Caught in the Stars: Chapter I
A Gravity Falls Fanfic
It didn’t take long for Dipper to decide he didn’t like college. His roommate hadn’t arrived yet, so he was alone in his dorm for the first three days. Completely alone, in a strange bed, in a strange room, without his sister next door. He and Mabel hadn’t been happy with the arrangement, but the rules were clear: freshmen were required to live in the dorms, and there were no dorm halls that were co-ed. He was still trying to get used to not having his sister constantly by his side, and it was harder than he thought, considering they attended the same college.
Besides that, classes hadn’t started yet, so all he had to entertain himself were the so-called “ice-breaker” games most people considered fun for some reason. He tried making friends, he really did, but he never had anything in common with the people put on his teams. Some wanted to be lawyers, some football stars, and some didn’t know yet. They were polite, but none understood his interest in photography, and all teased him for carrying around a journal full of weird drawings and ciphers. They didn’t seem to know what to do with him, and he didn’t know what to do with them. He held out hope that having a roommate would at least give him someone to talk to.
Mabel loved college. There were so many new people to meet, games to play every day, and her roommate, a girl she had been texting every day since they were assigned, would be moving in very soon. Most of the girls on her hall were very nice. They liked the purple in her hair, her colorful sweaters, and her cheery attitude. It didn’t take long for her to learn all their favorite colors and start on a sweater for each.
The only thing she didn’t like was that she lived two floors away from her brother and couldn’t go to his room whenever she had a nightmare or just missed him. Of course, they could text each other and video chat all hours of the night if they needed, but that would probably stop when their roommates moved in. She preferred not to think about it, though, and spent all her free time working on her sweaters and waiting for her roommate to arrive.
“I’m so excited you’re here!” she said when the girl finally showed up with her parents and luggage. “Come in, come in. I’ve already decorated some, but there’s plenty of room for anything you want to put up.” Christy was a rather short girl who wore her straight, red hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and who loved hearing every detail of Mabel’s tour of the tiny room. They became good friends within a day, chatting as Christy unpacked and Mabel knitted.
The day Dipper’s roommate was supposed to arrive, the first team-building game was a tug-of-war tournament. When Dipper went back to his room to change out of his soapy clothes (whose brilliant idea it had been to play on giant, soapy slip-and-slides, he didn’t know. Thankfully, he had been able to stuff his glasses in Mabel’s bag, or they probably would have broken), he found the room already occupied by a heavy-set boy with short black hair hanging into his eyes, who was unpacking his clothes.
“Oh, hi! My name’s Dipper.” He held out his hand to shake the other boy’s, then realized it was still covered in a thick layer of soap and grime and stuffed it in his pocket. “You’re Eli, right?” The other boy gave a grunt and didn’t look away from the closet.
Dipper rocked back on his heels. “So . . . what are you studying?” Eli didn’t answer. “Do you want any help?” Nothing. “Cool. Nice chat. ‘Scuse me, I need to grab some clean clothes.”
He met Mabel in the dining hall for lunch.
“Is your roommate here yet?” she asked, bouncing on her toes as they stood in line.
“Yep.”
“Well? What’s he like? Do you think you’ll be good friends?”
Dipper sighed. “I doubt it. He wouldn’t talk to me.”
Mabel ran her fingers through her purple-streaked hair. “Maybe he’s just shy. You just need to find some common intrests.”
“He completely ignored me, Mabel. Just pretended I wasn’t there.”
Mabel dished out her food. “Well, classes are starting in a couple days. You’ll make some friends then.”
“I sure hope so.”
They found an empty table and sat down. Dipper pulled out his journal and a pencil and continued his drawing of the robotic Gobblewonker. “Intro to Photography will proabably be the most interesting class,” he said. “And most people in there will actually be interested in it, so maybe I’ll make friends there. I just wish it started this week with all the other classes instead of waiting until next week.”
“Yeah, it’s weird how some classes start later. My geography class is starting on Wednesday instead of Monday. I’m excited about that one. I’ve heard the professor is great, and how cool will it be to learn the names of all the rivers and mountains?”
Dipper leaned closer to get the shading on the drawing just right. He began to tune out Mabel’s expressions of excitement as he thought about Eli and wondered how to talk to him.
“Pacifica!” Mabel declared, interrupting his thoughts.
“It’s just ‘Pacific’, Mabel,” he corrected without looking up. “There’s only one A.”
She turned his shoulders and tilted his head up to look at the wide-eyed, blonde girl holding her plate in front of them.
“Pacifica!” he cried.
Mabel laughed. “That’s what I said, dum dum.”
She looked different, though he couldn’t put his finger on why, except to say she was older. It struck him suddenly how much time had passed since he’d seen her. Five years was a long time. He shoved up the glasses that had slid down as he drew. A very long time.
“What are you two doing here?” Pacifica asked.
Mabel laughed. “Pfft, what do you think? Eating lunch.”
“You go here, Pacifica?” Dipper asked.
She shrugged. “Obviously.”
Mabel pointed at the seat beside her. “Why don’t you sit with us?”
Pacifica studied her a moment, as though searching for a trap. “You really want to sit with me?”
“Of course!”
Pacifica sat, but slowly, and she stayed at the edge of her seat, like she was afraid she might have to run at a moment’s notice.
“So why did you come here?” Dipper asked. “I figured you would go to a much more prestigious private school or something.”
She crossed her arms. “I probably would have, but, if you remember, my family lost our fortune . . . back then. My parents have been obsessed with getting it back since then, and you can’t regain your fortune if you spend it.”
Mabel frowned. “But what’s the point of having all that money if you don’t spend it?”
“Don’t even try to understand rich people,” Dipper said sagely.
“Hey!” Pacifica dropped her fork and glared. He shrugged unapologetically.
Dipper went back to his drawing as Mabel asked for news on Gravity Falls. The twins kept in frequent contact with most of the residents, so there wasn’t much for her to tell. The conversation soon shifted to the school–dorm halls, majors, and class schedules.
“What classes do you have?” Mabel asked. “Maybe we’re in some of the same ones!”
“Calculus, English, United States History, Sociology, and Astronomy,” Pacifica said as she ticked them off on her fingers.
Dipper straightened up at the last one. “Astronomy? Who’s the professor?”
“Dr. Wimblewirt.”
“At two on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. We’re in the same class.” He went back to his drawing.
“Really?”
Mabel nudged Pacifica with her elbow. “That’s so exciting! Now you have a definite study partner for every test!” Dipper and Pacifica exchanged a glance.
“When you’re finished with lunch, go outside and wait for the scavenger hunt to begin,” an upperclassman called over the chatter of many conversations. Dipper perked up. Finally, a game he would enjoy.
Mabel pumped her fist in the air. “Yes! A scavenger hunt! We’re great at scavenger hunts!” She held up her hand and Dipper gave her a high-five.
“Mystery twins?” he asked.
“Mystery twins.” She turned to Pacifica. “You want to play with us?”
“I don’t know . . . I’ve never really done something like that before. And it’s pretty muddy out there.”
“But it’ll be fun.” Mabel leaned closer and poked the other girl’s arm. “I have some shoes you can borrow if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Pacifica chewed her lip.
“Come on,” Dipper chimed in. “I bet with the three of us together, we’ll definitely win.”
“Fine, but can I borrow those shoes?”
“Sure!”
Dipper raised his hand, and Pacifica smiled and gave him a high-five.
Pacifica arrived at her Astronomy class before anyone else and chose a seat in the front row, pulling out her syllabus for Calculus to read over as she waited. It didn’t take long for Dipper to arrive and slide into the seat beside her without even glancing at all the other empty seats around the room.
Neither of them said a word, and they barely acknowledged each other’s presence. She kept her eyes on her syllabus, and he flipped through the Astronomy textbook. Other students began filing in and haphazardly choosing seats before pulling out their phones. The professor arrived exactly at two, dropped her books on the table with a loud thud, and dusted off her hands, grinning at the students, who all leapt to attention.
“Hello, class. I’m Dr. Wimblewirt. I’m sure you’re all thrilled to be studying Astronomy this fine afternoon, but we’re going to start by going through everyone’s names to get to know each other and make sure everyone’s in the right place. If I say your name wrong, or if you have a different name you prefer, let me know.” She pulled out a list and began calling names.
Having gone through a similar situation multiple times over the past couple days, the students only half paid attention until his or her name was called, then ignored the rest.
Dipper doodled in his notebook and let his mind wander until “Mason Pines?”
He raised his hand. “Here, but I prefer being called Dipper.”
Pacifica straightened and glanced at him. “Your name is Mason?” she whispered.
Dipper frowned at his drawing. “Yeah. What’s the matter with it?”
“Nothing, it’s just . . . Mason and Mabel? Really?”
“Better than Stanford and Stanley,” he hissed, and she smirked.
“I guess that’s true.” She watched him as he turned back to his sketch. “I like Dipper better, though.” His pencil stopped. “It suits you better, is all I meant,” she said quickly.
Dipper glanced at her, startled, but the professor began the lecture before he could speak.
The class dragged on and on as the professor explained her grading system, the format of the class, and the rules of the university (again). When the class was finally over, the students snatched up their things and raced out the door. Everyone except Dipper, who dallied in tucking his notebook into his backpack as he watched Pacifica finish a note she was writing about the grading scale. He followed her out the door and shifted the strap of his backpack.
“Thanks, by the way,” he said quietly.
She glanced behind her, but didn’t slow her pace. “For what?”
“What you said about my name.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
He kept hold of his backpack straps as he shrugged. “I know, but . . . well, I’ve never liked the name Mason much, but most people think I’m weird for going by Dipper.”
She frowned. “If that’s what you prefer, why is it weird?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Dipper was what the mean kids from elementary school called me.”
Pacifica’s mouth fell open. “And you turned it into a nickname? That’s . . . bold.”
Dipper chuckled. “I don’t think anybody’s ever called me bold before. No, Mabel did that. She heard them call me that the first time and started using it a lot, and eventually it just stuck. I don’t know why, but it makes more sense than Mason. No one besides Mabel has ever been able to understand that before.”
He ducked his head and dug the toe of his shoe into the dirt. “Anyway, I know it’s dumb, but . . . I just wanted to say thanks. And now I really need to go find Mabel, so–bye!” He ran off before she could respond.