Chapter 2: Mabel In Love

Dipper hurriedly changed out of his PE sweats and into his normal clothes trying not to look around the locker room. He grabbed his belongings, locked up his sweats, and then headed towards the girls' locker room to meet Mabel.

"Sorry, Grenda. Maybe tomorrow, I promised Dipper it would be a twins only day today."

"Alright, I understand," Grenda said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Grenda. Follow your heart!" Mabel called after her large retreating back.

Mabel finally looked up to see Dipper standing about six feet away. He waved awkwardly. "Hey bro-bro. Wasn't gym fun!"

"Fun? Mabel, we had to run a mile!"

"I know! It was awesome." Dipper stared at Mabel incredulously. "Dipper, it's not like we don't have experience in running long distances. I'm sure we've run more than that in a single day during our summers here. Remember that werewolf-"

"That's completely different. That's always been life or death! This was torture. "

"You're just embarrassed 'cause you were the last person to cross the finish line."

Dipper blushed. "That's not-"

"Why don't you just do what I do? I pretend Gideon is behind me trying to kiss me." She scrunched her face in disgust and shuddered. "Works everytime."

"That would do it," Dipper agreed.

"Come on, let's find a place to eat. I'm starving!" Mabel smiled grabbing Dipper by the elbow and leading him towards the cafeteria.

"Hey, wait, Mabel…" Mabel stopped and let go of his elbow. Dipper looked at the ground rubbing the back of his neck. "You could…you could eat with Grenda if you want. I don't want to hold you back."

"Dipper." Mabel put a hand on his shoulder causing him to look up. "I want to have lunch with my best friend."

"Oh…" Dipper hung his head again. "Yeah that's what I thought. Well, have fun with Grenda-"

"Dipper, don't be stupid. You're my best friend."

"Oh? I mean. Oh, yeah. I knew that."

"It's Mystery Twins or nothing. Got it?"

Dipper smiled. "Got it."

"Good. Now lunch time! Lunch time! Lunch Time!" She continued to chant as she pulled Dipper the rest of the way to the cafeteria with him laughing softly behind her. They sat down on either side of the cafeteria bench and table.

Pulling out their Mabelified lunches they quickly started on their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"So, guess what we're doing in art?" Mabel asked.

"What?" Dipper asked suspicious of the serious look on her face.

"Claymation," she said in a low tone with a shiver. "You think if I tell Ms. Nehman that claymation almost killed me once I'd get out of it?"

"Somehow, I don't think she'd believe you."

"But I'm so trustworthy." Mabel fluttered her lashes.

Dipper laughed. "Yeah. I know you Mabel. Try that on someone who doesn't."

"Hey!"

"Dipper?" A voice said from behind him. Mabel's eyes opened wide causing Dipper to tense but when he turned around all he saw was Jonathan.

"Oh. Hey, Jonathan," Dipper greeted.

"Whaoo, whaoo" Mabel opened and closed her hands in front of her eyes imitating a cartoon. "Dipper! Invite your cute friend to eat with us!"

Dipper facepalmed at his sister's antics. "Jonathan, my sister, Mabel. Mabel, Jonathan."

"Hi." Jonathan smiled.

"Sit down. Sit down!" Mabel gestured towards Dipper.

"Sure." Jonathan smiled sitting down next to him.

"Mabel I thought this was Twins-"

"So I'm sitting, you're sitting. I'm cute, you're cute. I'm single, you're…?"

Jonathan laughed. "I heard from your brother we have a lot in common, Mabel. I guess he was right."

"Was that a yes or a no to the single thing?" Mabel asked.

"I think, if we're so similar, it's a safe bet to assume I'm single too." Jonathan smirked.

"Whoa there, let's all just slow down here for a minute," Dipper cautioned. "Mabel, I'm enacting code 24."

"What?! But we're soulmates, Dipper. You can't come between true love," Mabel exclaimed.

"Do I need to mention the ball of yarn again? Norman? Or the puppet guy or-" Mabel placed a hand over his mouth.

"Point taken."

Jonathan laughed hard. "You guys are too funny. Should I ask what a code 24 is?"

"You don't want to know-"

"I'm not allowed to date Dipper's friends." The twins said at the same time.

Jonathan smiled politely. "I have no clue what either of you just said, but okay."

"Don't worry about it, man," Dipper said.

"So how do you two know each other?" Mabel asked.

"I sat next to Dipper in Chemistry and the teacher made us do an ice breaker. As did our teachers in Algebra II and Newspaper," Jonathan answered. "You'd think they'd be more original."

"Hah! You're so funny, Jonathan," Mabel gushed. Dipper stepped on her foot and gave her a warning look.

"So, why did you both move to Gravity Falls, Oregon?" Jonathan asked. The twins mirrored two somber looks.

"Well, we've actually been here every summer since we were 12," Dipper explained.

"You stay with your uncle during the summer, right? Did your parents move here or-"

"No, our parents aren't here. Only we are staying with our uncle," Dipper explained.

Jonathan waited for him to elaborate. When Dipper didn't, he blushed. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked. Being too nosy. It's a problem."

"No! You're not. You're interested in my-our lives and that's okay. You're perfect…I mean it's perfectly understandable to be curious," Mabel gushed.

"I think what Mabel was trying, and failing, to say is it's just a hard topic to talk about. Our…our grandma has had Alzheimer's for a while now, but this summer she got really bad. She had to come live with us, but… she doesn't know…she didn't mean to…but she attacked me. My parents shipped us off here so it couldn't happen again," Dipper explained.

"Oh. I-I'm so sorry. I had no idea," Jonathan apologized.

"It's okay. Like you said you had no idea. No harm no foul." Dipper waved a 'forget about it' hand.

"So, have you ever been to the Mystery Shack?" Mabel asked.

"Um, no. Can't say that I have."

"Well then, you should come over to our Grunkle's, see all the 'wonders' and meet my pig, Waddles. He's as cute as a button. See?" She shoved a picture of Waddle's on her phone under Jonathan's nose.

The rest of their lunch was spent with the twins and Jonathan good naturedly talking and getting to know one another. The awkward moment forgotten, just like that.

"Class, class, please calm down," Mr. Hall called to his noisy students. "I know this class is right after lunch but try and work with me." The class quieted down. "Thank you. Now, welcome to Freshman Orientation. For those of you who do not know, this class is broken up into quarters. Drugs, alcohol, sex, and then driver's ed, in that order. Your grade will be 30% Tests, 25% projects, 15% homework, 10% quizzes, 10% midterm, and 10% Final. Included in the 15% is participation in class. If you are absent more than two times in a semester or tardy more than three you're grade will be docked 1% per day. If I believe you are not participating in lecture your grade will be docked .5% per day. Now, for the icebreaker-"

"This is Principal Cooper speaking. Will Raymond Redd please come to the Principal's office? I repeat Raymond Redd to Principal Cooper's office," the loud speaker interrupted.

Mr. Hill's eyes widened slightly but he quickly composed his face back to a neutral expression. "Right. The ice breaker. Mr. Hanson, please pass this out." He handed a boy a stack of papers. "We're going to play bingo. On that sheet of paper are statements like 'I've been out of the country.' 'My birthday is in March' etc. You will go around the classroom and find a different person for each box. The first person to get a bingo-"

The fire alarm began to wail.

Mr. Hall remained calm while the rest of the class jumped at the sudden noise. "Alright class, I want a single file line at the door, please." The class shuffled together getting to their feet and putting everything in their backpacks. When Mr. Hill lead them outside and towards the parking lot, Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand.

"Mabel wait. I don't think this is a normal fire drill. First of all, teachers never let students take their stuff with them for a routine fire drill and secondly, that was obviously code for something."

"What was?" Mabel asked.

"Raymond Redd. I bet you anything there is not one student in Gravity Falls High with that name. I think something weird is going on."

"Dipper, something weird is always going on," Mabel reminded him.

"Exactly. And we're going to figure out what it is, come on." He checked to make sure Mr. Hill wasn't watching before he grabbed her hand, though she would have followed anyways, and led her towards the Principal's office.

"…dead?" A voice behind the ajar door asked.

"No, he had a pulse, but it's thready. The ambulance is on their way," another voice answered the first.

"We should probably have someone flag them down so they know which room to go to," the first voice said.

"I'll do it," a third voice chimed in. "Room 618, right?"

Dipper and Mabel shared a look. With a nod from Mabel, they made their way to room 618. Dipper turned the handle to go inside but it was locked.

"Mabel, if you please?" Dipper gestured to the door.

"Of course." She got down on one knee, took two bobby pins out of her hair, stuck out her tongue, closed one eye, and quickly unlocked the door with ease.

"After you, brother."

"Thank you, sister." Dipper entered the room quickly followed by Mabel.

"I don't see-" Mabel gasped her hand gripping tight to Dipper's. "Dipper." She pointed to a figure lying on the floor.

Dipper looked to where she was pointing and gasped. There laying on the floor was a was a dead body.