Chapter 1: Rewritten

"Earth to Dipper," The familiar hand waved in front of his face, breaking his self reverie. He had been thinking about something, but he was having trouble focusing on what. Then, it was completely gone as the familiar red hair of his friend brushed over him once, then twice, while she adjusted herself to his height. It was always impossible to concentrate when he could be staring into those green eyes, "Dude, you totally zoned out on me for a minute there. You okay?"

"I...I did not," He quipped back trying to hide the flushing of his cheeks. Puffing out his chest a little he continued on despite knowing how much he was lying, "I heard every word."

"Yeah, right dude. You went full on zombie," The redhead quickly stood upright again, extending her arms as she did so and half cocking her head to one side. Finally, and more of a taunt than anything, she let out her best imitation zombie growl which, admittedly, sounded more like a kitten mewling than a zombie. Still, they both chuckled over it.

"As if," His attempt at playfully punching her shoulder, ended up lower, knocking closer to her wrist. But, that wasn't too uncommon for the strangely mismatched pair and the taller girl recoiled in mock pain, "If anyone was going to fall to the mindless hordes first, it would definitely be you."

"Hmm, first to fall to the zombie apocalypse, huh," Wendy sprawled back on the grass of the lawn, scratching her chin in mock thought, "I suppose I can work with that. After all, I've still got you to save me and turn me back."

Dipper couldn't quite formulate a response to that one. Sometimes he wondered if she just said stuff like that to watch him squirm or if she truly thought he could be someone to save her, "Of course, it might get awkward when I start eating your family."

And, they were right back to normal. Any traces of gut wrenching questions gone. He was truly amazed at her ability to switch the conversation with such lightning fast precision. Without that he likely would have been fumbling for an answer for hours to come, carefully weighing his different options, and generally attempting to sort through any possible girl innuendo she might have tried to slip in. It was times like that which only served to remind him just how awkward he still felt around his self proclaimed best friend. But, that would all change this summer.

"An...anyway, you were saying something," The younger boy did his best to change the topic before he ended up working himself up too much. The last thing he needed was to clam up into his own little world like that.

"Oh yeah," Wendy seemed to get right back on track without missing a beat. It was always exhilarating to watch her mind work. Of course, it didn't hurt when she propped herself back up into a sitting position and pulled her legs up into her chest, finishing up by wrapping her arms around the now compressed legs. Somewhere along the line he had taken to calling this the 'Dipper' pose, mostly because she only ever sat like that around him. He supposed it was to make the height difference between the two seem small and, with anyone else, he would have been annoyed. But, with Wendy it felt like a secret the two shared and he definitely enjoyed that, "I'm so stoked that you two are coming up this year. Don't get me wrong, Gravity Falls is nice and there are cool kids. But, think of how much more awesome the three musketeers can make it."

"Hehe, yeah," Dipper gently rubbed the back of his head. The Three Musketeers of course referred to the two of them plus his twin sister Mabel. Considering that they all left tomorrow Mabel had opted to spend the last day saying goodbye to all the creatures in their backyard. This amounted to 689 according to Mabel, but Dipper had his doubts there could be so many in the modestly sized fenced yard. Unless she was counting something like Earthworms, which wouldn't have surprised him either.

"Hey, best summer ever, right," Wendy extended a balled up fist expecting the classic response from her ages old friend which he unenthusiastically provided. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to going. Okay, so he had never even met his great uncle before and now he was going to spend an entire summer with a stranger. That wasn't so bad. At least, it wasn't when he took into account 'the plan'. The plan was a behemoth of precognitive work and deduction, his attempt to either ensure the best summer ever or engulf his life in a torrent of fire from which it could never recover. Only, as the day got closer and closer, he had become less and less confident.

"Oh, don't worry about that," he tried his best to drum enough confidence into his voice as he stood up, "I have a perfect plan."

"Oh dude," Wendy stood up with him half groaning and half laughing at she imagined the complexity of his ingrained plan. As she finished his hat was playfully mashed into his head, "Mabel and I have told you to lay off the plans. You think I had a plan that first time we met...or that Mabel has a plan ever?"

While both were technically true his mind latched onto the former. It was hard to believe how long ago they met. He was just 5 at the time and she was 7. Part of him was convinced that if it wasn't for the wacky antics of his sister who, at the time, had attempted to introduce herself to the furniture, she would never have given the two a second look.

Now, here she was at 15 and him on the cusp of 13, and they were still best friends despite the age gap. It was amazing what the chance event of a family moving in down the street could do.

"That may be true, but when have my plans ever failed us?"

Wendy had to stifle back a laugh as he brought he back to the present as well, "Do you want that list in chronological order, or in order of hilarity?"

With one final blush from Dipper, Wendy gave a mock two finger salute and spun around on her heels, "Remember, bright and early tomorrow morning. You promised me the best summer ever and I'll hold you to it."


"Ppffft," That was the twelfth, no thirteenth, time Mabel had cupped her hands over her mouth to produce that particular brand of sound. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the bus had just left five minutes ago.

Taking a bus had been the only choice for the twins. Their parents weren't going to make the long drive and, between family and supplies, there was no room for them with Wendy's family. Although there had been a moderate joke about packing Dipper in with the luggage. At least, he hoped it was a joke.

"Come on Dipper, are you going to be mopey all trip?"

"That depends," he retorted feeling a little more alive from the banter. Anything was better than random noises, "Are you going to be crazy all trip?"

Of course, the young girl had long since stopped paying attention. She was more absorbed in the sugar packet she was currently dumping onto her outstretched tongue, "And you said taking a bag of raw sugar packets along was a bad idea."

"No," Dipper tried placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, but quickly thought better of it and yanked the hand away. After three packets she'd be just as likely to try and eat his hand assuming it was also made of sugar, "I said it was a bad idea to let you bring a bag of sugar packets. Which, by the way, was definitely correct."

"Pshaw, the only thing that can come from sugar packets is awesome. Awesome and rainbows."

"Remind me to put you in sugar rehab when the summer is over," This earned a laugh from both twins despite the elder not having a clue what rehab was. Dipper imagined she would expect it involved some kind of candy related party.

"Hey, I know what will cheer you right up," Dipper was mentally pleading with her not to say candy even as she grabbed him by his vest. He was regretting bringing the blue monstrosity now, it gave her too much surface area to grab, "Why don't you explain all about your ridiculous plan thingy."

"I do not have a ridiculous pla," Before Dipper could even finish objecting his sister had already deftly snaked her sweater covered hands into his inner vest pocket and pulled out the carefully folded piece of paper. How she could have such ninja like reflexes while wearing a sweater almost as big as her was a mystery he would never solve.

"Yoink," Mabel taunted as she began unfurling the piece of paper while Dipper tried furiously to reclaim it. Despite his best attempts he, unfortunately, could not overpower a preteen girl in a giant sweater and braces. Thoroughly embarrassed, he scrunched his arms up and sat back down as she began to read, "Dippers best summer ever plan."

She stopped for a minute to stifle a laugh before continuing, "Oh brosef, you really have to come up with a better name for it. Like Dippers totally awesome plan for awesome...and sprinkles!"

Dipper groaned at the new name Mabel was sure to latch onto and never let go of. On the positive side, no one, Wendy included, would ever know what she was talking about with a name like that, "Number one, tell Wendy how I feel? Aww."

There was a long awkward pause as Dipper finally glanced glanced over to his sister who was just staring at him mouth agape, "What?"

"You're finally following my advice. Normally this would have been like twenty steps detailing everything from tying your shoes to what happens if it rains. But this, it's not all complicated and stupidy."

"Stupidy is not a word, Mabel."

"Sure it is. Stupidy, Sciencey, Chickeny, Awesome..ey," Mabel continued on her rambling list of non words while Dipper retrieved his plan from her distracted hands. He wasn't sure if he should be happy to have her approval of it or afraid that she liked it.

In either case, as he folded it carefully back up into his pocket, the boy once again strengthened his resolve. Best summer ever.

Little did he know exactly what lay ahead for him, and what had already happened.