The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

In the pine tree

By Joona Irene

        "Hey!"
I looked down from my branch, trying to see where the voice had come from.
        "HEY!" the voice called again. It sounded like a boy's voice, maybe. I peered down; yep, it was defiantly a boy.
        "CAN YOU HEAR US!" now it was a girl's voice. She stood next to the boy, and I noticed they looked a lot alike. I waved to show I could hear.
        "GREAT! CAN WE TALK TO YOU?" She yelled. I nodded. Then I realized they wouldn't be able to see that, so I started to climb down.
        I dropped from branch to branch, swinging my legs so they'd land firmly on each limb until I came to the ground.
Now that the two kids were closer I could tell that they were twins. The boy wore a hat with a pine tree on it, an orange shirt, brown shorts and a blue jacket. The girl wore a pink sweater that had a rainbow shooting star and a purple skirt with a purple headband.
        "Wow you got down fast." the boy commented.
        "Yeah, in like, five seconds or something! Are you a ninja?" the girl asked.
        "No." I said simply, making sure to blink.
        "Well anyways, uh...we came to um...ask you a question, ah..." the boy started to freeze up. I smiled, hoping that'd help. They didn't look very old, maybe twelve or thirteen years of age.
        "I'm Mabel!" the girl said, arms wide. She hit her twin. "And this is Dipper! What's your name, ninja?"
        "Lilac." I said politely. "Lilac Whites."
        "That's a really pretty name." Dipper said. "I've never seen you around here, uh, before."
        "That's because I just arrived." I said, looking back up at the tree, wishing I was still up there. "Yesterday night, on the bus."
        "Oh, okay." Dipper said, rubbing his neck. Mabel just kept smiling at me, probably still thinking I was a ninja. Which I wasn't.
        "So, uh, Lilac, uh...boy this is...kind of awkward." Dipper pulled out a book from his jacket. It was old, with a golden six-fingered hand on the cover with the letter "2" in the middle. A small magnifying glass hung from a marked page. "Have you ever...seen this journal before? Or seen any others like it?"
        I looked closer. The six golden fingers reminded me of an old friend, but the book itself I didn't recognize. But I never told anybody about Stanly, and I didn't see any reason to mention him now.
        "No, never." I replied, blinking again.
        "Oh, okay." Dipper looked relieved. "Well, that's all we wanted to ask, so-"
        "Dipper wait!" she grabbed his arm. "Lilac, you should hang with us! We could be friends! I could give you a makeover!" she squinted her eyes with a big smile. I frowned.
        "Hang?" I asked. "Like, upside-down or from a bar...?"
        "Like, hang out. You know," Dipper moved his arms, "hang."
Modern language vexed me. Before it was 'chill' and before that it was 'walk with me' and even before that it was 'accompany'. Now it was hang. Inwardly I groaned. I hated living languages. Always changing, making me risk revealing myself. I hated that risk, always. It never ended well for other people.
        But, these kids seemed nice. And I had made myself appear their age two days ago, so it would seem socially appropriate. Even normal. Besides, that journal Dipper showed me looked cool and I wanted to know why he thought I'd recognize it.
        "Yeah, sure." I agreed. Mabel smiled wide.
        "Yay!" she slid next to me, walking quickly. "Let's go to the Mystery Shack! That's where we live." she added. I nodded, understanding.
        "So, Lilac," Dipper leaned forward so he could see me. "Where did you live before you came here?"
        "The entire world." I responded casually.