Kylee groaned, fanning herself. "It has no right being this hot."

"Word," Jen agreed. "It's freaking September. Get the memo, California."

Dipper said nothing.

It was a week into school, and Summer hadn't left. If anything, it had come back with revenge. As a treat, the P.E. teacher had given them an easy workout; instead of cardio, they had to walk around the track four times, the equivalent of a mile.

Even with the reduced sentence, everyone was melting. Socks pulled down, short sleeves rolled up, shorts hiked up, paper fans fanning. Dipper had heard whispers that Cooper Yeller was going to buy all of the ice cream sandwiches at lunch and resell them. According to Dipper's calculations, Cooper would get robbed and a new rule would be put in place.

"Diiiipper," Kylee said, interrupting Dipper's train of thought. "Take off your hoodie. You're gonna die."

"I'm fine," Dipper said, hand unconsciously going to his left elbow.

"No," Jen countered. "You're gonna die. Take it off."

"Woah!" Kylee laughed, pointing as Jen's face turned red at the implications of what she'd just said. "Gettin' a little eager, are we?"

"Say that again and I break your nose," said Dipper, monotone. It wasn't an idle threat, either; Grunkle Stan had given him some boxing lessons before they had to leave.

"Seriously, though," Kylee said. "We're in the middle of a heatwave, and you're wearing a hoodie. Not only that, but a dark-colored hoodie."

"Mm-hm," Dipper hummed, wiping sweat off his forehead. His ushanka was perched in the crook of his arm like a basketball.

"At least roll your sleeves up," Jen urged. Dipper shook her off. His mouth was dry.

"Dip-per," Kylee said, breaking his name up into syllables.

"Mm-hm," he said again.

Then he passed out.

"I told her," Kylee told the school nurse, Nurse Krysowaty. "I told her, but did she listen? NO!"

"Thank you for trying," Nurse Krysowaty said, spritzing cool water on Dipper's face with a spray bottle. "Turn on that fan for me, will you?"

Jen did as she was told.

"Okay, now help me prop her up so I can take her hoodie off."

Kylee and Jen each held one of Dipper's shoulders, keeping him in a sitting position. Nurse Krysowaty pulled the hoodie's zipper down, and the girls helped her pull the sticky-with-sweat garment off of Dipper's skinny arms.

When the hoodie was peeled off, Nurse Krysowaty unceremoniously deposited it next to his backpack while Kylee and Jen carefully laid him back down. Kylee grabbed the spray bottle, gazing into its depths.

She sprayed Dipper's face, giggling. "A kitty punishment for a kitty sneezer."

"Don't drown her!" Jen laughed.

As Nurse Krysowaty angled the fan to better cool Dipper's face, she noticed some marks on his arm. There were nine pink circles, in sets of three, almost like he had taken a fork to his elbow. The area was marked with scabs and a colorful bandage, and it appeared that he had been continually scratching the area, not allowing it to heal properly.

"How long has she had these?" Nurse Krysowaty asked, gently touching his elbow. The skin was rougher than the surrounding skin.

Kylee and Jen looked at each other. Jen shrugged, and Kylee said, "She didn't have them before Summer."

"Hm," Nurse Krysowaty said, frowning. "It's not too bad, but if she doesn't lead it alone, it'll scar more. I'll have to have a talk with her parents."

"They're working," Jen said. "But her grandfather lives with her-you know, in their house."

Kylee nodded. "He's probably the one listed to pick her up."

"Alright," Nurse Krysowaty said. She picked up her binder full of contact and medical information and flipped to the tab labeled 'Marie Pines'. "Yes, he's here. Thank you for your help, girls. You can go back to class now."

Kylee and Jen looked at each other. Jen bit her lip. "She'll be okay, right?"

Nurse Krysowaty nodded kindly. "Of course. She just needs to spend the rest of the day at home. Good thing it's Friday, no?"

The girls smiled. "See you, Nurse Krysowaty."

"Bye, girls."

Shermie drove the familiar route back home, occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror to check in on Dipper. He was sitting slumped into his seat, ushanka placed on top of his navy blue hoodie, which had been thrown at the seat next to him. He was glaring out the window, hand on his left elbow.

Shermie cleared his throat. "Uh…you feeling okay, kiddo?"

"Mm-hm."

Well. This conversation was going good. "Mind telling me what happened to your elbow?"

The younger turned his glare onto the rearview mirror, where he could surely see Shermie's eyes. There was a strange sort of darkness, a storm that didn't belong in chocolate-brown, in his eyes that Shermie had never seen before.

Then he turned his attention back to the scenery outside. "Accident during Summer. Nothing too bad, just…roughhousing got a bit too rough."

Shermie laughed. "That's roughhousing for ya. You learn your lesson?"

This time there was an uncomfortable bout of silence before his answer. "Yeah."

"Well…good," Shermie decided. Then he sighed. "I'm sorry you passed out, kiddo, that's never fun. But did you not take off your hoodie because you didn't want anyone to see your elbow?"

No answer.

"Hey, we all make mistakes," Shermie reminded. "And everything turned out okay, right? Besides, if anyone asks, you can say you fought a three-fanged vampire!"

Still no answer.

Shermie bit his lip. There was more to the story, he was sure, but Dipper wasn't going to spill-that Shermie knew from experience. "Okay, kiddo. I hope you feel better."

"Thanks."

Dipper lay in his room, staring up at the bottom of Mabel's bunk. A million thoughts raced through his head, swirling into one another and combining. He wished he could go back to school.

EENIE, MEENIE, MINY…YOU!

He shuddered at the memory, curling in on himself. He wanted to go back to Gravity Falls. He missed Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford and Soos and Wendy and-

A sudden sting of pain interrupted that thought, and Dipper felt something wet and warm drip onto his hand. He had scratched his elbow hard enough that the skin had broken, causing it to bleed all over his fingers. There were bits of flesh under his fingernails.

The scariest thing was how the pain felt good.

Nope, Dipper thought. Nope nope nope no no no-

"Grandpa Shermie!" he called, flinging himself off his bed. The cold, air-conditioned air bit into his exposed flesh as he ran to find his grandfather, who was in his room.

"Dipper?" Shermie asked as his grandson burst into his room. "What's-"

His eyes took in the blood on Dipper's hand, and his mangled left elbow. "Oh, dear. It'll be alright, honey. Come on, there's bandages in the bathroom."

Dipper nodded numbly. A part of him knew that he had faced worse injuries before-not just during Weirdmageddon, but during the rest of the Summer, along with the million other injuries from bullies or roughhousing before Gravity Falls-but some primal, animal part of his brain couldn't recognize that. It felt like Bill was still under his skin, blue fire slithering through his veins, his mind, blue fire like puppet strings, strings like blue fire and yellow brickwork being pulled through his skin like some awful, slithering thing, and he wanted him out-

"Dipper, you're making it worse!"

Dipper gasped as another burst of blood dripped onto his hand; he had begun scratching his elbow without realizing. He grimaced-blood didn't freak him out anymore, not after Weirdmageddon, but it still felt unpleasant. "Yuck. Sorry, Grandpa Shermie."

Shermie pursed his lips, obviously worried. "Come here," he said, turning the sink faucet. Dipper held his elbow under the warm water, wincing at the sting as it ran over the injured flesh. Shermie took out the first aid kit, turning the little booklet to the section on scrapes and the like.

"I can do it," Dipper said, taking his elbow out of the water to check if it had stopped bleeding. "Wendy taught me some first aid."

That wasn't a lie. After the bunker, Mabel and Dipper had gotten a free first aid kit from Wendy, along with a complimentary lesson on some basics. If it weren't for that, Dipper probably would've gotten a ton of infections from all the cuts and scrapes he got during Weirdmageddon.

"Wendy sounds like a good friend," Shermie correctly gauged, and Dipper nodded. "How old is she, again?"

"Fifteen, but she'll turn sixteen soon."

"Woah! She ever take you on a joyride?"

Dipper thought back to the chase through the weirdness bubbles. "Yeah, there was a really wild one once."

Shermie gave him a Look. "You're lucky I'm not telling your parents."

Dipper just grinned as he applied the disinfectant. "I really miss Gravity Falls," he admitted, surprising himself. "I-I wish we could move there."

An unreadable expression formed on Shermie's face, and for a moment Dipper thought he'd went too far. "That would be hard, with your great-uncle and I's…relationship," he said after a while. "But I don't think it's out of the question." He suddenly smiled. "Your father and I used to have a similar relationship, after his mother and I's divorce. Did you know that?"

"No," Dipper breathed, completely surprised. Grandpa Shermie lived with them, and he and Dad used to be as distant as Shermie and Stan are? "What changed?"

"You were born," Shermie said with a voice full of laughter, tapping Dipper on the nose and causing the boy to giggle. "You and your sister, of course. I came down to the hospital to see you two, and after wrestling you from your Great-Uncle Stan, I fell in love with you two. It took a few years, of course, but we started calling each other frequently after you and Mabel were born, and then-"

"You moved in," Dipper finished. He thought back to nearly a decade ago, half-forgotten memories of he and a chubby toddler Mabel waddling through a tower of boxes. Shermie hadn't brought that much with him when he moved, but to the toddler twins it was like he had brought a mansion of cardboard with him.

"Mm-hm," Shermie confirmed. "And if me and my Wirt can fix a broken relationship of twenty years because of you and Mabel, what's forty years with my brother? Besides, you two buggers have probably softened him up."

The older man suddenly drew his grandson into a headlock, digging his knuckles into the boy's curls. Dipper felt an awful spike of animal panic, but it was soon dissolved by the sound of Shermie's laughter. A grin spread itself across Dipper's face, and he began laughing too.

Shermie released him after a moment, laughter dissolving into chuckles or giggles. Shermie's smile softened, but didn't fade. "So…yeah, I don't think I have any problem with moving to Gravity Falls, especially since it seems like you were so much happier there. We'll just have to ask your parents."

Dipper opened his mouth to thank him, but slowly shut it with a click of his teeth as a new thought popped into his mind. "Actually, can I talk to Mabel first? If we're gonna ask Mom and Dad to move, I think we should do it together."

"Of course, Marie," Shermie said, using Dipper's legal name. Something inside Dipper withered, but he knew that his grandfather was just trying to be sincere, as Shermie always used Dipper's legal name when he was being genuine. "I love you."

Dipper pulled his mouth into a smile. "I love you too, Grandpa."