Why does this always happen to me? I couldn't help but think as I turned to see Mabel running towards us.

"Don't say anything you want to remain private," she panted, stopping in front of me and Wendy.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, blushing under Wendy's confused stare.

Mabel half-raised her hand and pointed to the bushes behind us.

Peeking out from the bottom of the bush, was the tip of a shinny pink shoe.

Damn Mabel and her knitting club!

Honestly, I was sick of this. If Mabel and her friends couldn't keep their noses out of my love life, I'd never have a shot with Wendy.

"Come on out!" Wendy called, noticing the shoe as well. "We know you're there."

Pacifica, Queen of the Pretty Heads herself came out, holding in her perfectly manicured hand, a pink cellphone.

She snapped and picture of us, then glanced up to asses the situation.

"Aww," she mocked, walking up. "How cute!"

Meeting my furious stare, she smiled.

"Well don't let me ruin the moment," she continued. "What was that secret you were about to reveal, Dipper?"

I heard the beep of her camera recording.

Clenching my fists to keep from punching her, I turned back to Wendy.

She still looked calm, despite her confusion, although I could see her relaxation fading fast.

"Wendy, I-"

CRASH

Pacifica screamed, running behind us as we heard footsteps head towards us. The fairies simply hid in the bushes around the clearing, unconcerned.

"Is it Stan?" Mabel asked fearfully.

"Stan doesn't make this much noise when he walks!" I responded loudly, my mind wandering.

It couldn't be the manators, could it? They wouldn't come after me again. What about the gnomes? But they worship Mabel...

"Dipper, focus!" Wendy shouted. "Let's go!"

I shook my head and turned on my heel, following the girls out of the clearing.

We hadn't even run ten feet before Pacifica fell behind.

"Ow!" she yelled. "Damn branch!"

"Hurry up!" Mabel shouted, slowing her pace a bit.

I looked back and saw Pacifica glaring at her shoe.

"My sock! It has dirt on it!"

"Who cares?" Wendy shouted, stopping. "Come on!"

I stopped and saw Pacifica open her mouth to argue some more, but she quickly shut it when the bushes beside her shook.

"I'm too rich to die!" she shouted, running over to us.

The bushes shook a few more times, and out came eight more girls. Oh, and Toby.

All of them were laughing.

"Boy, we really got you!" one of them chuckled.

"'Is it Stan?'" another mocked, feigning fear.

"'Let's go scare them, Toby!'" Toby pipped up. "'Maybe then Dipper will tell-'"

The girl nearest to him elbowed him hard, causing Toby to stop talking.

"So all this...was a prank?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Duh," a brunette with curly hair responded, inspecting her nails. "What did you think was following you?"

Several answers popped into my mind, but I used my better judgement and said nothing.

There was silence, then Mabel stepped forward.

"Well, this was fun," she grabbed Toby's arm. "Let's go back to the Shack and finish our day of scarf knitting."

"Are you kidding?" Pacifica protested. "I'm not going anywhere until Dipper over here Dipper over here tells everyone what he's been hiding from Wendy."

I narrowed my eyes at the blonde sociopath in front of me.

"Well?" Pacifica asked smugly, knowing I was at a disadvantage.

There was a crunching sound that came from the woods in front of us, causing us all to jump.

"What's that?" Pacifica asked, still not fully recovered from our first scare.

"Probably just Candy and Grenda," Mabel responded, unfazed.

We all relaxed as her words sunk in and waiting for the two girls to join us.

The bushes rustled a bit more, then parted to reveal a terrifyingly large furry black creature.

"What is it?" one of the girls asked, walking up to it and poking it.

"Thalia, don't!" Mabel warned too little too late.

The creature growled and advanced on us.

I desperately racked my brain for a name for the creature, thinking back to my countless hours of reading the journal.

My eyes came to rest on the ground, and for the first time, I noticed the creature's feet.

They were huge, but then again, the creature was very tall, even towering over Wendy.

"Bigfoot!" I whispered aloud.

Next to me, Pacifica rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dipper, we know it has big feet. Jeez, you're thick."

I sighed in exasperation.

"What I mean is, it's the Sasquatch!" I explained. "I read a page on it once in the journal," I added, more to Mabel and Wendy.

"What'd it say?" Mabel asked, backing up as the Sasquatch continued advancing.

I thought about it longer, to the point where my back hit bushes.

"I can't remember," I finally admitted. "Stan took the journal, so I can't look it up."

"Okay then, back-up plan," Mabel turned. "Run!"

"Mabel, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what NOT to do!" I yelled after her.

"You got a better plan?" she shouted over her shoulder, not breaking stride.

Let's see...not die?

I had no plan.

"I am so going to regret this," I muttered, running after her with Wendy, Toby and the other girls close behind.

"Dipper, are you sure there's nothing you can remember about the Sasquatch?" Wendy asked.

"They can't run that fast," I recalled with a shrug. "But that's common knowledge."

Wendy didn't talk after that. Instead, she kept her eyes forward.

"We can't out run it forever," Mabel called back to me.

"I know, I'm thinking," I replied, and I truly was, but it's hard to think and run for your life all at once.

I heard something approaching us, fast.

I turned around. Everyone else was running beside me, and this noise was coming from behind us.

It can't be the Sasquatch, I reassured myself desperately. It can't run this fast.

"Dipper, watch out!" Wendy shouted.

I turned when out of the corner of my eye I saw something red.

Then I tripped over something hard, and the world was all black.

0o0

When I opened my eyes again, it was morning, and everything after I tripped was one big, foggy haze.

"Mabel?" I muttered groggily, turning to my twin's bed.

She wasn't there.

I sighed and got up, rubbing my eyes as I did so. Maybe she was downstairs, having her knitting club down there for the day.

I got dressed and headed into the gift shop.

There she was, but at the cash register. She looked confused, and exhausted.

"Where's Wendy?" I asked, walking up.

She jumped as she saw me and looked at me with a sad frown.

"She's gone," Mabel whispered.

"What?" I exclaimed, causing the customer looking at post cards beside me to jump. "You don't mean...?"

Mabel's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"No, no, she's not that kind of gone," she leaned in and whispered quietly in my ear.

"Stan fired her."

I gaped at her.

"W-what?"

Mabel nodded.

"Is that why you aren't having your knitting club over today?"

"No, I called Candy and told her we were still having it, but she had no idea what I was talking about. She said she didn't know I was doing a knitting club in the first place."

This whole thing wasn't making sense to me.

"But, now Stan is down an employee," I protested.

"He says we need to start pulling our weight here," Mabel replied with a shrug.

"I need to talk to him," I murmured. "Where is he?"

"In the kitchen," Mabel responded. "But be careful, Dipper. Don't say anything that could anger him too much. You don't want to make this situation worse."

I nodded absentmindedly, making my way towards the kitchen.

There he was, Stanford Pines, singing softly as he searched the fridge.

"Looking for milk in the fridge. La da do."

"We need to talk," I began, making my existence known.

Stan looked up, momentarily confused, then understanding made it's way into his eyes.

"So, your sister told you about Wendy being fired and now you want to know why I did it, don't you?"

I was a little taken aback, but I had more important things to ask Stan.

"Why did you do it?"

Stan, finally finding his orange juice, sat down at the table.

"Kid, she was always getting you and your sister into trouble. I can't have that kind of influence here at the Shack."

A few comments made their way into my head, but I pushed them out. Now was not the time to piss off Grunkle Stan.

"But now you're down an employee!" I pressed.

"I have you and Mabel. Besides, it's high time you two stop relying on Wendy and Soos to do everything."

"B-but, this is unfair, she didn't do anything! I got us all in trouble!"

"Kid, you can stop defending her."

I stared at him, unable to come up with anything else to say.

"Kid, I know she was one of your only friends, but this will be good for you, trust me. This gives you a chance to break out of your shell and make new friends that are your age."

Finishing his orange juice, Stan pushed past me and headed out into the gift shop.

"Take over the register after Mabel," he called over his shoulder.

I barely heard him.

It's all my fault...she got fired, all because of me.


Hey guys. So I know a lot of you won't be reading this today because it is Christmas Eve, but I finished this over the weekend and thought I might as well upload it this week. One quick thing I want to explain that I didn't get around to explaining last chapter was the words "pretty head" as Mabel and Dipper define Pacifica. My friends and I basically use it to refer to snobby, stuck up popular girls that we don't really like. So that's that for anyone that might have been wondering. Anyways, how are your Christmas breaks going? And if you don't celebrate Christmas, what are you doing for your holidays? Merry Christmas, and until next time,

-Mallowbloom