[September 3rd, 2012]
[First Day of 8th Grade]
"Let's go Dipper, we're going to be late!"
Mabel Pines shouted ecstatically at the top of the steps of the school building. Summer had just ended the day before, when she and her brother, Dipper Pines, returned from their faithful summer at the one and only Gravity Falls.
To both of them, it had been a huge mixture of bizarre, crazy, weird, and absolute madness. Although within that mixture, there had also been much fun, thrill, and overall excitement, despite the most disastrous events. They fought gnomes, zombies, a shape-shifting monster, lumberjack ghosts, unicorns, and a dream demon which nearly brought the end of the world.
Weirdmageddon- the summer's highest and riskiest point. Especially for Dipper, who had struggled through a good portion of the event on his own, with his sister encased in her own world, and one of his Great Uncles turned to gold. It was a rough time, and it had hardly been over a week since they endured it. But by the end of it all, they had made it. When all hope and seemed lost, they survived and made it through with no major loss. And the most important thing that Weirdmageddon had done was make them stronger. That if two twelve-year-olds, almost thirteen at the time, could survive the apocalypse, then they could do just about anything.
Dipper Pines, however, struggled to simply walk up the main stairs of the school as he carried an overloaded backpack that tugged down on his spine and a stack of textbooks weighing on his noodle arms. This was the hardest thing he had done since Weirdmageddon.
About a week prior to the summer's end, their parents had gone out to get them information on their classes for the year, as well as picking up their school supplies and textbooks. Mabel had it easy, only needing to carry her fairly light and brightly decorated backpack, as to fit her style. Dipper, having been signed for a bunch of more advanced courses, didn't have it as easy. He basically had a brick-like textbook for just about every single class, and it weighed him down hard. He didn't mind so much having to have what's needed for his classes, but it had become an immediate realization that fighting off an apocalypse didn't prepare him for having to carry a stack of eight textbooks.
He continued to struggle climbing up the steps. His back was in pain, and he needed to take a break, but he kept pushing himself upwards. Eventually, he started to break a sweat and just couldn't keep going. He collapsed down to his knee and dropped half of his books on the ground.
He looked up at Mabel, who was just standing at the top of the stairs looking down at him with her arms crossed.
"Hey, since your arms are empty, care to lend a hand?" Dipper asked through his panting.
Mabel groaned, throwing her arms in the air before proceeding back down the stairs. "Why do you smart people have to go and take the super smarty pants classes? Why can't you be like me and just be in regular classes that don't require breaking your back on a daily basis?" she asked while picking up Dipper's dropped textbooks. "With that big head of yours, it's not like you'd fail."
Dipper got up from his knee and continued walking up with steps, with Mabel following. "Well, regular classes don't give high school or college credit, so I think I'll just stick with what I got. A few textbooks aren't gonna stop me."
"Ha, tell that to the stairs." Mabel chuckled.
"Yeah, well, it's just something I gotta get used to. If I have to carry this bag and these textbooks up these stairs every day just to get some college credit, then so be it."
As the two finally reached the top of the steps, they could hear the school bell ringing throughout.
"Say, is college credit still given out to late kids?" Mabel asked with a slight grin.
"C'mon, it's the first day. I doubt they'll do anything," Dipper said as he changed the position of his arms holding the books to open the door. The two walked through, leaving the door to shut behind them.
"Oh really? These advanced classes don't have advanced expectations for nerds like you?" Mabel teased, Dipper rolling his eyes in response.
The two walked through the halls of the school until they reached the main locker halls. The plan was to head to Dipper's locker to store his textbooks and then head on their way to their first class. Since the first bell already rang, the halls were almost barren at that moment apart from kids actively searching for their first-day classrooms.
"231, 232, 233… ah, here we go. Locker 234!" Dipper read aloud.
He set his textbooks down on the floor. He popped the locker open and the two put his stack of textbooks inside his locker, barely managing to fit them all inside. He closed his locker, letting in a deep breath and exhaling loudly.
"Man, that was tiring. But it's done," he said as he turned to Mabel. "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it. I'm always here to be the muscle to your frail, little bones," she teased with a light laugh.
Dipper didn't appear amused though. Instead, he just grabbed his bag from the ground and straightened the bomber hat he wore on his head before proceeding down the hall. Mabel's smug look slowly faded into one of concern.
"Dipper?" she called out to him as she quickly caught up to him in the hall. "C'mon, I was only joking."
"Huh? Oh. No, that's not…" he stuttered. "I'm fine. Just a bit anxious is all."
"Anxious about what?"
"I don't know. Just being here again, I guess," Dipper said with dismay, placing his hands in his pockets as he started walking a flight of stairs. "Maybe I got a bit too comfortable back in Gravity Falls. Just not sure if I'll be able to readapt to the school environment again."
"I know how you feel," Mabel nodded empathetically. "This morning, I couldn't stand leaving Waddles back home by himself. So, I didn't!"
At that moment, Waddles' head popped out of Mabel's backpack, oinking right in Dipper's face as he climbed the stairs behind her.
He stood surprised on a single step. "You brought Waddles to school in your backpack?! Mabel, are you crazy?"
"C'mon Dipper, it's not like I didn't leave it open for him to breathe," Mabel said as she reached the top of the stairs. "Plus, I didn't bring any of my other supplies, so it's not like he didn't have room either."
"Mabel, that's not the..." He stopped on the stairs for a moment to facepalm before continuing to follow her up. "You know what? I'll let you deal with that. I never knew about any of this."
"Whatever you say," Mabel dismissed as she pet Waddles in her bag. "Anyways, we shouldn't be anxious about school, Dipper. We've faced so much worse this summer. I'm sure whatever school throws at us will be nothing compared to a demon triangle or an evil, creepy child. Trust me, Dipper, we got this!"
Dipper caught up with her at the top and smiled. "You're right. What do we have to worry about? A couple of As instead of A-pluses are nothing compared to the threats like Gideon or Bill used to be."
"Yeah, quite the comparison you made," Mabel said, rolling her eyes at his unintended grade flex.
"And at the very least, we have homeroom together," Dipper reminded. "So we can't say we don't have any classes with each other this year. Unlike last year."
"Yep!" Mabel said eagerly. "The great room 324."
"Actually, it's room 325," Dipper corrected.
"No, I'm sure it's 324."
"Well, I'm sure it's 325. I reviewed my schedule this morning. I'm positive about it."
"So did I. And it said 324."
Dipper dug into his pocket, taking out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and turned the front of it toward Mabel, pointing his finger at 'Room 325' on his schedule. "See? Room 325. Mr. Thomas."
"What?" Mabel asked in disbelief. "But mine said 324, Ms. Rady. I didn't have Mr. Thomas."
The two then noticed two doors right beside them. They had both had their own sign next to them. The left door was Room 324, Ms. Rady. The right door was Room 325, Mr. Thomas.
Dipper stared at the two signs, eyes narrowing in annoyance. "You've got to be kidding me. One room apart?!"
"So, we don't have homeroom together?" Mabel asked disappointedly.
"I guess not. Which means just like last year, we don't have any classes together," Dipper said, also disappointed.
Mabel tried to think positively. "Well, I mean, we still have lunch together," she reminded him. "At least there's that. We could hang out then! I'm going to make some new friends by talking about all the adventures we went on this summer, and I bet it's probably not gonna be easy to convince them. You could help back me up later!"
"I mean, I guess that's better than nothing," Dipper said, smiling slightly. "Lunch it is then."
"Yep!" Mabel agreed as she playfully punched Dipper in the arm. She then flipped the top of her backpack back over Waddles' head. "Alright, Waddles. I gotta hide you again."
Waddles oinked before unexpectedly jumping out of her bag and running through the halls.
"Waddles!" Mabel shouted as Waddles continued running. "Aw man, mom and dad are gonna kill me if they find out about this! I'm already on thin ice for bringing Waddles home in the first place!"
"Well, you better catch him before any admins do," Dipper told her.
"Argh!" Mabel groaned. She dropped her bag and quickly ran after Waddles. "Come back, Waddles!"
Dipper watched her run off, shaking his head at the fact that his sister even brought Waddles to school in the first place. He turned toward the door of Room 325 and took a deep breath. He opened the door to the room and walked inside with a confident smile. Even though he didn't have any classes with his sister, he still had a good feeling that things would be different this year.
"Hey, it's Dipstick!"
Dipper's smile was immediately wiped off of his face. The announcement brought the eyes of everyone else in the class his way. In the middle of the classroom sat a large boy with spiked, dark blonde hair wearing a familiar black shirt that read 'SLIGHT FEAR', with a bulldog's face right in the center.
It was Trevor, Dipper's childhood bully. Trevor tormented and picked on Dipper constantly when they were younger and was responsible for pioneering the nickname 'Dipstick' for a good portion of elementary school. It wasn't until he moved away at the end of the fourth grade to another school in Berkeley, which now looks to have only been a temporary break from said torment. Seeing him again after all this time replaced Dipper's confidence going into the school year with pure horror.
"Dipstick! What's going on, buddy?" Trevor called out. "You're like ten minutes late, bro. I thought you cared about perfect attendance?"
Some chuckles were heard around the classroom. Others just smirked and others simply didn't pay any mind to the exchange. But in the back of the classroom, one boy in a dark navy hoodie sat as he started to eyeball Trevor.
Dipper just stood frozen in place, still distraught by Trevor's unexpected return.
"That's enough, young man," the teacher, presumably Mr. Thomas, called out to Trevor as he stood from his desk. Trevor noticeably snickered as he sat back in his chair. The teacher then directed his focus toward Dipper. "And what is your name?"
Dipper shook his head quickly, breaking from his horrified trance so he could address the teacher. "Um, Dipper Pines, sir."
Mr. Thomas looked down at his clipboard and flipped through it. He raised an eyebrow before glancing back at him. "I don't have a Dipper Pines on my roster, but I do have a Mas-"
"YES!" Dipper loudly and swiftly responded, cutting the teacher off before he could finish announcing his real name to everyone, while also grabbing everybody's attention once more. Part of being late on the first day meant that he couldn't go through the ritual of personally clarifying his nickname to the teacher ahead of time. With everyone's attention directed toward him once again, he cleared his throat, and calmly responded, "Yes, that's me. Just call me Dipper, please."
The teacher stared at Dipper with slight surprise for a moment before writing on his clipboard. "Alright, Dipper Pines. Please take a seat."
Dipper quickly made his way toward one of the only untaken seats in the class and sat down, folding his hands as he laid his head low. He hoped to just squeeze in without directing any more attention to himself.
"Anyways, I believe we've waited long enough," the teacher said, placing his glasses down on his desk. "My name is Mr. Thomas and I'll be your homeroom teacher this school year."
Dipper listened to Mr. Thomas giving his introduction talk, sitting quietly in his chair like everyone else in the class. He tried to relax after tensing up from his 'grand entrance'. He looked around the classroom, noticing the various behaviors of those around him. While some students were paying attention to Mr. Thomas, others were either asleep, falling asleep, or generally paying attention elsewhere.
As Mr. Thomas kept giving his introduction, Dipper felt something hit the back of his head. He placed his hand back, finding a piece of wet, wadded up paper. He turned around and spotted Trevor a few seats back in the row beside him, but he appeared as though he wasn't even paying attention to him. Dipper narrowed his eyes before turning forward again.
Within a few seconds, he was shot by another spit wad. He turned toward Trevor once again, and he looked the exact same way. Dipper looked at the other students behind him, but none looked suspicious or expectable enough as Trevor was. He looked forward again, and as expected, more spit wads were shot right at him. This time, Dipper didn't turn around. He took several hits over a course of a few seconds until he quickly turned around to finally catch Trevor in the act. But he didn't hide and instead, just proceeded to shoot a spit wad directly at Dipper's face. He laughed loudly at his success, while Dipper remained visibly unamused and annoyed by the whole ordeal.
Trevor's outburst caught the attention of Mr. Thomas, however, and was promptly approached by him. He silently put his hand out to him, clearly gesturing for him to hand the straw over, which he did. Mr. Thomas continued his introduction as he walked over to a trashcan to throw the straw away. Dipper wiped off all the spit wads that he had taken to the back of the head and face, letting out a sigh of relief now that the situation was concluded.
However, within a few moments, he felt another spit wad hit the back of his head. Surprised, he turned around and noticed that Trevor had another straw on him. Fed up but exhausted by the issue, Dipper turned forward with nothing more but an irritated look on his face as he simply took every next shot that Trevor had at him without looking back again or doing anything about it. He had no desire to cause any further commotion or interruption that would bring more attention toward him. So, he simply let Trevor have his win.
In the back of the classroom, however, the boy in the dark navy hoodie continued to angrily eyeball Trevor's actions against Dipper. While unnoticed by others, anyone that might look over at him could easily identify the visible frustration that he displayed across his face.
The bell rang, indicating the end of the first class period and the start of an early lunch period. Students began pouring out of each classroom, making their way toward the cafeteria. Dipper walked out of Mr. Thomas' class brushing off all the spit wads that covered the back of his head and hat. He thought it was a miracle that he managed to escape the first period alive with a need for nothing but a shower to wash off any remains of Trevor's saliva on the back of his head.
After brushing his bomber hat clean, he placed it back on his head. Remembering his deal with Mabel to meet up at lunch, he looked among the nearby crowd of students walking down the halls for her, considering that she was right next door to his first class. Unable to find her anywhere in the halls, he decided to search around the cafeteria when he got there.
Eventually, he found her already sat at a table with another group of girls, talking and laughing away. He sighed and approached them.
"And just when we thought we were going to fall to our death, I pulled out my grappling hook and saved us at the last second," Mabel told the girls.
"Wow!" a blonde girl with very large glasses exclaimed.
"So cool!" a black haired girl agreed.
"And what happened to the evil demon child?" the blonde girl asked as Dipper walked up right behind Mabel.
"Oh, don't worry. He lived," Mabel replied. "Fun fact: apparently you can be inside a giant exploding robot falling down a cliff and survive mostly unscathed! But he went to jail. But that wasn't the last time we heard from the evil demon child."
"Evil demon child?" Dipper intervened, grabbing the attention of all the girls. "I guess that's one way to describe, Gideon."
"Dipper!" Mabel exclaimed joyfully. "Girls, this is my brother. He's the one who was with me during all the adventures we went on."
"Woah," the girls said in awe.
"Dipper, these are my new friends!" she explained. "Sammy, Angela, and Gretchen!" she pointed out.
"Is it true you punched a child in the face?" Sammy, the blonde girl with glasses, promptly asked.
"Um, I mean, yeah. I guess," Dipper replied, somewhat unsure of how to answer. "I hope you know that there is much-needed context to that claim though..."
"Don't worry, Dipper," Mabel cut in. "I already told them everything about Gideon. They know what a butthead he was. In fact, they actually believe me about all the adventures we went on!"
"Oh, cool," Dipper said. "By the way, what happened with Waddles?"
"Well, he was caught by a teacher," she explained. "But I lured him back with a candy bar that mom and dad packed me for lunch when he wasn't looking. Now I think he's going crazy thinking there's a loose pig in the school."
At that moment, they turned their heads behind them to see a man placing a 'Lost Pig' sign on a wall. The man quickly glanced around worriedly before sprinting off.
"Haha! That was him!" Mabel chuckled. She then opened the flap of her bag, revealing Waddles in her bag again. "But he's safe and sound with me. I'm not gonna let him go running around again. You hear that you bad pig?" Waddles oinked in response. Mabel smiled, hugging her bag. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you."
"Well, that's great that you got him back," Dipper said. He looked around at the table, noticing no empty seats. "So is there a place I can sit? Maybe move to another table or something?"
"I don't think there's any room any place else," Angela, the black-haired girl, answered. "I mean, we barely managed to grab this table when it was empty."
"Yeah, Dipper," Mabel agreed, sadly. "It's always this hard to find seats on the first day. I'm not sure you'll be able to sit with us."
"But, you said we'd hang out at lunch!" Dipper reminded her. "Where else am I going to go?"
"I know! I know!" Mabel stated, clearly feeling guilt. "But I just met these girls and I really want to hang out with them. They're so cool!"
"I can scoot over for you, Dipper," Gretchen, a redhead girl with pigtails who also wore pretty sizable headgear, dreamily offered.
Flattered, yet very much uninterested, Dipper took a step back. "Actually, I'll find somewhere else to sit. Thanks for living up to our deal, Mabel," he said bitterly before storming off.
"What's his problem?" Angela asked.
"Doesn't he have his own friends?" Sammy asked.
Mabel sighed. "You see, Dipper's not exactly the king of being social. He tends to scare others with his nerdiness. Even the chess club is scared of him!"
"He's also terrible socially?" Gretchen sputtered through her headgear. She sighed dreamily. "We'd be perfect for each other."
"You two probably would," Mabel agreed cheerfully. "Speaking of being perfect for each other, who wants to hear the story about me having my first kiss with a merman?"
"I do!" the three other girls said in unison.
Outside on the school's deck, Dipper bitterly sat by himself on a bench. He acknowledged the fact that he didn't have any real friends in Piedmont. It never really upset or impacted him that much. But that's because he never felt that he really needed friends in Piedmont. He had Mabel. She was his best friend, and she was always there for him when needed.
Well, almost always.
In some respects though, he knew that it was unfair to rely on her for company when she was out there making new friends on their first day back. But then again, he's tried making friends many times before. The thing was, being accepted for who he was in school was never as easy as it was in Gravity Falls.
Regardless, at some point, he was gonna need to make his own friends back home too. While he knew he'd always be close with Mabel, he also knew that at some point, there was gonna come a time where they would go their own separate ways. Whether that would be college or other opportunities that would demand that, he wasn't sure. But he knew he needed to be able to find his own crowd, or at least someone else who could understand him.
Though, it occurred to him while he ate his sandwich that he had developed much better social skills after the summer. Before the summer started, simple eye contact with anyone he didn't know was an issue. But after everything he's come to learn and all the people he's interacted with in Gravity Falls, he has gotten better. So maybe what was difficult before wouldn't be so much anymore. Maybe things were still bound to be different this time.
"Hey, Dipstick!" a voice called out, grabbing Dipper's attention. He looked up and saw Trevor, accompanied by two of his friends. He sat beside Dipper on the bench and put his arm around him. "You look so lonely over here, man. Like you could use a friend. And we both know you've never been a man who could make friends."
Dipper pushed Trevor's arm off him and got up from the bench, standing defensively across from him. "What do you want from me, Trevor?"
"I've treated you like garbage for so long, Dipstick," Trevor said, getting up from the bench as well. "Now that I'm back from Berkeley, I was thinking we could put that all behind us and become the best of friends. All you gotta is do is give me your lunch money."
"Well, I'm going to have to politely decline your offer," Dipper told him. "I brought lunch, therefore, I have no lunch money on me."
"Hmm. Well, I guess there are other ways we can become friends," Trevor replied with a smirk.
He snapped his fingers, prompting one of his friends standing behind Dipper to push him down in front of him. Caught off guard, Dipper came plummeting to the ground, his face bashing against the concrete. While he groaned in pain, Trevor crouched down and snatched the bomber hat off his head. Dipper looked up at him, the side of his face scratched up.
Looking around, Dipper could see that Trevor was causing a commotion, and other students began to circle around the two. He could see people getting ready for the upcoming action. People were even pushing others out of the way to get a better look. Additionally, the boy in the dark navy hoodie moved closer to the front of the crowd.
"I heard your sister came back to school with a pet pig. She's cool," Trevor said, examining the bomber hat. "But you? You came back to school with yet another stupid hat."
"Hey, give it back!" Dipper pleaded, reaching out for the hat. "A friend gave me it to me!"
"A friend? You have friends? Where? Are they imaginary?" He chuckled as he stared out to the side at seemingly nothing. "I'm sorry, Dipper's imaginary friend, for stealing the hat you gave him. But if you don't mind, I'm going to rip it in half because, to be honest, it's a pretty frickin' stupid hat."
"I said, give it back!"
POW!
Dipper swung his fist against the side of Trevor's face, decking him straight to the ground, causing him to drop the hat. Dipper quickly grabbed the hat from the ground and backed up as the surrounding students awed at his unexpected beatdown. He looked around at the students murmuring about him, as Trevor's two friends came to his aid and picked him up from the ground. Immediately regretting what he had done, Dipper slowly backed away from Trevor as he began to stand on his own again.
"Look, Trevor," Dipper nervously began. "I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't want to hurt you, but I told you to-"
"But, nothing!" Trevor angrily shouted, quickly walking up to Dipper and grabbing him by the collar. "I gave you a chance to be friends, and you threw it away in favor of a crappy hat! Now I'm gonna kick your little ass!"
He held up his fist, preparing to punch him. Helpless, Dipper stopped trying to fight back, loosened up, and closed his eyes, leaving himself as a clean and easy target for Trevor.
"Hey, Trevor!" a voice called out. "Drop him."
Trevor turned back. The boy in the dark navy hoodie entered the circle away from the surrounding crowd of students to make himself visible.
"Drop him?" Trevor asked. "This punk just nailed me in the face and you're defending him?"
"Yeah, because you deserved it. You're the one who needlessly started picking on him in the first place," the boy continued.
"Needlessly picking on him? I was just looking for a bit of friendship," Trevor defended with a smirk.
"Cut the crap, Trevor," the hooded boy said. "I was in your first hour. I saw you shooting spit wads at him. Humiliated him in front of everyone when he walked into the classroom. Then the guy's just trying to eat lunch by himself and you wanna come up to him, take his hat and start all this drama. You're nothing but a pathetic stereotype."
The surrounding crowd of kids went wild at the hooded boy's comeback. Dipper slightly opened his eyes, now paying attention to what was happening. He looked around and wondered why no teachers had intervened to put a stop to the situation.
"Stereotype?" Trevor questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh I'm sorry, do you not understand how you're a stereotype, or are you too dumb to understand the word?" the boy asked back. "I mean, come on. Shooting spit wads? Bullying for lunch money? Having two goons that you probably bullied as well so they could back you up because anyone with half a brain wouldn't support the kind of thing you do?"
Trevor's friends frowned guiltily at the insult, looking at Trevor before stepping away from him, leaving his side.
"You see?" the boy pointed. "You're the very definition of a stereotype. A big fat brute, small head, thinks with his fists instead of his brain. Probably has parent issues, and trust me, I'd know because I'm not that great of a person either. The difference between you and I is that I'm actually aware that I'm not a good guy. You, on the other hand, are probably too blinded by your own stupidity to be aware, leaving you to believe you're some flawless guy who has redeemable qualities. Isn't that right?"
Trevor stared at the boy for a moment, looking around to think. After a brief silence, Trevor actually began to tear up, to everyone's surprise. Silently, he placed Dipper back down on his feet before turning away and walking out of the circle and through the crowd.
Without saying a word himself, the hooded boy walked away too. Before merging back into the crowd, he took a glance at Dipper, who looked back at him, both making eye contact. The boy didn't react though and simply faced forward to continue walking away, the crowd watching him silently.
It didn't take long for the crowd to break up and resume going about themselves normally again. Dipper, however, was stuck standing still with his mouth agape; completely shocked by the events that had just occurred. While nothing inherently bad was happening to him anymore, he had a sick feeling in his stomach and wished he was in the middle of a bad dream. Unsure how to react next or what to do, he simply grabbed his bag, placed the bomber hat back on his head, and rushed off in another direction.
After all that had happened, he didn't have much of an appetite anymore.
"And then he started making out with his puppets, so I think it's safe to say I dodged a bullet there," Mabel said, finishing another story from the summer.
"Eww," Sammy and Angela said in disgust.
"I don't know, I think it's kinda cute," Gretchen responded. The other three girls gave her a weird look, to which she quickly backed out. "I mean, eww."
A beeping sound was heard, to which Sammy grabbed her phone from the tabletop and examined a notification. She gasped. "Oh my gosh! There was a fight outside on the deck!"
"Already?" Mabel asked. "Why do people gotta be so cray-cray around here? It's only the first day of school. Some people are just so immature."
"You wanna see a video of the fight?" Sammy asked.
"You bet I do!" Mabel exclaimed, jumping up from her seat to watch the video with Sammy and the other girls.
Upon pressing play, a perspective from one of the students was shown from behind Trevor outside on the deck. In front of him, Dipper was clearly seen on the ground after getting pushed over. No audio was heard, but Trevor was seen visibly holding his bomber hat.
"Wait, is that...?" Mabel asked, looking closely at the video. "...Dipper?!"
On cue, Dipper was seen throwing the punch that knocked Trevor down on the ground. The video promptly ended right after.
"Oh my gosh," Sammy said in disbelief.
"I know, right?" Angela said, disappointed. "How does a single punch equal a fight? Boring."
"Angela, that was my brother!" Mabel reminded with concern.
"Oh," she realized. "I guess that's bad too."
"Your brother can sure throw a punch," Gretchen dreamily sputtered through her headgear.
"I really hope he's okay," Mabel said as she looked around worriedly.
At that moment, she looked right to the side and noticed Dipper discretely walking down the hall. Keeping his head down, he seemed to be avoiding as many people as he could.
"There he is," Mabel pointed out to her friends. "Dipper!"
Catching her glance, Dipper began walking off even faster as he laid low, leaving Mabel to just look on concerned.
There were about ten minutes of lunch left to spare, so Dipper decided to start making his way to his next class, which was inconveniently located across the school. He continued trying to keep his head down as he quickly walked through the halls, aiming to just blend in and attract as little attention as possible.
He couldn't stop thinking about the navy-hooded kid who saved him from Trevor. It was so unexpected and out of nowhere. What surprised him most was that by the way he dressed, one would think he looked like he had an edgier personality than Trevor.
His hoodie had all kinds of rips, stains, and other marks on it. Being hooded, it was hard to tell, but it looked like he had dark brown hair. He also wore black jeans, which were also ripped, but not the stylish kind of ripped jeans. The rips looked more like they were obtained legitimately rather than as an intentional style choice. And his shoes had holes in them too. The way he talked was also tense and threatening. Overall, upon first glance, you would take him for some angry, homeless kid. Not exactly the type of person you would imagine being an anti-bully hero.
But in the end, he had just saved Dipper and potentially a bunch of other victims from Trevor, who was always known as one of the biggest bullies of the school when he was around before. Maybe he could be homeless, or just be really poor, and maybe angry, but he didn't seem like the bad guy like he had implied himself to be.
At that exact moment, Dipper turned a corner into a hallway and conveniently spotted the navy-hooded kid kicked back against a wall next to two separate vending machines. He looked at the ground and seemingly didn't even notice Dipper standing there looking at him.
Dipper felt it was only necessary for him to walk up and thank him at the very least. He was hesitant though. Although the boy just saved him, he still gave off a vibe that might've wanted to avoid entirely.
Despite his hesitations, he gave in and walked up to him. In the end, he at least owes him his thanks.
"Uh... hey, man," Dipper said as he stopped in front of him.
The guy brought his head up and looked at Dipper. He grinned, which Dipper didn't expect.
"Hey," he calmly greeted. "You alright after all of that?"
"Oh, yeah. No, I'm fine," Dipper assured him. "No thanks to you, that is. Definitely wasn't expecting a save like that."
The boy nodded. "Yeah, well, it was nothing. Besides, I never liked Trevor, and he deserved it. I've seen the stuff he's done to you and other kids years ago and seeing him back and at it again, it was just necessary to put him in his place, you know?"
"Um, yeah," Dipper agreed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's kinda awkward, I mean, I don't recall ever knowing you or seeing you around back then. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
The guy chuckled, which also took Dipper by surprise a bit. Now knowing the guy actually can put on a smile and laugh a bit, maybe he wasn't as edgy as he originally thought.
"Nah, it's cool," he brushed off as he held his hand out. "Derrick Mendez."
Dipper shook his hand. "Dipper Pines. Although, even knowing your name now, I can definitely say I don't recall ever knowing you or seeing you around before."
"Yeah, I'm not the most social guy out there. I've always kind of kept to myself," Derrick admitted.
"Why? I mean, you seem cool enough to have more friends than I could ever get."
Derrick snickered. "I don't know. I just never really had the patience to go around making friends, I guess," he said with a shrug. "I'm kind of... selective, I suppose."
Dipper thought for a moment as he looked at him. "Well, this is kind of an awkward thing to admit, but you know, I'm not exactly the most social guy either, except it's unintentional. So, I don't know, maybe we could be friends?" he offered. "Unless you don't want to, of course. Being selective and all."
"Sure, I'll be your friend," Derrick casually accepted with a grin. "I already see more personality in you than most of the other kids that I see walking through these halls."
"Huh. Personality," Dipper restated. "I think that's the first time anyone's complimented me for that."
Derrick chuckled. "Well, you're not proving me wrong. Anyways, you wanna grab a soda?"
Dipper looked up as he saw Derrick gesture over to the soda vendor next to him. "Umm, I would, but I don't have any money on me right now."
"Ha! Who said anything about buying a soda? Wanna see a trick?"
He looked around the hall to verify there were no adults around. He then used his fist to pound the top of the machine twice. Then, he backed up and kicked the bottom of the door once, popping it right open. He reached in and grabbed two cans of Pitt Cola, tossing one to Dipper and kicking the door shut.
"Woah, nice!" Dipper said, checking out the can Derrick just gave him. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Uhhh, someone taught me," Derrick told him, opening his can and taking a sip. "It doesn't work on the snack machine though. Wish it did. I could go for a bag of Burrito Bites right now."
Dipper then remembered something and grinned. He set his can of Pitt Cola to the side and walked up to the snack machine.
"You're not the only one who knows tricks. Check this out." He placed his hands on the side of the vending machine. He had never done this trick himself before in all the time since he was first shown it, so he had to go by a rough memory. He tapped the edge with his hands, and then popped the door open with his elbow as he said, "Bippidy-boop. Wop."
Just like Soos showed him.
"How about that?" Derrick said in awe. "Now, where'd you learn to do that?"
"Uhhh, someone taught me," Dipper mocked as he threw Derrick a bag of Burrito Bites, shutting the door behind him. "Consider it my repayment for you saving me from getting beaten up." He grabbed his Pitt Cola again and cracked it open. He raised it up in front of Derrick. "Cheers, my new partner in vendor-stealing crime."
Derrick chuckled as he clinked his own Pitt Cola can against Dipper's. "Cheers, dude."
The two took sips from their Pitt Cola cans. At that moment, the bell for the end of lunch had rung, indicating the movement to the next class period.
"Guess lunch is over," Derrick said. "I should probably be on my way."
Dipper gulped down a sip of Pitt Cola. "Yeah, same here. It was cool meeting you. Thanks again for saving me back there, and also for the soda machine trick."
"No problem," Derrick nodded. "And hey, thanks for your snack machine trick. You're definitely a lot cooler than you look. Let's hang out again sometime. Maybe for lunch tomorrow?"
Dipper smiled. "That'd be pretty neat."
Derrick began walking backward with his soda in hand. "Cool. I'll see you around, Dipper."
As he turned around, he ran bumped straight into someone, spilling his Pitt Cola can all over them.
Mabel gasped as she saw the giant soda stain on her sweater. "My new sweater!"
"My soda!" Derrick exclaimed.
"You spilled your soda on my new sweater!" Mabel exclaimed.
"More like your new sweater got in the way of my soda," Derrick argued.
"You bumped into me!" Mabel shot back angrily.
"Um, no," Derrick denied. "You bumped into me."
"Oh boy," Dipper said as he watched the incident from a brief distance.
Annoyed, Mabel just slipped past Derrick and approached Dipper, with Derrick rolling his eyes as he walked off in the opposite direction.
"You alright?" Dipper asked his sister.
"Could be better," Mabel answered, examining the soda spill on her sweater. "But don't worry about that. Are you okay? I heard you got into a fight with Trevor."
"Oh yeah, I'm okay," Dipper nodded. "Few scratches. No biggie."
"Are you sure? You didn't get in trouble?" Mabel asked. "You know how peeved mom and dad are going to be if they find out that I brought Waddles to school and you got in a fight on our first day."
"They won't find out about anything," Dipper assured her. "I'm fine. You just need to make sure Waddles doesn't get caught for the rest of the day."
"I'm trying my hardest," Mabel said. "But sometimes he's just too cute and Waddle-y to keep cooped up in my backpack."
"Well, try a little harder, maybe?" Dipper suggested, beginning to walk away. "I gotta go to my next class. I'll see you later."
"Dipper, wait!" Mabel called out, stopping him. "Look, I'm sorry for not keeping my promise about sitting with you at lunch. But I swear that I'll save you a seat with me and the girls at lunch tomorrow."
"Oh, no need," Dipper shook his head. "I actually made a new friend myself today, and I made plans to hang out with him at lunch tomorrow."
"Really?" Mabel asked, pleasantly surprised. "That's great! Who is he?"
Dipper glanced down at the cola stain on Mabel's sweater. "I'll... uh... I'll tell you another time."
She raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. Dipper looked at the clock on the wall and began walking off again.
"I really gotta go. We'll talk later!"
Mabel was left on her own in the hallway. Her brief confusion faded as she looked down at the stain on her sweater again, narrowing her eyes in slight annoyance.
Dipper arrived at his next class period. The classroom wasn't quite full yet, but the final bell hadn't rung so some students were still coming back from lunch. As to not repeat the first class, he took this opportunity to go up to the teacher's desk and personally explain his nickname, asking not to be called him by his real name. Once this was done, he sat himself down in a seat that wasn't yet occupied.
As he sat waiting for the bell to ring, students kept coming in. Eventually, Trevor himself walked inside the classroom. Dipper quickly avoided eye contact with him and pretended to not even notice his presence. Trevor looked at him, however, but simply walked right past him. He sat on the other side of the room, out of range to be able to do anything to him without getting noticed.
The bell finally rang, and the teacher shut the door. As the teacher began their introduction, Dipper looked up and glanced over at Trevor, who looked completely out of the mood and kept to himself.
"Welcome, class. I know that most of you, if not, all of you are finding the first day of school exhausting, but I hope you all are getting mentally prepared," the teacher began.
Dipper thought about it. Derrick's words must have really gotten to Trevor, and he couldn't believe it. After their earlier encounter, he thought any future meeting with Trevor was going to be a total nightmare. However, as it seemed right now, Trevor looked completely uninterested in creating any new drama with him or anyone else.
"This is your final year of middle school, and it will fly by, and before you know it, you will all be in high school."
Dipper was excited about the school year now. A bad day suddenly took an unexpected turn for the best. His biggest bully may have been done bullying him once and for all, and he may have finally made his first true friend in school besides Mabel.
"And before you know it, high school will fly by..."
It was from this point forward, that things were finally starting to look up for the school year and for the future. Whatever challenges may have been on the road ahead of him, he had a good feeling he'd be able to get past it.
"...and you will all start preparing for college."
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(CHAPTER updated as of June 16th, 2020)
Welcome, readers! This is Gravity Falls: Once More.
With this fic, I'm constructing an episodic sequel fic to the events of Gravity Falls. I'll be trying as best to follow the canon as closely as I can, including outside material such as Journal 3 and Lost Legends (which came out during the making of this fic and doesn't necessarily become referenced greatly until around Chapter 30 or so). These outer materials won't be required reading to understand the content of this fic, but if you know the material, you may be in for more of a treat. ;)
That's about all I'd like to say for now. Hopefully, I've gotten your attention with this one so far. I don't have a set schedule for how often I'll be updating, so if you really wanna keep up with this story, best to just follow it. All I can say is provided life doesn't get in the way, you can hopefully expect a few chapters a month.
ALSO, this story's cover was done by pau_sketches on Instagram! Check her out, she's extremely talented!
Anyways, that's all for now. Until next time!
-Absolute Rift