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Dipper had never been more excited for summer in his life as he collapsed on the ground with two duffel bags on top of him. He pushed both off and sat up on the gravel while his twin sister Mabel laughed at him.
“Here, let me help Dip.” Smiling, she pulled him to his feet and he straightened his baseball cap while looking out across the grounds of Camp Drowsy Forest where he would be spending his entire summer.
“Wow, Mabel look!” He laughed incredulously. “This is amazing!”
She grinned and slammed the trunk of her parents’ car down before they both leaned out their windows and gave the twins a stern warning to be safe and to have fun.
“We will, don’t worry,” They said in almost perfect unison. Their parents had been using that line since the twins were six.
“Okay, Goodbye! Call us, we’ll see you in eight weeks! Love you!”
A smattering of goodbyes and I love you’s were responded by the twins as they each gave one last wave before the car rolled off.
As Mabel hoisted up her duffel bag onto her shoulder she grinned deviously at her brother. “I’ll race you to check-in!”
“No, Mabel! Not fair.” Dipper tried to reason with a straight face, but the other twin was already sprinting down the hill to the front office and he had no choice to follow.
They both arrived sweaty and breathless but were greeted with the smiling face of one of the counselors who was holding a clipboard in front of the main building where the office and mess hall was.
“Hi, I’m Rachel! Names?”
“Pines.”
“Ok, good you’re on the list and ready to go!” She grinned at them warmly. “I’ll show you both to your cabins.”
Dipper and Mabel followed her down a gravel path and into the camp. There were some main communal bathrooms on either side of the path, and even a sports equipment shed, but then it disappeared into a wooded area. Before the line of trees and behind the main building was a large area with different fields and buildings. The main ones Dipper could identify just by looking were the soccer field, the archery range, and the arts and crafts hall which already had various tie dyed t-shirts hanging out to dry. Dipper nudged Mabel and pointed at the shelter and she immediately lit up with a grin.
Rachel looked back on them to make sure they were keeping pace. “Mind the bugs,” She said cheerily. It seemed like she could never stop smiling, but it looked natural on her. Mabel appreciated her energy.
They walked for about a quarter mile in the woods before they spotted a clearing up ahead.
“These here are our cabins,” Rachel said when they got to the end of the trees. There were twenty six small cabins that Dipper had counted and they were all arranged in a circle with four cement latrines in the middle. There were twelve cabins for girls, twelve for boys, and two for counselors. Each cabin had three bunk beds in them and three small dressers along with a mirror and some decorations from past years at the camp.
“Mabel,” Rachel said and pointed to the left of the ring of cabins to the second one down. “You’ll be in this cabin. I believe you might know some girls there, they told me to watch out for you.” She smiled warmly at Mabel.
“Yes! I knew they’d be here already!” She hiked up her bag on her shoulder and started down a worn path to her cabin before turning around to look at Dipper. “I’ll see you at the mess hall at five!” She called out to him, then turned around and walked happily to her cabin.
She was barely ten feet away when two of her best summer friends burst through the door. Candy and Grenda engulfed her in a hug and squeezed the air nearly out of her.
“Mabel!” They both shouted at once while she laughed. “We missed you so much!”
“Guys! We just skyped yesterday! But I missed you too.” Mabel tried to contain her grin and Grenda took the duffel bag from her shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go inside!” Mabel squealed and pushed open the door. Her two friends had already made the place comfortable by opening up their own suitcases and scattering their things across one of the bunks. There was already one other girl across the room to the right, and she smiled at Mabel as she entered.
“Hey, I’m Beatrice.”
“Mabel,” She said as she moved across the small room to give the new girl a hug.
“Oh, hey wow you’re friendly.” Laughing at the Beatrice’s response, she turned back to Candy and Grenda, sizing up the beds. Her two friends’ beds were on the far left side of the room, so she staked her claim on the top bunk of the middle bed and Grenda handed her bag up to her.
“So, now that you’re all settled in, tell us more about your year!” Said Candy who had already climbed up the bed and moved behind Mabel to braid her hair. It’s like she had never left Gravity Falls last summer.
“Well, you both know most of what happened, we talk almost everyday! You know, crushes, homework, drama.”
“Oh come on,” Grenda complained. “There has to be something you’re not telling us.”
“Not a thing. You both happen to know everything that goes on with me.” She smiled. “What about you, Candy?” Mabel could feel her squirming on the bed behind her, anxious with what seemed like important news.
“I have a boyfriend!” She blurted. Mabel cheered for her and glanced across the aisle at Grenda looking for the same reaction, but Mabel could swear she saw sadness in her gaze, which was trained onto the floor.
“That’s awesome Candy! What’s his name?”
“Marius,” She said, stretching out the a. “He’s adorable!”
Just then, Rachel poked her head into the cabin. “Hey girls, time to go the the mess hall for dinner!”
Mabel looked around the large building for Dipper, Candy, and Grenda as she situated the lunch tray in her arms.
Where were they? She thought to herself, and spotted them across the lunchroom diagonal to her. Beatrice had taken a seat at the table too, talking and laughing with the female twin’s friends. Mabel was glad that she had found a place in their little group of people.
Almost as soon as she started moving forward, though, she ran straight into a tall, lanky boy she had never seen before.
“Oh my gosh I am so sorry!” She said. “Are you okay?”
He laughed nervously. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He said. “Are you?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m good.” Wow, he is so friendly! Mabel thought. “Hey, do you have a place to sit? My table has room.”
“No, I don’t. Thank you. The only person I know here is my friend Beatrice.” He said as they started walking towards the table.
“Hey!” Mabel exclaimed. “She’s my roomie!”
“Oh, cool, so you’ve already met her, that’s nice.” He said. Mabel couldn’t help but think of introducing this polite, handsome stranger to Dipper. By the way, who was this boy?
“Yeah. Hey, what’s your name?
“Oh, sorry I forgot that. Oops, “ He said. “It’s Wirt.”
“Nice name, Wirt. I’m Mabel.”