"Wendy?" I'm in the Shack gift shop and Wendy stands by the post card rack. Last night wasn't a dream. I figured that this was my chance.
"Oh, hi. Dipper, right?" She smiles. I was going to roll my eyes, but that darn smile. Some kid walks into the Mystery Shack yelling.
"RAINBOWS! SPARKLES!" A strange pale kid walks in throwing glitter and smile stickers. He has a basket that he carries with him. Of stickers. Well….
"HI WENDY! Who's that?" Wendy rolls her eyes. Do I know this guy from the future? He's all bubbly, almost Mabel-like.
"Oh, hi Robbie. This is my new friend Dipper." She gestures to me as she says my name. ROBBIE? I HAD TO DEAL WITH HIM IN THE PAST, AND NOW, TOO? WHAT?
"HI DIPPER! This is Wendy, she's my girlfriend so stay away. Oh, Wendy, you forgot your coral necklace at my house, so I brought it for you." He places the necklace around her neck, and she tries not to squirm. Is it because she doesn't like him? It better be because she doesn't like him.
"Robbie, I'm not your girlfriend. Go on, go find a new friend. Dipper and I are going to go outside in the forest. And we want to be alone. Bye." She waves to him and grabs my arm with Hulk strength.
"Ow," I mumble, almost inaudibly. She doesn't like him, right?
She drags me out the door, into the forest, and she sits down on a log. She rips off the coral necklace. I sit down next to her.
"Thanks for that back there. Robbie's just a little kid. He's still 4 at heart. He's not my boyfriend. If I had a boyfriend, of course, I'd tell you to back off and everything, but I'm still single and everything." She flashes me a thumbs up. My left eye twitches. She can tell that I'm attempting to flirt? Man, I'm bad at hiding this stuff.
"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess. Was he ever…" She interrupts.
"A bad boy? Yeah. Then some idiot showed him the joys of 4-year-olds. Now he claims that he's 4. Even at school. That's how he normally acts, too." Wendy picks up a stick and gets out a knife. She starts to scrape the stick with the knife and it starts to sharpen.
"What's that for?" I ask. She's sharpening a STICK. To kill me? I don't know.
"Chill, dude." She slugs me in the shoulder. "I'm just trying to whittle. Never learned how properly. Mom died after that. And now I just know how to sharpen sticks, and not actually whittle wood. My family is nuts." She says this mostly straight, but when she mentions her mom, she sniffles a bit.
"Wendy, I know how hard it is."
"Actually you just have to get the knife at the right angle and scrape the wood off and…"
"No, I mean your mom. You don't have to hide yourself. I mean, I get it. It hasn't happened to me, but I can fantasize. And I have very vivid fantasizing sessions."
"Ok, so I'm kinds sad my mom's gone, but I have a piece of her still. Whittling. She'd be yelling about how the stick was just sharp and not a picture. But I know I always have her. But, anyway, I wanted to know more about the future. What's it like?"
"Well, it's quite boring. Stan is older, he doesn't wear pants as often, and makes me do all the hard work around the Shack. Soos actually works at the Shack, he's fatter, and he's… maybe, no… wise-ish? For Soos. And Robbie's Goth and loves you, you reject him, but he still hasn't stopped trying, and now he's with Tambry. You're…" I look at Wendy. She's really interested in my stories of the future. Maybe I shouldn't tell her about herself, because a 12-year-old shouldn't look at a 15-year-old that way.
"You know, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this stuff. I'm from the future, and you're here."
She turns her head at me, "Why not? Am I not trustworthy enough?" I shake my head. Trustworthy should be her middle name.
"No, but I don't know what could happen. Like if I accidentally alter the past, the future will automatically auto correct itself to adjust to the past. Your future is amazing, I don't want to destroy it. I don't want you to subconsciously change it, and then the time police to go after you. Yes, they exist."
"Not surprised about the time police. I get the future changed thing, but I need to know one more thing future before we can continue to hang out."
"Anything, Wendy." I say, confidently. Whatever she wants to know, I'll tell her.
"How old are you in the future? 15 like me, or 12, like you now?"
NOT A GOOD QUESTION! Should I lie and have her think I've been her boyfriend or something, or should I tell the truth? I'm gonna be called out either way, why not try to be truthful?
"Well, you're probably going to hate me for saying this, but I'm still…" Her eyes widen, like I'm telling her the fate of the universe, "15. Like you." I sigh. I'm such a wimp.
"Oh, cool. So the time affected you, too?" She smiles.
"Yes." I bow my head. I'm such a jerk. When Mabel finds out, I'll be a sticker-less jerk.
