Left in Shards

Arrival

I drum my fingertips against the warm glass of the bus window, my brain whirring with activity. I'm not excited. Not at all. It's just that being stuck on a bus for eight hours can really get you thinking about things that you shouldn't be, what the meaning of life is, and that you could really go for a Hamburger right about now.

The name's Elizabeth JoAnn Beachwood, but you can call me Lizzie. Or Liz. I don't really care. Just don't call me JoAnn.

I'm on my way to my summertime home: Gravity Falls, Oregon. My mom ships me off here every year to visit Aunt Gina. She's fun, I guess. It's just that she is not like most aunts. She has a Harley Davidson that she rides everywhere and loves a good fight, just not when I'm the one fighting.

Teachers all call me "disagreeable". My friends would call me Lizzie, if I had any, of course. My mom calls me "disrespectful", and I call me Lizzie. I'm pretty sure that I'm the most annoying, sarcastic, and uninteresting child that roams this Earth. That's the main reason why I'm on this bus, headed toward the slow town full of slow people on this quite slow bus. The other 5% of the reason I'm being sent here is to spend "quality time" with Aunt Gina (Give me a break).

This seat smells like death, so I decide to stand up to stretch my legs. I peer over to see my fellow passengers. The usuals, mainly. That weird guy who always has on sunglasses and psychedelic pants and the lady with way too much lipstick on. And then there's some newbies. Two kids, they look my age, one a boy and one a girl. She has on this pink sweater with a shooting star across the front and chocolate brown hair, while the boy (I'm assuming is her brother) has on an orange shirt, a blue vest, and a baseball cap. I shrug, knowing they won't even want to be associated with Lizzie, and sit back down.

I start to sketch in my notebook, my mind wandering once again, when suddenly the sweater girl pops down in the seat next to me.

"Hi! I'm Mabel! You looked all lonely so I decided to come over here and meet ya! Who are you?" She nearly shouted, her voice brimming with enthusiasm.

"I-i'm Lizzie." I stutter, still a bit in shock by the sudden appearance of this girl.

"Well, nice to meet you, Lizzie." She replies, then looks at my drawings, "Wow, you're a good artist! I can only draw Caticatures. That's patent-pending, by the way."

I laugh. "What's a Caticature?"

"I'll show you! Wait one second." She exclaims, jolting up and zipping over to the boy. He rolls his eyes at her, grins, then hands her a pink notepad with stickers coating the cover.

She plops back down next to me and opens the notebook, which is filled with even more stickers, glitter, and doodles of all sorts.

"This-" She says, flipping through the pages, "Is a Caticature." I see a picture of a cat face that sort of resembles the boy.

"That's cute, Mabel." I say, curious about this kid. She's the kind of person who seems to never be able to sit still yet is the most interesting person you've ever met.

"I'm still working on it, but I think they're coming along." She pauses, trying to think of what to say next, "So, why are you coming to Gravity Falls?"

"I come here every summer to stay with my Aunt Gina. It's always really boring, though. Nothing to do. You?" I ask.

"We're visiting our Grunkle Stan. He owns the Mystery Shack here."

I gasp, then laugh. "Oh my gosh, you're Stan's bunch? He's... well, let's just say not all that fond of old Lizzie here. He doesn't approve of me and Soos's antics." I say, using finger quotes around antics.

"Oh, well I don't see him much. But he seems fun, unlike GEEK BRAIN back there!" She replies, exclaiming and putting emphasis on the GEEK BRAIN part.

"Mabel, I told you to stop calling me that!" A voice yells back.

He comes over to us and, once again, rolls his eyes. "Mabel, are you really annoying yet another person?" He looks at me, "Has she told you the teddy bear story?"

"No, but I was about to, Dip." She dramatically sighs with false despair.

"Don't. C'mon, were nearly there. You need to pick up all of your yarn."

He says, eyeing me like I'm an exotic animal in an ice cream shop.

Mabel groans, but stands up anyway. "It was nice talking to ya, Lizzie. See you around!" She smiles, then follows her brother to the back of the bus.

I suppose I just might have some friends this summer! Finally!