had to be a long one. So before this summer, Dipper and Mabel had put complete emphasis to their parents on how they want nothing more than to go back this summer and not to make any other plans.
And judging by the fact that they were leaving the next morning, it seems like that it finally worked in their favor.
And there we have it. The end of the prologue.
Honestly, this originally wasn't going to be part of the prologue. This was supposed to be the start of the first episode, but it didn't belong with the plot of that episode. Considering there's still been no real plot and that these two chapters were really OC-heavy, it was more fitting to just make this the second part of the prologue, putting a bit more focus on Mabel this time as the first part focused more on Dipper.
So with that said, next chapter is where things really start happening.
As I mentioned before, this prologue has been OC-heavy. I don't plan on this being the case going forward. If you're scared that I'm going to riddle this story with OCs like I did these past two chapters, don't be. Most of them were one-off for the sake of having characters to work within Piedmont. Of course, there will be a good amount of OCs that will play major roles in this story but trust me when I say that the familiar characters will always have a dominant presence.
I don't have all that much left to add. Again, I don't have a set date for when these chapters go up. I just put them up when they're finished. I try not to rush them out but I also try not to take forever either, so maybe it's reasonable to expect a chapter between every 1-2 weeks. I post updates in my progress on Tumblr(link in bio), so feel free to check that out if you wish.
Feel free to PM me questions as well(either here or on Tumblr). I won't answer really spoiler-y stuff because I want this story to have some element of surprise and mystery, but I do like to discuss my work and tease the future and such. So you know, as long as that's clear, ask away.
So yeah, that's about all I gotta say. I hope you all are enjoying things so far!
Until next chapter: Return to the Falls Part 1
-Absolute Rift
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