[June 3rd, 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.
They began to burst straight through the main doors, rushing to the parking lots, bus stops, and bike racks, taking off from campus as soon as they could. 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. Ensuring he had everything he needed, he closed it and looked to his right.
A few lockers down was Madison, a pretty brunette girl he knew from some of his AP classes. Having worked on various class assignments and projects with her over the course of the school year, he had developed a bit of an interest in her for some time now.
Throughout his time in high school, he had moments when he had tried for girls he considered far out of his league. Cheerleaders were a no-go, athletes took pity on him, and most of the so-called stunners who spoke to him in class only did so to copy his test answers (a trap he fell for more times than he would like to admit).
As time went on, the idea of getting together with the beautiful popular girl seemed like the typical nerd fantasy to never be met. As such, he tried to widen his standards and stick to those who he felt were more within his reach. Someone more like him. And Madison 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. She was very smart herself, so he had no reason to worry about getting duped for his test answers. Outside of talking about school work, the two never really spoke much outside of class, but she had always given him a friendly vibe. So, with the end of the school year, he figured there wasn't a better time to push the envelope.
Alright, Dipper. You're just gonna go up to her and ask for her number. Piece of cake, right?
Sounded simple enough in his head. Though, everything always sounded simpler in his head.
She stood by her locker, talking with her other friends. Dipper looked on intently, already beginning to feel nervous sweats form on his forehead. He quickly took off his bomber hat, wiped away the sweat with his arm sleeve, and then brushed his hair back. He placed the hat back on his head and took a deep breath. Realizing he'd only get progressively sweatier the longer he waited, he decided to take his chance.
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 none the girls seemed to even notice his presence, and just 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 as he kept silent. The eyes of three different girls suddenly on him were intimidating. 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. "Oh, uh, 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 needed 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 the AP History final?"
He nervously cleared his throat, trying to keep himself together. "Oh, just fine. Easy test. It was all common sense."
"Right?" she nodded 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!" he said with a nervous chuckle. "And speaking of feeling the same way... I mean-!" He panicked, cutting himself off.
Why did I say that? Was that seriously gonna be my lead-in? God...
"What?" Madison asked, turning toward him with a confused look.
"Nothing!" Dipper retreated as he mentally strangled 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. 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, dual enrollment, working with the student government to arrange plans as senior class president next school year, and going out with my new boyfriend."
"Wow, that actually sounds like a busy sum- Wait, new boyfriend?!"
"Yeah," she nodded 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 being 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 that covered his eyes 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 stared at the two with his mouth agape as his eye twitched.
"Who's this?" Greg asked skeptically as he scanned Dipper from head to toe. Or at least, maybe he did. It was hard to tell with the hair.
"This is Dipper. You know him- he was in our AP US History class all year."
"Oh right," he realized, shaking his head at his mistake. "My bad, Dipper. Should've known from the hat."
"It's... fine," Dipper responded, still stunned by what he was 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 said 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 had already 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!"
"Yep..."
She turned back toward him. "So anyway, what are you doing this summer?"
Dipper's brain had already given up on the entire conversation. "Um, you know. Stuff, I guess."
"Well, don't work too hard," she chuckled as she grabbed another book from her locker, completely oblivious to his attitude.
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 replied.
"Well, I should be on my way," she said as she shut her locker and began walking off. "I'll see you next year!"
"Yeah... probably..."
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. Even though it was one of the better outcomes of his pursuits of a girl, it still didn't feel any less embarrassing.
He hadn't been too successful with a girl since the road trip he went on with his Grunkle Stan near the end of the summer. That trip, he received the numbers and emails of several different girls using Stan's 'technique'. Even then, it wasn't that 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 as he got older was one of the few mysteries that he could never solve. Hormones are a strange thing.
He was suddenly startled by the sound of slow clapping. He turned around and saw Derrick approaching him with a slight grin.
"Way to go," he said sarcastically as he approached him.
"Wait, what? You overheard all of that?" Dipper asked frantically.
"Overheard? Nah. I was standing by that door back there and watched the whole thing," Derrick clarified, gesturing toward the door down the hall behind him.
"Ugh!" Dipper exclaimed, tugging down on the ears of his hat in embarrassment.
"Hey man, it wasn't that bad. I remember when you asked out Angie Michaels to homecoming. At least this time, your pants stayed on."
"Oh, c'mon man! You promised you'd never bring that up again!" Dipper said, cringing as he remembered the incident.
"You're right, my bad," Derrick acknowledged. "But I'm just saying that this was nothing compared to that."
"Yeah, well, I feel about as dead inside as I usually am after any other rejection," Dipper said, beginning to walk down the hall.
"Why were you even trying to ask her out now?" Derrick asked as he followed. "Aren't you going away for the summer anyway?"
"Yeah, but I wasn't really trying to ask her out. 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?"
"C'mon, it's not like that," Dipper defended. "It's just... freakin' Greg Menkins? Seriously?"
Derrick chuckled. "I got you, man. I was just joking. 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 positive smile. "As you reminded me, I got a summer in Gravity Falls to look forward to."
"Right. Gravity Falls: the oh-so-wonderful and mysterious town of mythical and world-ending creatures," Derrick said in a dry tone, rolling his eyes.
"Aaaand you still don't believe me."
"Dipper, you're my bro, but you're trying to convince me that there's such thing as gnomes and unicorns," Derrick said with a light laugh. "I mean, I told you I have a granddad who lives in Gravity Falls himself, and the weirdest thing he says 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 realized, 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 the gnomes' end of the forest close to the-"
"For God's sake, Dipper. "I'm talking about the utensil!"
"Oh."
"Yeah, my grandfather doesn't get out a lot," Derrick continued. "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 that lives with gnomes. Look, man. I know you're smart, but I also think you're kind of nuts. Especially since you've never even shown me proof of any of these weird things you talk about. Like, can you really blame me for not believing you?"
"I have shown you proof! Remember when I showed you Mabel's scrapbook?"
"Your sister's little coloring book isn't proof, dude."
"Scrapbook, man! Scrapbook!" Dipper reiterated frustratedly.
"Alright, whatever," Derrick carelessly replied with an eye roll. "Look, if those amateur school yearbook kids can edit a photo to look 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 encountered monsters?"
Though, as Dipper thought it over, he realized that Mabel was exactly the type of person to go through the effort to do something so crazy.
"Do you even know your sister, dude?"
"Yeah, you're right. Nevermind," Dipper retracted, but a confident smile then struck his face. "Alright, you know what? Forget the scrapbook" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone. "I'll just take pictures and text you evidence myself."
Derrick raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Woah, there. Since when did old-fashioned Dipper Pines get a new phone?"
"Just last night actually," Dipper said, inspecting the phone. "Honestly, it was more our parents' decision to get me one than it was mine. Since I'm going to Gravity Falls again, they figured it would be better if I was the one keeping them up to date since the letters Mabel wrote to them last time left them... well... concerned about her imagination."
"Who wouldn't be?" Derrick remarked distastefully.
Over the years, Dipper has had to deal with what has grown to be a really petty feud between Derrick and Mabel. The two have never gotten along and would always fight with one another even despite the several times they had tried to put aside their differences in the past. It was weird to see, especially considering Mabel had seemingly grown past rivalries following her past feud with Pacifica. Yet somehow, Derrick seemed to always push the wrong buttons on her and vice versa. They have always hated each other, and it seemed like there was no changing that. If Dipper wanted to hang out with either of them, it would always be separate, never together. Every future meeting and interaction with one another was always bitter and petty nonsense, despite Dipper's attempts at playing peacemaker.
"Well, I gotta go meet up with her so we can head home and finish packing for tomorrow morning. So if you don't wanna deal with seeing her…"
"Please. I'm not that petty," Derrick said.
Dipper wanted to burst out laughing at how untrue that was. "You sure about that?"
"I'm not!" Derrick defended. "It's whatever. I won't stir up drama. No reason we can't at least talk on the way there if you're gonna be gone for three months."
"Alright, fair enough," Dipper accepted. He didn't have any problem with Derrick's decision, but he still hoped that he and Mabel wouldn't cause a scene once they met up.
Mabel was happy that Dipper was able to make a good friend, but Derrick being a potential influence on him had always worried her, and she wasn't necessarily wrong for that. Since they met, Dipper had learned that Derrick was a bit of a delinquent. He was the type to get in consistent trouble outside of class. Not from any violent crimes, but he had a bad habit of stealing, as well as breaking and entering. Dipper knew he had done bad things before, but Derrick never liked talking about them. Despite how much he 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 divorced dad. He 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 to him, and one that he never bothered trying to crack.
Not that Derrick's crime history was anything Dipper approved of, but outside of that, Derrick had always been a good friend to him. Despite what might be of his past and his bad relationship with Mabel, he was never bad to Dipper. Even if he had first befriended him because he saved him from a bully, they actually connected really well with one another. Derrick may not have been the nerdy best friend one might expect Dipper to have, but he was still great in his own way. Especially since he only had Mabel around growing up, he never really had many male acquaintances to balance him out on that side of the social spectrum besides his father. Befriending Derrick has definitely balanced that out some more.
He was a good friend, despite their arguments about existing weirdness in Gravity Falls. And Dipper was totally ready to prove him wrong once he obtained evidence back in Gravity Falls.
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 to Sammy. "All the art supplies are put away."
"Nice!" Sammy said 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 curiously as she walked up to her. "Why's the glitter out? We're supposed to have everything 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 reminded her anxiously. "You know they'll blame us for anything the school finds missing in this classroom!"
"Exactly!" Mabel confidently nodded. "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!"
Sammy gave her a questionable look for a good moment. "Why don't you just go out and buy more glitter?"
Mabel thought over the question for a brief couple of seconds. Then, she suddenly took the jars of green and blue glitter and dumped them both on her head without hesitation. The other girls then stood back to avoid getting covered in glitter themselves. Looking back at Mabel, they saw that the glitter quickly spread down her hair, clothes, and skin. She was sparkling green and blue from head to toe. Mabel appeared to think again for a moment before smiling widely.
"You see- buying glitter just isn't as fun as doing this," she said. She then sneezed, which made 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 an awkward smile as she rubbed her nose. "What's up?"
"First, gazuntite," Angela said politely before building up her excitement again. "And second, I just found read that Madison Calias is going out with Greg Menkins!"
"Awww!" Sammy and Gretchen said excitedly.
"Aw, what?" Mabel asked with slight worry. "My brother liked Madison. I was rooting for him. I hope he doesn't get too hurt about this when he finds out."
"At least this rejection won't be as bad as what happened with Angie Michaels," Angela said as she started laughing.
"Yeeeahh... hard to top that one..." Mabel agreed, cringing at the memory. "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 know I have a list of rebound crushes somewhere in my old matchmaking kit. I might have to bust that out again one of these days..."
"And what about you?" Sammy asked her with a teasing smirk.
"What about me?"
"You talked about all those boys you met during your last time in Gravity Falls. Are you going to look for another summer romance?"
"Ooooh," Angela and Gretchen said excitedly.
"Meh, probably not," Mabel said with a shrug.
"Awww," Angela and Gretchen then said disappointedly.
"Why not?" Sammy asked.
"I don't know. I'm kinda 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. Same with the boys here. All wasted time."
"So, no boys at all this time? No cute merman or even a dreamy centaur?" Gretchen asked.
Mabel sighed. "Maybe if I come across someone 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."
"Used to be?" Gretchen questioned.
"Uhh... yeah, not too sure about that one, sis. When you were still with Tobias Lark earlier this year... not your finest moment..." Angela mentioned bluntly.
The mere mention of her last ex's name was enough to make Mabel cringe. "Okay, fine. I can still get crazy about boys. The point is... I don't want that to get in the way of things again this summer. I wanna try to focus on spending more time with my friends and family. If a genuinely great guy comes along, of course I won't pass that up. But this girl wants to get her priorities straight going into summer this time. And a summer romance? Pfft... who needs one, am I right?"
"Well, that's sweet of you to put others before boys, Mabel," Sammy said.
"Yeah, and we're gonna miss you when you're away," 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 was still covered in glitter.
If there was 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.
However, Mabel had never forgotten about Candy and Grenda and kept well in touch with them during her time in Piedmont. What was a shame was how she would probably never get to join the two groups of friends together. She knew that if she could bring Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen together with Candy and Grenda, they'd probably have the most ferocious girl pack 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 going crazy together in Gravity Falls.
"Woah," a voice intercepted from behind the girls. They broke their group hug and turned to find 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. "Woah, woah! My bud's leaving town for the summer! Am I not allowed to chat with him once more before he leaves and has to put up with nobody but you for three months?"
"Oh, I can promise these three months will be better for him than the past four years with you have been," Mabel struck back.
"Okay! We are not doing this today," Dipper quickly intervened before things could get worse. Derrick just crossed his arms and looked to the side silently. "Anyways, you ready to go, Mabel?"
"You bet, bro-bro!" Mabel said, her sour attitude quickly reverting back to her cheerfulness. 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 hand to fan away the specs from his face.
"Because it's more fun than buying glitter from the arts and crafts store. Duh."
"That's just-" he started. "You know what? Nevermind. Let's just get going. We still gotta finish packing."
"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. "You are my home-people, through and through."
"Don't forget to send pictures of hot centaurs if you find any," Gretchen reminded sorrowly.
"Of course, Gretchen," Mabel nodded. "If I find a hot centaur, I will send you as many pictures of him as I can. Every angle."
Dipper and Derrick stood watching the four girls from behind with Derrick looking completely uninterested in everything.
"Why are girls so emotional? They know it's only gonna be three months, right?" Derrick whispered over to Dipper.
"Just chill out, man," Dipper told him. "Can't you go one time without trying to tick off Mabel?"
"You know, now that I think about it... probably not," Derrick admitted. "So, I guess I'll just get out of your hair while I still can."
"You do that!" Mabel called out, overhearing him.
"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 say exist."
Dipper chuckled, bumping his own fist against Derrick's. "Man, I am so ready to prove you wrong."
"And I can't wait to see you fail to figure out how to send a text," Derrick joked before turning around and waving his hand back once more. "See you around, Dip."
"See ya, Derrick," Dipper waved back as Derrick walked out of the room.
Mabel walked up to him 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, playfully slapping her hand off of his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go home."
As Dipper walked out of the room, Mabel stopped behind him as she glanced back at her friends. They waved at her, to which she waved 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 noticed. "What?"
"Seriously, Gretchen. What is with you and centaurs?" Angela began.
"What? They're dreamy!" she 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, face reddening. "Since when have hot centaurs been mainstream?"
Despite her attempts to defend herself, Sammy and Gretchen just 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.
Later in the day, the sun had already set, and the night sky was clear over the calm and quiet neighborhood.
Mabel was in her room scavenging through her closet. Since getting home, she had already cleaned herself of glitter and was now sporting her usual oversized evening shirt for nightwear. Waddles sat beside her opened pink-polka-dotted purple luggage on her bed, which had more than a reasonable amount of clothes stacked inside. A bunch of different sweaters, tops, bottoms, and dresses were also spread out across her room as if she couldn't decide what to pack.
Every single bit of Mabel's wardrobe was handcrafted by her. Of course, she had been born with a love and natural talent for art and fashion. She picked up the ability to knit all on her own, contributing to her habit of designing mainly sweaters growing up. Not to mention how having a sweater-heavy wardrobe was never really a blessing during hot summer days.
By the time she reached high school, she started going beyond sweaters and learned to design her entire clothing arsenal. She designed her own tops, bottoms, dresses, and occasionally shoes- all exclusively in her own unique style just like her sweater designs. Sometimes she would design for others as well. It was her way of making an occasional profit for herself rather than getting some average part-time job on the side. Many took very kindly to her extroverted fashion sense, and she always had fun making clothes, so why not make a little side business out of it? It was a far more reputable self-business than any of Stan's younger entrepreneurial ventures.
Now she searched her closet trying to figure out what she wanted to bring along with her to Gravity Falls. Unfortunately, she didn't have room for everything. And she would absolutely take everything if she could.
She 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 midnight blue sundress patterned with yellow stars paired with a navy floppy straw hat. She ran up to her night desk where her tablet stood up.
"Alright. Next, we have a cute sun top with jean shorts and the starry night sundress with a cute hat to go with," she listed. "Which one screams 'Girrrl, is it summer, or is your outfit just THAT hot?' more?"
On the screen of her tablet, Candy and Grenda were on the other end of an ongoing video call. The two girls were seen visibly examining Mabel's two outfits over the camera.
"Hmm," Candy thought it over. "It's a hard decision, but I think the sundress is wayyy cuter."
"Agreed," Grenda nodded. "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! Sundress it is!" Mabel said excitedly. She walked back to her closet and put away the other outfit before walking back to her luggage and placing the sundress on the already large stack of clothes.
"I still can't believe it's going to be four years since you came to Gravity Falls," Candy awed.
"Yeah. Why has it taken so long for you and Dipper to come back anyway?" Grenda asked. "You know we've been missing you! Why must you play with our hearts?!"
"C'mon, Grenda! You already know why," Mabel said. "Three years ago, it was 'cause our parents took us to Cuba. This cute boy taught me to salsa, and Dipper got food poisoning from salsa. Still not a bad trip, all things considered. Then the summer after that, I had to recover from my appendix rupture." She shuddered at the memory. "And then last year, Dipper and I were set to go back, but then Soos accidentally released termites and had to have the Shack tented for just about the whole summer, so we had to cancel that trip," she finished explaining. "Haven't I told you guys about each of these before?"
"Oh, yeah," Grenda realized. "Sorry, my memory's been kinda fuzzy since the concussion I got a few weeks ago during gym class dodgeball. I think I 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, unsure of how to respond.
"It's okay. I've been helping look after her," Candy assured. "She does this."
"Alright then," Mabel said, simply taking her word for it. "Anyways, it stinks that we won't be able to meet right away since you two are both going away this week."
"Oh, don't worry. I usually get kicked out of wrestling camp early because of how much better I am compared to everyone else," Grenda said.
"And band finals will be over in 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've just been wondering- has anything changed since we were last there?"
"Well, we live here, so it's not easy to tell what's changed when we're basically living every single change like it's normal," Candy said.
"Yeah, that's true..." Mabel realized.
"I mean, there are some 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 are about to finish a big new pier by the lake. Funfair size!" Candy explained excitedly.
"Ooooh, a new pier? That does sound fun!" Mabel agreed. "But is that it? What about the Mystery Shack? Has that changed all that much?"
"We haven't really had much of a reason to go there since you left," Grenda admitted.
"Although, I think I saw someone new working there when I passed by last month," Candy said, visibly trying to recall the memory.
A beeping noise was then heard from Candy and Grenda's end of the call. On Candy's screen, a dying battery sign flashed.
"Oh no, my tablet is about to die!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Mabel. But we're going to call back later."
"No, don't worry about it," Mabel said. "I'm gonna head to sleep in a moment anyway since I gotta wake up early for the bus. I guess when you two get back, we'll meet again in Gravity Falls!"
"Totally! We can't wait to see you again!" Grenda said excitedly with Candy nodding in agreement.
"Me neither! I'll talk to you girls soon!" Mabel said, waving at the screen.
"Bye Mabel!" Candy and Grenda said together as they waved back.
The call ended, and 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.
So there's someone new working at the Mystery Shack now?
The thought didn't seem to settle well with her for some reason. Not that she didn't like meeting new people, but for a long while, she had been attached to a familiar image in her head that she counted on seeing again once returning to the Mystery Shack. Of course, expecting everything to be the exact same as when she and Dipper left was not the most believable expectation. Regardless, part of her was afraid of too much change. That some changes might 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 this time around.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She looked up at her door. "Come in!"
The doorknob turned, and the door slowly opened. Dipper's head peeked inside.
"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 messy room as well. "Yeah, just about! 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," she retorted. "News flash: most people 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. 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," he 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 lit up excitedly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Answer!" he said as he ran up beside her in front of the screen.
She pressed the answer button. It took a few seconds to load, but soon enough, Stan and Ford's faces popped up on the screen. The two were wearing winter clothes and appeared to be in a dark, cavernous 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 despite the surrounding darkness.
"Man, I swear you two look a little older every time we call," Ford added.
"And both of your hairs look grayer every time we see you," Mabel jabbed.
"Ha! A joke about us getting old," Stan chuckled. "It's both funny, yet hurtful 'cause it's true. Glad to see you haven't changed a bit, sweetie."
"I try my hardest!" Mabel gloated.
"So, as I recall, today was your last day of school, correct?" Ford asked. "How did that go?"
"Nothing special," Dipper brushed off, despite Madison coming to mind. "We're just excited to finally come back to Gravity Falls and see you guys tomorrow."
"Yeah!" Mabel nodded. 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 sarcastically as he looked to the side without enthusiasm.
"Actually, kids, we called to let you know that we, unfortunately, won't be in Gravity Falls tomorrow..." Ford revealed with visible disappointment.
"Wait, what?" Mabel questioned, putting Waddles down.
"Why not?" Dipper asked, frowning.
"Well, as you can see," Ford began before pointing their camera to the side, revealing that they were in a confined space, with large amounts of snow outside. "We're in the arctic circle."
"What are you guys doing there again? I thought you guys were done with that place years ago," Mabel asked.
"We were. But a few weeks ago, I received a strange signal with a heavy strength that lined up with some intense unworldly anomalies I've researched before," Ford explained.
"Aliens?" Dipper asked. "Something like the saucer we went in?"
"I can't say for certain," Ford admitted.
"Wait a minute," Stan halted, turning to Ford. "You never told me about aliens."
"Either way..." Ford said, dismissing Stan. "...given the strength of the signal, 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."
"Well, how long will you be?" Mabel asked.
"I can't give an exact date, but rest assured that we'll be back before the month's end," Ford said with a nod. "Whenever that is, we'll still have plenty of time to spend with you two upon our return."
"Yeah, so don't wait on us. Soos, Wendy, and the others will all still be around at the Shack for you two," Stan said. "Just, ya know, don't tell your parents we aren't there right now."
"But, you promise that you two will be back as soon as you can?" Mabel asked.
"Of course," Stan nodded. "Believe me, kid, 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 two again."
"Stan's correct," Ford said. "No need to worry, kids. Provided there are no obstacles on our way back, it shouldn't be longer than a few weeks before we see you again."
A large gust of wind was heard from the Stans' end of the call.
"It appears that the snowstorm I tracked earlier is beginning to weigh in on our location," Ford said as he looked outside. "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'm looking forward to hearing about all you've managed to discover and record in your journal there in Piedmont."
Dipper's eyes widened upon hearing this. He opened his mouth to say something back but couldn't seem to make anything out.
"Farewell, kids!" Ford said as he waved.
"Stay safe!" Stan added.
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.
"So, I guess Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford are going to be a bit late," he said.
Mabel sighed. "Guess so."
He turned toward her and took note of 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?"
"What if Gravity Falls isn't the same as it used to be?" she asked. "After how long it's been, what if the town just isn't the same as we remember it? Candy and Grenda say there are new people, new places… Candy even said she saw someone new working at the Mystery Shack!"
"That's your worry?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow. "C'mon, Mabel. Every town changes as time goes on. And if there's a new worker at the Shack, then Soos probably needed them. It's all completely normal."
"But Gravity Falls isn't normal."
"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?"
"No, it's just…" she began, looking up as she wondered 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 her things. Dipper watched curiously, wondering exactly what she was trying to find to aid her point. 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 scrapbook from that summer out to him.
"That's your old scrapbook," Dipper pointed out, 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 pictures of that summer. All the pictures of their various adventures were there. Neither of them had looked through it in a long while, 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 Mabel had really put into putting it together. It was something he never noticed when 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 about those old adventures they had was an unexpected experience. It brought back the complete perspective of those moments rather than just a memory that may have a few details 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 on Summerween. All these forgotten feelings and moments came rushing back all at once.
He always remembered loving that summer, but now he started to remember exactly why he loved that summer.
"I loved the Gravity Falls we went to back then. I'm scared I'm not going to love the Gravity Falls we go to this time," 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 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 crumby great-uncle for the summer. Gravity Falls was nothing but a boring, sleepy town with nothing to offer," he began. "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 place had in store for us. And 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 happened, and we just went along with it. So yeah, things probably will be different this summer. But that's because Gravity Falls has always been unpredictable. Who knows what will happen this time? Maybe it'll be great, maybe it won't be. Maybe I'm wrong and it'll be exactly the same. We don't know. But we just gotta go with it. The same way we did last time. And it worked out 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 out pretty well."
"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 finished.
Dipper smiled. "So let's go into this next summer with an open mind and reserve judgment for later, shall we? There might not even be anything to worry about."
"You're right. My mind is all the way open," she said as she placed her hands on her head, pretending to pull it apart.
"Great," Dipper said as he mimicked her. "So is mine."
The two laughed together at their own goofiness, something that still hasn't disappeared after all those years. After a good laugh, the two sighed.
"Thanks, Dipper. I needed that," Mabel said gratefully. "Now, I feel like I'm ready to go to Gravity Falls again."
"Well, that's good to hear," he said gladly. "Anyway, I gotta go dig out my old journal. I don't know what I'm gonna tell Ford when he finds out that I haven't written really anything in it since there are practically no anomalies here in Piedmont. I feel like that's just gonna disappoint him."
"Well, if he's not gonna be in town for a bit, maybe that gives you time to come up with some stuff to write about when we come back to town," Mabel suggested.
Dipper thought about it. "Maybe... Now would be a good chance to start that book fresh."
"That... it... would..." Mabel agreed amidst her struggle to zip up her overloaded luggage. It took a minute, but with full force, she somehow managed to zip up the absurd amount of clothing she carried. She turned back toward Dipper, shooting her hands up in the air victoriously. "Success!"
"Are you sure that's not gonna, like, explode?"
"Nope!" Mabel confidently assured without any conflicting thoughts.
Dipper stared at the luggage again for a moment before just chuckling at his sister's overconfidence. He took a step out the door, grabbing hold of the doorknob. "Goodnight, Mabel."
"Goodnight, Dipper."
As he closed the door behind him, she then threw her luggage off the bed and onto the floor. She then jumped in bed and tucked herself under the sheets. She leaned forward to pet Waddles one last time.
"Goodnight, Waddles," she whispered to him. "We have a long day tomorrow."
Mabel gently kissed Waddles on top of his head. Waddles replied with a gentle oink as he shut his eyes for the night. Mabel leaned over to her night desk and shut off her lamp, darkening the room; nothing but moonlight emitting from the creases of her blinds barely lit up the room.
She lied back and thought to herself. She was worried about coming to a different Gravity Falls before, but now she was just excited to finally be coming back.
After all those years and all the delays, by tomorrow morning, she and Dipper would finally be returning to Gravity Falls to start a brand new adventure.
VRRQ ZH'OO PHHW DJDLQ
VRPH VXQQB GDB
And there we have it. The end of the prologue.
So this prologue has been OC-heavy. This isn't 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. A lot of them were Piedmont one-offs. That said, there will be a good amount of OCs that will play major roles in this story, but I'm not the type to prioritize them over original series characters will take priority (for the first season, at least).
Feel free to review and/or ask questions as well. I won't answer really spoiler-y stuff or detail my future plans because I do want this story to have some element of surprise and mystery, but I have no problems discussing certain elements of the story, the series, and maybe teasing the future and such. So you know, as long as that's clear, ask away.
But that's about all I gotta say. I hope you all are enjoying things so far!
-Absolute Rift
(Chapter updated as of November 24, 2022)