The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

Where's Lilac?

By Joona Irene

~~...still Lilac POV~~
        When Dipper had entered the room I was practicing breathing. It surprised me, but I didn't show it. Obviously, I went on "sleeping". Shortly after he left, though, and then I waited. I got up, got back into my clothes as quietly as possible, because Mabel was still sleeping. Then I left the room and started walking down the stairs. I had almost reached the door when Stanford stopped me.
        "So, you're the one who's been stealing my nephew and niece from me, huh?" he asked. I cringed, and then turned around with a smile on my face.
        "Guilty as charged." I said, smiling even wider and shrugging. Please work, please modern slang don't fail me now. Stanford laughed, then took a quick sip from his steaming mug.
        "Well, I guess I'd better...call your parents or something? I-I don't really know what to do here..." he looked at me like I was a foreign language.
        "Oh, it's nothing, really." I said, "I'll just go home now. Nobody missed me, I promise."
        "Well, it's a Saturday you know. You could stay, distract the kids so I can watch what I want for a change." he elbowed me and winked. "You feel me?"
        I raised my eyebrows. Feel you? What?
        "Um...how about I don't." I said, my hands up. "I have a thing about touching people..."
        "Kid, it's an expression." Stanford said, frowning. "What? Do you live in a cave?"
Well, actually yes. I did. For about a millennia, if you really wanted to know. I even made furniture out of rocks, and befriended a alligator who swam in through the back. I named him Janie. He died after a few days, and I used one of his teeth to carve markings into the wall.
        "No, no, of course not." I said, laughing a little and looking away. Stanford didn't look so certain.
        "Alright, well, stay if you want or leave, I don't care." he gave me a look, took a sip of his, well, whatever he was drinking, and walked away. I think that was the second longest conversation I've ever had with someone who wasn't wearing pants. I blinked, then left the shack.
        I decided to lay low for a while. Dipper and Mabel were nice, but I was getting too close to them. I needed to diminish that bond without making them hate me or distrust me or know anything about me. And the best way to do that was to disappear. So I headed towards the forest, and once I was out of sight from the shack, I bolted and didn't slow down.

~~Dipper POV~~
        I had just finished eating cereal when I heard the front door slam closed. Grunkle Stan walked in, holding a mug and looking tired.
        "Hey Dipper, 'morning." he said, sitting down next to me. "Woah, bag check for Dipper!" He waited a couple of seconds while I stared at him. "I guess it isn't that funny..."
        "Sorry Grunkle Stan I'm just tired." I said, rubbing my eyes again.
        "Then why don't you go back to sleep? It is a Saturday you know, and there aren't any bus tours coming." He drank from his mug. "Isn't sleeping what kids do all day?"
        "I would but I just don't...want to." I said unconvincingly, then I stood and grabbed my bowl.
        "Oh, Dipper," Stan stopped me. "Your friend just left. Thought you should know."
        "Oh!" I said, surprised she'd left so early. "Did, did she say where she was going?"
        "Home." Stan replied.
        "Oh..."
        "What, planning on something?" Stan wiggled his eyebrows at me.
        "What? No! No no, Lilac and I, we aren't, we're just...friends." I said.
        "Well, you shouldn't be." Stan said. "Dipper, I've seen Mabel go goo-goo eyes over every guy she sees. And you haven't done a thing. Good things in good time kid, but girls that beautiful and that polite don't come by every day." He took another sip of his drink. "I mean, I've only met her twice, so what do I know? Or care?" he suddenly realized. He scratched himself, stood and walked away. I stayed where I was, thinking about it. Then I remembered what Bill told me last night.
        "Ugh!" I said, putting a hand to my face. "I need to think. Maybe I could talk to Mabel..."
Knocking on the door, I started feeling nervous. Mabel opened the door quickly, grabbed my arm, pulled me in and slammed the door.
        "Mabel, I-"
        "Shh Dipper!" Mabel said, her eyes wide. "We have to hurry! Lilac's gone missing!"
        "No, she just left." I said. "You didn't know?"
        "No!" Mabel exclaimed. "I just woke up and she was gone!"
        "It doesn't matter Mable, I need to talk to you." I said, sitting down on my bed.
        "...Okay Dipper." Mabel said, sitting on her bed too.
        "Bill visited me again." I said, worried she'd take that the wrong way. "He told me things about Lilac, showed me things. I...I don't know what to think anymore. Can you help me figure this out? I just...I just can't do this by myself."
        "Dipper, of course! I'm here for you." Mabel said, her eyes wide. "What exactly did Bill show you?"
        "He showed me Lilac's skin at the lake. It was dry, Mabel. When we got out of the water after the tunnel? We were all soaked and there wasn't a drop of water on her skin, and that was right after we just climbed out!"
        "Weird." Mabel said. "But, that doesn't mean that SHE is weird! Couldn't Bill have just changed it? Like, change the picture or something?"
        "No Mabel." I said. "He couldn't have. And that isn't all. Bill talked about Lilac like she was some kind of mystery. Like she wasn't even human, like she was something else."
        "So?"
        "So I think we need to talk to her." I said, "Or do something. I was thinking we could maybe watch her and see if she does anything strange, or if she acts like anything in the journal. We just need to find out about her!"
        "I don't know Dipper." Mabel said, holding her arm. "Wouldn't that mean we don't trust her? What if we just asked her?"
        "If Lilac..." I started, but then I stopped. Lilac was alone in life. She didn't have anybody, really, to turn to, to hang out with, except so far, us. She did come on that mystery hunt. Maybe if she really was something different, like a monster, she would trust us.
        "Okay," I said, sighing. "let's go talk to her." 

        Mabel and I went to Lilac's tree, but she wasn't there. Mabel even climbed it, just to make sure.
        "I don't think she's there!" I called from below.
        "I think you're right!" She yelled back. When she finally came down I was already thinking of places she could be.
        "Let's check the Library." I suggested.
        "Why can't we check someplace better?" Mabel asked. "Like the arcade? Or the mall? I bet she's hiding in the ball pin! Let's go there!"
        "Mabel, be serious." I said, pulling out the journal. I scanned the pages, trying to think of any creatures she could be. "Let's just go to the library...and then MAYBE the mall." Mable fist pumped and we left the forest.
        Well, she wasn't at the library, so we went to the mall. It took longer to look for her there, since Mabel kept diving into the ball pit, but we couldn't find here there either.
        "Well, Mabel, did she talk to anybody else?" I asked. We were in the food court, sitting across each other at a table, trying to think of other places she could be.
        "Like you said Dipper, we are her only friends." she said, exasperated. "She didn't tell me about anybody else she knew."
        "Well, what did you spend all night talking about?" I paused. "Aside from me?"
        "Well, honestly not much." she said. "We discussed the likelihood of werewolves, what jellybeans were made of and how they were made...did you know she's been to a jellybean factory?" Mabel suddenly gasped.
        "Stay focused." I grumbled.
        "Right, right, sorry. And...OH!" she realized. "I just remembered that Lilac only took dares."
        "So?" I asked, thinking this was going nowhere.
        "SO! Dipper!" Mabel smacked her forehead. "Maybe she doesn't want to give up her secrets. She only took dares last night. When I asked her about it, she hinted that she's made mistakes. At first I thought she meant, like, embarrassing things. But what if," Mabel's eyes got wide and worried. "What if she's done something bad? Like, really bad? And that's why Bill is trying to keep us away from her, because he wants to get to her first! What if he's going to hurt her, Dipper? We can't let that happen!"
        "Calm down Mabel." I said, even though I myself was concerned too. Her theory made a lot of sense; it explained everything!
        "We really need to find Lilac." I said quietly.