"Get ready, guys!" Mabel yells. She then throws a huge balloon over to me, Dipper, Candy, and Grenda, who are all waiting for it to hit us.
"Ha!" Dipper says, raising the inflated plastic like it's a trophy. "It's mine!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Grenda charges Dipper head-on, followed by the three of us.
"Hey!" He protests. "Stop that!"
"Never!" I scream, running at the balloon. I hit it so hard, it pops. White foam explodes everywhere.
"What?" Grenda squishes some of it in her hands.
"Oh, god, that's gross." Dipper attempts to rub it off of his body.
"Shaving cream?" I raise my eyebrows at Mabel.
She stands there with a huge grin on her face. "Keep guessing!"
Ignoring us telling her not to, Candy brings some of the white foam up to her mouth. "Whip-ped cream?" She asks. (Her broken English causes her to say some things differently.)
"Uh-huh!" Mabel's grin widens.
"Mabel, why would you fill that balloon with whipped cream?" Dipper asks, swatting away Waddles, who is trying to lick some of it off him.
"Does it have some sort of symbolism?" I question.
"What does it mean?!" Grenda screams.
"What?" Mabel responds. "You guys are overthinking it. Whipped cream in balloons doesn't mean anything!"
"It does now!" I proclaim. "From now on, whipped cream shall symbolize friendship! Just as lambs symbolize Dipper…"
"Will you quit that?" He automatically replies.
"I'm this close to getting it out of you."
"Friendship attack!" The three girls say in unison. While I was trying to get the secret out of Dipper, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda had located the rest of the whipped cream, and were now spraying it everywhere.
"Hey, stop that!" Dipper tries to hide behind the cash register.
"Hang on, I have an idea!" I run off towards the kitchen.
"You're leaving me alone?!"
"You're a boy! Be tough!"
I skid to a stop in front of the fridge, swinging the door open. I finally find what I was looking for and grin.
"I'm back!" I announce. "Balloons versus Guns II: Revenge."
I hoist the carton high above my head, enjoying the gasps from the other side of the room.
"She's got eggs!" Mabel says in shock.
"DUCK AND COVER!" Grenda jumps in front of the two smaller girls, blocking them.
"We fight back!" Candy shoots out one long strand of whipped cream.
"Ammo!" Dipper pelts a few eggs. His tosses are way off and sort of pathetic, but they work.
A few minutes into our food fight, the door to the gift shop jingles open. Everybody abruptly hides their ammo and tries to act natural until we see who it is.
"Howdy!" Says the short southern boy.
"Gideon!" Mabel nearly yells. "Why do you keep coming here? Are you stalking us?" She prepares to shoot at him.
"Hello, peach dumpling." He winks. "I know you still love me. It's okay; you don't have to hide it." To which she rolls her eyes and lets a dollop of whipped cream squirt out.
"Who ar-e you?" Candy asks, following suit.
"Why, I'm Gideon Gleeful, town psychic!" He answers, appalled. "You haven't heard of me?"
"Look, buddy," Grenda forcefully wraps her arm around his neck. His face begins to turn the same color as his suit. "If Mabel says that you're not a good person, then most of the time you're not. You better explain yourself!"
"My goodness!" Gideon coughs, breaking free. "I just stopped by to give you these." He passes a small red box to Mabel. She opens it to reveal several small chocolates in the shape of cauldrons. "For my love; I figured she deserved something as sweet as she is."
"Don't eat them!" Dipper warns her. "They're probably poisoned!"
"Now, why would I poison her?" He shoots daggers at Dipper. "Try one- they're imported."
I've seen this before…
"Go on," Gideon urges, ever-so-slightly touching his amulet. "No harm comes from love."
Love? I realize. That's it!
Mabel reaches into the box, as if being controlled, and pulls out a candy. She almost has it in her mouth before I yell, "Stop!"
"Huh?" She shakes her head, as if she was in a trance. Her eyes look down at the chocolate, confused.
"I've read about this part a million times." I pull the box from Gideon's hands and throw them onto the ground. "From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There's a love potion in those chocolates, isn't there?" He's in shock, but not in denial. "Wow. You really need to be more original."
"Thanks, Autumn. I wouldn't want to spend forever loving him." Mabel stomps on the box. "Die, die, die!"
"Hasn't she made it clear?" Dipper asks angrily. "She's never going to date you!"
"Yeah!" Grenda adds. "She already has a boyfriend!"
"She is in love!" Candy finishes.
"Just go!" I demand. "Nobody likes you!"
"That's it." Anger crosses Gideon's face. "You've gone too far."
All in one moment, he raises an arm, and a glint of light catches something under his jacket. I have no time to think- all I see is a number.
2.
"Gideon has the second book!" I blurt out.
"I knew it!" Dipper jumps out from behind the counter and tackles Gideon, followed by Mabel, Grenda, Candy, and finally, me.
"Get off!" Gideon commands. "All of you! Get off this instant!"
"I've got it!" Dipper says in triumph. He raises the book over his head so that Gideon can't reach it.
"What is going on?" Grenda asks, more confused than ever. "Why are those books so important?"
"That's none of your business!" He jumps to reach catch the book, and almost gets it, but realizes that he could use another method.
Blue energy surrounds the book. It's pulled safely back into his hands.
"I'll be taking that." He's almost out the door of the Shack when Mabel says, "Gideon, wait!"
He turns around hopefully, only to feel a tugging sensation around his neck.
"Where do you keep getting these, anyway?" Mabel tosses the amulet to Grenda, who breaks it in her hands. Teal smoke rises from the broken glass.
Without answering that question, Gideon runs away, holding the book, leaving so many more questions in my head, unanswered.
I'm really sorry about this chapter, guys, because it's pretty much crap. But I had writers block for this story while writing this part, and I had no plan for this chapter, and I was writing it really really fast to get it done because of homework and stuff. So, I apologize, and the next will be better (I think) and this chapter is a little irrelevant to the rest of the story.