Just A Normal Summer (Dipper x OC)

24. Scary-oke

Dani's POV

Today was a new day. The day the Mystery Shack was throwing a party for an official grand re-opening. The Shack has been opening for a few days now, but Mabel had thrown the idea out to celebrate the victory of putting together an 'all-out banger'—her words, not mine.

A crowd of townsfolk and tourists alike occupied the Mystery Shack gift shop. I remained off the side of the counter, right by where Mr. Pines and the twins stood. "Welcome to the grand re-opening of the Mystery Shack!" Mr. Pines announced. The crowd cheered, and I clapped along. "We're here to celebrate the defeat of that skunk Li'l Gideon!" Mr. Pines picked up a leftover plushie of Gideon and showed it to the crowd.

"Boo!" the crowd groaned.

"Please, please..." Mr. Pines said, "boo harder!"

"BOO!"

"But I didn't catch that porkchop all alone. These two scamps deserve SOME of the glory," Mr. Pines added and tousled Dipper's hat. Mabel glared at him and elbowed his stomach. "Oof! Okay, okay. Most of the glory."

I watched as Toby Determined walked up to the front of the crowd. "Smile for the camera!" he chirped.

But I noticed the camera he held wasn't real, and so did Mr. Pines. "Your camera's a cinder block, Toby," he said.

Toby looked downcast. "I just wanna be a part of things..." he stated sadly.

Sandra then made her way up, standing before Toby with a professional news camera. "Smile for a REAL camera," she said.

"Everyone say: 'Something stupid!'" Mabel beamed.

The twins and Mr. Pines all posed in different ways. Mabel poked her cheeks, Mr. Pines had jazz hands behind the twins' heads, and Dipper pretended to choke himself as he stuck his tongue out. "Something stupid!" the three of them cheered in unison. I chuckled and shook my head.

"And don't forget to come to the after-party tonight at eight," Mr. Pines reminded, holding up the poster for the party.

"We're doing a karaoke bonanza, people!" Mabel announced. She then pulled out a karaoke machine out from behind the counter. "Light! Music! Enchantment!" She blew a fist full of confetti out of her hand. "And an amazing karaoke performance by our family band, Love Patrol Alpha!" She pulled a poster drawing of her, Dipper, Mr. Pines, and me with titles underneath each of our drawings. Mabel was 'The Heartbreaker,' Dipper was 'Mr. Paranoid,' Mr. Pines was 'The Old One,' and I was 'Mrs. Bookworm'.

"I don't know about that/I would never agree to that ever/I'm not even a part of the family," Dipper, Mr. Pines, and I discouraged as I walked up to get a better look at the poster.

"Too late! I wrote your names on the list! It's happening!" Mabel interrupted, biting down on the poster. I shot Dipper a look, and he just chuckled and shrugged.

Suddenly, the sound of an air horn caused everyone to turn their heads toward the entrance door. There stood Wendy. "Buy a ticket, people! You know you have nothing else going on in your lives!" she yelled. "I'm talking to you, Pizza Guy! Don't lame out on me!"

The crowd began following Wendy out the door as the Pines family jumped off the counter, joining me on the floor. Mr. Pines sighed delightfully. "The town loves us, and we finally got that Gideon smell out of the carpet," he said. "Everything is finally going my way."

I looked over at Dipper to see him preparing himself to say something. "Hey, Grunkle Stan," he spoke up. "Now that we have a moment. I've been meaning to ask you for my Journal back."

"What? Journal?" Mr. Pines questioned as he patted himself down. His eyes then lit up as if he remembered something. He lifted the counter to pull out Journal 3, hiding underneath. "Oh! You mean this old thing! It was so boring I couldn't finish it," he said.