Denied
Jenson Fields was probably among the minority of students who would say that they loved school. But if someone asked him what he liked about school, he would inform them that as a current senior he was taking the easiest class load he'd had since fifth grade. The final period was one of his particular favorites: study hall.
Not that he ever bothered to study during study hall. No way. He'd usually make up some excuse about the water fountain or the bathroom and disappear from the unbearably silent classroom, never to be seen again. The added bonus was that some of his friends did the same, and a group of them would meet outside, near the main entrance, but hidden away enough that no passing members of administration could spot them.
It was one of the first nice days of spring. A perfect seventy-five degrees with a slight breeze that carried the scent of last night's rainfall. If he hadn't had baseball practice after school, Jenson might've ditched completely and gone up to the pier over in Berkeley.
As it were, he was having a good time. Playing a round of hacky-sack with the dudes, while the two female friends of the group stood off to the side, watching and whispering.
A particularly tricky toss came Jensen's way, causing him to fumble the hacky-sack. A chorus of "hey-oh's" signaled his disqualification, so he joined the girls' conversation for lack of anything better to do.
"I know. That's weird. I've never seen her before in my life."
"What are you talking about, Tiff?" he interjected.
The girl in question, Tiffany, pointed. The Piedmont City Park was stationed directly across the street from the high school. And on a picnic table in clear view of the group of friends, lounged a girl.
Her head was tipped back on the surface of the wooden table, freckled face welcoming the sun with an easy-going smile and red hair splayed far behind her as the wind tugged at it. Dressed in a flannel shirt, worn out jeans, and mud caked boots, she certainly made an innocuous sight for urban California.
"About five minutes ago she just waltzed over there and made herself at home." Tiffany explained, "It kinda looks like she's waiting for someone."
He nodded along to Tiff's conclusion. What else would a red-headed hottie be doing all alone in a park?
"I think she's waiting for a handsome gentleman to come sweep her off her feet." Jenson asserted with bravado, puffing up his chest
Tiffany looked up from her cell phone, where she was undoubtedly trying to gather intel about the strange girl from the whole school. She gave him a doubtful look, one eyebrow raised, "Or she's waiting for her boyfriend, dimwit."
"Future boyfriend?"
The girl sighed in exaggerated exasperation. "You're an idiot." She mumbled, but he ignored her in favor of crossing the street to the park.
The lanky red-head didn't move at the sound of his approach, didn't even acknowledge his presence as he sat down beside her. If he had been looking closely, he might have noticed how the contented smile fell from her face, but he was a little too busy starting at… other things.
Too distracted to even think of something to say.
"Can I help you?" the red-head suddenly asked. She hadn't even opened her eyes.
"Um…" he dove in, "Yeah, I'm waiting here for someone."
"What a coincidence."
"The girl of my dreams, actually." Jenson answered, "But I think she's already here."
The red-head scoffed, "Yep, never heard that one before."
"Do you want to, I don't know, go get some ice cream on this fine spring day and find out if I'm the guy of your dreams?"
She finally looked at him, green eyes glittering in the sunlight as she gazed at him steadily, "I need you to focus fully on my response so that there's no misunderstanding. Can you do that?"
He nodded feverishly.
"Good." She continued, "No."
"No, what?"
Her sigh was even more pronounced than Tiffany's had been, "No. Go away."
"You won't even give me a chance?" Jenson whined.
The red-head leaned back again, returning to ignoring him save for a jaded explanation, "I've wasted too much of my life already giving annoying, overeager idiots like you 'a chance'. I'm done. Now go away."
Jenson pouted, but the red-head didn't take notice. He lasted about another minute before he grew unable to endure the tense atmosphere and abandoned ship.
Tiffany was sniggering nonstop as he trudged back to his group of friends. He ignored her. Apparently, the guys had stopped their game to watch. At least they were on his side.
"Sorry, man."
"It's okay. We already knew gingers were soulless. This is just more proof."
"Wow, a flimsy rationalization for your loss." Tiffany said with faux surprise, "Cover up that wounded male masculinity. Oh no. Can't admit that you're just not what she's into."
Furious, Jenson spun on her, "Then what do you suppose she's into!?" he exploded.
Whatever Tiffany had been about to say was interrupted when the final bell rung. The rest of the group seized the convenient opportunity to avoid the little spat between friends, melting into the crowd of students that spilled out the front doors of the school. Jenson's glare, however, didn't waver. Tiffany placed her hands on her hips.
"You're not as great as you think you are, Jen." She stated coolly, "Believing that any girl is going to drop what she's doing when you ask is ridiculous. It also means you have a very shallow understanding of females in general."
Her lecture trailed off as her eyes began to follow something behind him. Curious, Jenson turned and caught sight of a figure, bee lining for the red-head in the park.
A boy.
Haphazardly, the boy shoved a blue and white baseball cap over his messy, brown hair. Hiking his backpack up, he wove through the throng of students. A seemly easy feat given that he was by no mean big or tall.
"C'mon!" Tiff hissed, dragging Jenson along. They dashed along behind the boy, coming to a halt near the picnic table to listen, but far enough away that they appeared to be casually talking while waiting for a bus.
"Hey Wendy." the boy greeted the red-head.
The red-head – Wendy – looked up and smiled, "Hey, yourself."
"How's your spring break going?"
"Oh you know, pretty typical. I went camping with my dad and my brothers for most of the time. But I'm super excited that I get you hang out with you guys as well. Best spring break ever."
"It might not be as fun as Gravity Falls," the boy answered with some trepidation, looking at his sneakers as he kicked a pebble away."
"Nah man," Wendy's excitement hadn't faded upon the boy's admission, "I got good info. There's a selkie party going down in San Leandro Bay tonight. We're gonna find it and join in. Gotta get wild while the parents are out of town, you know."
The boy's eyes lit up, "Really!"
"Sure man! It's going to be a blast."
A date!?
Jenson didn't wait to hear another word. He stalked up to the pair, yanking his arm away from Tiffany's grasp as she attempted to stop him.
"So this is what I get turned down for?" he sputtered at the red-head while gesturing to the boy, "Some wimpy nerd without enough sense to know that bracelets are for girls!?"
The boy tugged the sleeves of his hoodie down over the leather bands around his wrists before looking at the red-head.
"Who's this?" he asked.
Wendy rolled her eyes, "The guy that just told me I was the girl of his dreams like, ten minutes ago."
"That's usually the first thing I say to a girl too." The boy chuckled, "Along with introducing myself as the guy of your dreams." The boy elbowed Wendy in the arm and she laughed.
"My name's Jenson, nerd. I'm the pitcher for the varsity baseball team."
"He's Dipper," The red-head gestured to the boy, "I'm Wendy. And this is my boyfriend."
To Jenson's surprise, Wendy reached into a backpack on the ground and pulled out a stuffed animal that looked like a cross between a duck and a panda. It squeaked as she gave it a squeeze.
"What?" Jenson felt his anger turn into confusion, "But I thought you were…"
His thoughts trailed off in a screech, but instead of fading, the noise only seemed to get louder. A pink comet sailed into view, smashing into Wendy at top speed.
"Wendy!" the girl wrapped around Wendy's waist exclaimed, "You're here!"
"Yeah, Mabel. Man, get down. You're like, a million pounds."
"Of pure muscle!" the girl – Mabel – agreed, flexing her biceps when she let go of the red-head; not that her arms could be seen, swathed as they were in a day-glow sweater. She suddenly seemed to realize that she was butting in, her head swinging back and forth between Wendy and Jenson, long hair getting caught in her mouth.
She spit it out, "Am I… interrupting something?"
"Just this dude trying to pick up Wendy," Dipper clarified, "And repeatedly calling me a nerd."
Mabel snorted, "The nerdiest."
The boy shot her a glare, "Mabel, you're not helping here."
"Do you want me to? I could fight him! I'll defend both your honors!"
She began jumping in place, fisting her knuckles, and turning on a flabbergasted Jenson. He wasn't keeping up with what was going on. Dipper face-palmed. Wendy stepped in.
"No fighting champ."
"We're not on school property," Mabel pointed out, "It's completely fine."
"Stan has ruined her with his lack of moral obligation." Dipper groaned.
"Like you are any better, Dipper." Mabel teased right back, "I bet you were planning to spell him five ways to Sunday."
"I had a few in mind."
"So did I. It's called a left-hook. Specifically for jocks than need to be taken down a peg."
"Hey!" Jenson interjected.
Mabel waved him off, "It's true," she said dismissively, "If you had an ounce of humility you would have a much better time."
"I've been trying to get that through his thick skull for years." Tiffany finally joined the fray. To Wendy, she apologized, "I'm sorry for my friend. He makes too many assumptions. And you know what they say about assuming. It'll make an ass out of you and me."
Wendy laughed, "Good one."
"Let's go, Jenson." Tiffany pulled a finally cooperative Jenson back to the bus stop.
"She's their babysitter." He said in a daze.
"Or just a visiting friend that doesn't want anything to do with high school boys." Tiffany added, peering over at the threesome as they all shouldered their backpacks.
"We're going to a party with seal people!" Mabel's elated voice carried easily over the distance, "Oh, Mermando is going to be sooooo jealous!"
"That latin history book on the Roman Legions that you sent to me was a really good resource, Wendy." Dipper said over his sister's enthusiastic humming and dancing, "I've already uncovered quite a few combat spells. Where'd you find it?"
Wendy walked alongside the siblings, "It was in an old closet in the city library. I had to fight a boggart to get it. Or maybe it was a brownie?"
"Were there other things in the cupboard?"
"Yeah, like, weird trinkets and I think there was a bobble-head of your uncle."
"Then definitely a brownie. They're hoarders."
"Beach party!" Mabel shouted, "I'm gonna go wild!"
As the trio's path carried them further away, Tiffany finally turned her attention back to Jenson. Only to find him staring into nothing, glassy eyed.
"What just happened?"
Smiling and shaking her head, she rehashed for him, "You unsuccessfully flirted with a hot girl, only for her to get stolen by a freshman. Then you almost got into a fight with another freshman over the same girl, before you had to beat an embarrassing retreat. Now you're going to be late for baseball practice."
He took off running.
"Later Jen!" Tiffany called after him.
Jenson officially hated school.
First of all, I need to say, I am so sorry. I never anticipated making you all wait so long for a chapter. Secondly, however, it was completely unavoidable. Preparing for my entrance exam on top of my coursework left no time for writing. But the good news is, IT'S FINALLY OVER!
On another note, this chapter did not want to be written. I usually hash these out in one sitting and this one took me over the course of a few days. I'm not fully satisfied with the result. I couldn't decide how to characterize the narrator or what I wanted to escalate or even how to insert my headcanons. I'm sorry if it's ugly :\
To clarify, Jenson is not meant to be completely malicious like some of the other characters I've written. He's just an idiot blinded by testosterone. On the other hand, I thought Tiffany was going to be some bratty character that sided with him. Instead, she grew into a voice of reason, trying to correct Jenson's misogynistic ways. Such a good friend.
In reference to ships and romance. I'm sorry if this is super disappointing, but I don't like to write that stuff. It makes me super uncomfortable. Mabel's pick-up lines was about the most action you'll ever get out of me, and that was more geared towards humor. So in this fic – as what I assume to be canon – Wendy and Dipper's relationship is purely platonic O.o
I decided not to change the title. I got a mix of reviews, but ultimately, I don't like change, I don't want to confuse any of the guest readers, and I'm too lazy :P (Though I still think Outsiders sounds cool, I just wish I would have used that from the start ). I'm planning to finish the next two chapters in the next two weeks, and I'll let you know what comes after that.
Sorry for the long author's note. Thanks to "Random" reviewer who suggested the after-school encounter with Wendy (sorry that there was no "decking" involved). And as always, thanks for reading!