Change of Identity (The Ruh-ruh-redux!)

Chapter 5 Dipper?

Over the next few days, we settled into a sort of routine. Because Wendy and Soos came in for work fairly early, so I just hung out in the attic a lot of the time. Mabel used her master distracting skills to get the two to stop wondering where I was and why they weren't allowed into the attic anymore. Stan was out a lot trying to find some sort of cure, Mabel forcefully kept Candy and Grenda away from the shack, an extremely difficult task to be honest, and as for me, I usually just laid on my bed and tried to live through this.

"Hey Dip!" Mabel came into the room one afternoon.

"Stan back yet?" I asked. I had taken to talking as little as possible, because if I closed my eyes and didn't talk I could pretend everything was normal.

"Yeah. Inconclusive. Again." Mabel
said as she sat down next to me.

I sighed and muttered sarcastically, "Great."

"C'mon, cheer up!" She grinned and poked my nose. "Boop!"

I rolled my eyes and turned away from her.

"Come on! I hate seeing you so upset!" Mabel complained. "Please...just be happy for once!"

"No." I muttered.

"Why?" She asked.

"You know full well why." I replied.

Mabel let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, I do! But...why? How's this so bad? Can't we just be fine and move on?" She fell backwards and landed lopsidedly over my legs.

I sighed. Why couldn't Mabel just get this? I just wished Stan would find a cure already. This was insufferable.

"It's stupid." I grumbled, finding myself twirling a lock of hair around my finger. I threw it back over my shoulder quickly.

"No, it's not. Come on!" Mabel was getting annoyed. "Listen. Please just do one movie night with me and I'll stop bothering you about this."

I ran the thought over. One movie and she's leave me alone? Sure. "Sure." I told her. "One movie."

"Yay!" Mabel grinned and twisted around to hug me. I swear she cut off my circulation.

"Ow. Stop. No." I managed as she squeezed me half to death.

"Oops. Sorry!" She giggled. I smiled slightly, seeing her so happy. I could suffer through a movie night.

"Let's get it over with now." I said.

"Sure!" Mabel grinned and tugged me downstairs...and straight into Wendy. I had forgotten she and Soos were still working in the shop until six. It was four.

She stared at me for a second, then finally said. "Either Mabel has a friend who got into Dipper's clothes that I haven't met or seen come in at all, or...or..." She kept staring, not being able to finish her sentence.

"Hi." I squeaked out weakly, managing a feeble wave in Wendy's general direction.

The redhead kept staring. It was getting on my nerves. I'm pretty sure what was going on in her head at that point was something along the lines of, 'I'm dreaming. Totally.', which was confirmed when she pinched her arm. Then, when she didn't wake up, she went straight back to staring at me.

Then, after what must've been five full minutes of staring, she managed to put out one single word.

"Dipper?"