Dipper POV
At first, nobody talked. We all just sat around the kitchen table, looking at each other, wondering who would break the silence. That must have lasted for five minutes. Finally, Mabel spoke up:
"So..." she said. "I think that we can all agree that what happened in the forest was pretty unexpected." Wendy and I nodded.
"Listen, Dipper." Wendy said, "I am really sorry. I was out of line. I shouldn't have-"
"No," I interrupted "It's okay."
"Then why have you been avoiding me all night?" She asked me.
"I don't know." I said, "I'm just not sure what to think. I've had a crush on you for so long, but never thought we'd have the chance to be together. I would have given anything for that to happen, but when it did, it just didn't feel quite right."
"Yeah," Wendy agreed.
"Just one quick question," I began, "How long have you, you know, liked me?"
"Well," she replied "I've always thought of you as a little more than a friend, almost like a little brother. But I guess in the last few days, you've done so much for me that I just sort of, developed feelings for you."
"Well, what about Robbie?" I asked.
"I'm going to break up with Robbie." She said. "After realizing how horrible he is to you guys, I just can't keep dating him. I thought he was better than that, you know? I thought he had changed"
"What do you mean, changed?" Mabel asked. Wendy sighed.
"Mabel, you know how you asked why I keep putting myself down?" Mabel nodded "Well, I think I'm ready to tell you why. You see, it all started in seventh grade, when I had just turned twelve. There was a group of people who made it their personal goals to make my life miserable. They probably bullied other kids, too, but I didn't notice." I gasped. I couldn't possibly imagine anyone bullying Wendy.
"Who were they?" I asked.
"That's the thing." She said, "Nowadays, they're the people I call my friends."
*Flashback, 3rd Person POV*
Walking down the hallways towards lunch, Wendy spotted a group of five kids. She put her head down, and started walking faster.
"Please don't see me, please don't see me." She said under her breath, but it was too late. They had seen her. They walked up to her, and there was no escaping. They had her surrounded.
"Oh, look who it is, our little fast food restaurant!" A pale boy with jet-black hair and a black sweatshirt said with a smirk. "I thought I saw you today, but you didn't even make eye contact. Very rude." He said with a chuckle. Wendy seemed to recede into herself like a turtle into its shell.
"Well, what do you expect from a lumberjack's daughter?" A short girl with purple hair said, looking up from her phone for only a short time in order to see Wendy's reaction to her comment.
"Maybe you should leave her alone, guys." Said a fairly chubby kid standing at the back of the group.
"Oh, be quiet, Thompson!" The pale kid yelled. "You're barely allowed to hang with us now, and I wouldn't recommend that you blow it."
"Sorry, Robbie" Thompson replied hastily.
"Oh, and by the way, I just adore your hair." The girl said sarcastically, "The dead fish look is so in right now!" They all laughed.
"Hey, Nate," A tall, blonde boy said, turning to the person next to him, "I wonder what she's got for lunch."
"I don't know, Lee." Nate said, reaching for the small paper bag in Wendy's hand, "Let's find out." He pulled out a sandwich. "Hey, Tambri, you like grilled cheese, right?" She nodded, and he threw it to her.
"W-what are you doing?" Wendy asked.
"We're hungry, so we decided to..." Lee paused, trying to think of the right word. "Share with you" he finished.
"The rest looks pretty good, too," Robbie said. "If you don't mind, we'll just take it all."
"Actually, I'm pretty hungry, so-" Wendy began
"Oh, be quiet." Lee interrupted.
"Later, Brace Face." Robbie said with a smirk. With that, they all walked away, leaving Wendy sitting on the ground, hungry and sobbing. Thompson looked back, shooting her a sympathetic glance, but it really wasn't much help.
Present Day, Dipper POV
As Wendy finished her story, she began to cry. I couldn't believe what I had heard. How in the world could someone do something so terrible to her?
"Thompson was always nice enough," She sniffled, "But he never did anything to help. Of course, I couldn't blame him. If he was accepted into the group, and then blew it, they would make his life even more miserable than they made mine. Heck, he still lets them push him around. Luckily, though, most of them are much nicer, nowadays, but apparently Robbie hasn't changed a bit."
"Wait." I said. How exactly did you end up hanging out with them?"
"Well, after a few years, when my acne had cleared up, I got my braces off, and everyone caught up to me height-wise, they left me alone. Then, one day, they just walked up to me and asked me to be in their group. At first, I only agreed out of fear that if I said no, they would be mean to me again. But, after a while, they proved that they had changed. They weren't exactly nice, per say. Just not…"
"Mean?" I offered.
"Yeah." She said. "But, based on how Robbie treats you guys, they probably aren't actually all that much better, nowadays. I just haven't noticed."
"But why would their bullying you make you put yourself down?" I asked.
"I can answer that one." Mabel said. "I went through a similar thing with Pacifica. You see, Dipper, when you get bullied, it ruins your self-confidence and makes you afraid to be who you really are. You start to think that you're not any good, and put yourself down. Like the day when we found out about Quentin Trembley. I thought that I was too silly, and tried to change who I was, so Pacifica wouldn't be mean to me anymore."
"Wendy," I said, turning to her, "I am so sorry that I've been so inconsiderate. I had no idea-"
"Dipper." Wendy interrupted. "It's fine, don't worry about it." I smiled at her.
"I just have one more question." I said. "If Robbie was so horrible to you, then why did you agree to go out with him?"
"I don't know." She sighed, "I guess that I'm just too forgiving. When he asked me out, he just seemed really nervous, you know? I would have felt guilty if I had said no."
"So, I guess the other timeline would have worked out better for both of us." I said.
"What?" She asked.
"There were some things that we did this summer that I didn't tell you about. A lot of things, actually." I began. I proceeded to tell her about the clones, the time machine, Rumble McSkirmish, and everything else that we had done involving her and Robbie."
"Well, that explains a lot!" Wendy laughed.
"Yeah." I agreed. "Listen, Wendy. If you ever need anything, anything at all, just tell me, and I'll do everything I can to help you." I said.
"Well, there is one thing." She said.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Can I have a hug?" She asked. "Of course," I said. As I hugged her, I felt a teardrop fall onto my shoulder.
"Will we be able to undo this?" she asked.
"Of course we will." I replied.
"Good." She said, as she stepped back, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Because when we do, there's something I have to fix."
