"…so, Thompson went on eating those things like crazy. I mean, he polished off half the bag in ten minutes!"

Dipper Pines laughed aloud as he hung on Wendy Corduroy's every word. He looked up at her, his head resting against his palm, elbow on the old wooden counter, as she continued to recall her latest misadventure with her teenage friends.

"And how long did you guys wait to tell him that he was eating dog treats?"

Wendy's grin only grew, "Now, hang a sec there, buddy." She innocently pointed her hands towards her flannelled chest, "You know I'm not that mean to do something like that! And we did try to tell him, but he just wouldn't listen to us; he just said…" The redhead changed her voice to a deep, gruff one in order to match that of her classmate, "You guys are trying to mess with me! If it wasn't meant for people, then why did they put that cartoon dog from TV on the bag?"

Unable to control himself, Dipper fell over on the desk, thwacking his forehead on the hard surface as he exploded with laughter. Reacting to the sight before her, Wendy quickly joined suit, literally holding her sides still. The rampant giggling of the two adolescences echoed throughout the Mystery Shack. Actual tears flowed down their now-reddened faces.

"Man…oh, man…" Dipper was the first to speak breathlessly. "That…was…hilarious!"

Wendy wiped a tear away from a green eye, "You don't know the half of it, Dip. With the gang, it's always a laugh a minute…"

"I'll bet…"

Suddenly, the hilarious bliss was interrupted by a loud, ear-piercing screech erupting from the living room:

"OMIGOSH! OMIGOSH! OMIGOSH!"

A second later, the swinging door leading to the Gift Shop was thrown open as a pink and brown blur raced around the room.

"I WON! I WON! I WON!"

The streak came to a stop as Mabel Pines dropped to her knees and repeatedly pumped her arms into the sky, "I…just…can't…believe…it!"

Wendy and Dipper watched silently as the tiny pixie came to a complete stop in the middle of the floor. The two gave each other a confused look before the tall lumberjack spoke up, "Okay, I'll bite. What did you win?"

Mabel sprang up with renewed energy and bounced towards her friend's countertop. She proudly displayed a sheet of paper in front of Wendy's face with a "TA-DA!"

Dipper leaned around and began to read aloud:

"MABEL PINES –

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU AND A FEMALE COMPANION OF YOUR CHOICE HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO ENJOY A COMPLIMENTARY "GIRLS' DAY OFF" AT THE GRAVITY FALLS SPA AND REJULVINATION CENTER, COURTESY OF THE GRAVITY FALLS GOSSPIER.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO RSVP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO PROPERLY SECURE YOUR PRIVATE RESERVATION.

THANKS AGAIN FOR BEING A LOYAL AND VALUABLE READER!

-DINGEO LEEGULF
GRAVITY FALLS GOSSIPER"

"Huh…imagine that…" Wendy sat back on her stool, placing her muddy boots over the countertop in an effort to become more comfortable. "Well, that stuff sounds really…exciting, Mabes. Congrats!" She quickly reached over and picked up the closest indie music magazine.

"Are Candy and Grenda already fighting over which one gets to go with you?" Dipper asked.

An embarrassed look spread across Mabel's face as she started to rub a black slip-on against the chipped flooring, "Actually, Marius; you guys know, that Prince-guy, is planning to take both of them on his yacht tomorrow." Her tone rose slightly in a teasingly way, "So, I guess that means there's only one other person I can get to go with me…" Her brown eyes glanced towards her co-worker until the sudden silence made Wendy look up from her literature.

"Wha – are you talking about me?"

"Of course I am! C'mon, Wendy! It'll be a lot of fun! And besides…" Mabel leaned over and playfully pinched the tip of the teen's boot, "…when were the last time that these little piggies have been to market?"

Wendy immediately pulled her legs out of reach and set her feet on the floor, "That may be your kinda thing, Mabel, but I'm not really too big on the whole "prim and pamper thing…"

"But…"

"And besides, Mabel," Dipper jumped to his crush's defense, "Why would Wendy, of all people, need to go to a spa? She is already gorgeous…" He stopped in awkwardness a split second later, realizing a moment too late what he had done. The sleuth swiftly turned his head to see that Wendy was looking in his decision with a slight brush forming in her cheeks.

"Uhh…" Dipper's natural nervousness shortly overtook him in an attempt to weasel out of the embarrassing situation. "I meant, why should she go to a beauty treatment if she's always been beautiful to me?" He knocked his forehead with his fist as he struggled to spit out the right words, "No, I wanted to say how can you improve on perfection? Crap, wait! I…"

His not-so-secret admirer rolled her eyes, sighed, and gave her smitten partner in crime a soft lovetap in the back of the head to help him express his thought.

"Wendy is fine the way she is!"

"There you go," Wendy prided. "Fixed that for you…"

"But it's not just that!" Mabel countered, "Having a spa day is not about having your nails done. It's about getting all of the ickyness and negativity out of your body and letting your natural beauty shine." She started to count off on her fingers, "There are fish pedicures, the sauna room, mud baths, facial treatments and hair creambaths, and my favorite…" The little girl shuddered in delight as she thought about it, "getting massaged by tall, muscular Swedish guys with thick accents for hours on end!"

The cashier crossed her arms in skepticism, "In other words, we'd play in the mud, get our toes bitten by angry, annoyed fish, hang out in the searing heat, and get groped by total strangers – all things that we could do out in the wild – for free – but at triple the cost? Thanks, but no thanks…"

"Did you forget, Wendy?" Mabel harked back, "We don't have to pay a single cent! And besides, when is the next time I'm going to win another contest like this? Especially one I really don't remember entering?"

Dipper instantly took notice of that small detail. "Don't remember entering…" he repeated to himself, raising a hand to his chin as the girls continued to conserve.

"I'm really sorry, Mabel," Wendy explained, "But I just don't think that I'm the right person for that kind of place."

Mabel stood on her tip-toes and gave her friend a wide-eyed, puppy-dog look, "PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE?"

"Hmm…" Wendy resumed her seat on the stool behind her, "I'll…think about it, okay?"

All of the excitement was sucked out of the small pre-teen's body. Lowering her head in disappointment, she placed the letter on Wendy's counter and sulked away in sadness. A small whisper could be heard as she pushed the door leading back to the family room:

"That always means "no…"

As soon as Mabel disappeared, Wendy let out a heavy breath, "Man, talk about a total guilt-trip." She turned her head to meet Dipper, "Am I right or what?"

Instead of finding him in agreement, Dipper was staring into the distance; his face twisted in deep thought and concern.

"And what's the matter with you?"

After a moment, he came back around towards his sweetheart, "Maybe…you should go to this thing with Mabel…"

"WHAT?!" Wendy couldn't believe what she had heard. "Hang on there, stutters! Two minutes ago, you were on my side! What's the deal with the flip-flopping?"

"I know! I know!" Dipper held his hands up in innocence, "But, something…something doesn't seem right with whole thing…" He snatched the announcement off of the counter and read it over and over, hoping to have a clue leap off the page at him.

"How so?"

"I'm…not sure, but it just seems like too much of a coincidence…" Dipper's eyes gazed off the page in his hands. "Is there any way you'd change your mind and go with Mabel; just to make sure everything's on the up-and-up?"

Before she knew it, her partner in crime was displaying the same "puppy-dog look" his twin sister had used only moments ago.

"Oh, come on, Dipper!" Wendy slammed her magazine down on the worn desk. "Not you, too!" She purposely avoided his stare. "Mabel will be just fine if she goes by herself. And besides, if you're so worried, why don't you tag along with her?"

"Girls only, remember?" Dipper pointed out the rules of the contest, "So, I couldn't go, even if I wanted to. I know this is a huge pain, Wendy, but you're the only person I'd count on for this kinda thing! And if you were to do this for me…" His voice changed to that of a teasing nature, "I'd definitely owe you big…"

With her curiosity piqued, Wendy looked back in his direction slightly, "How big?"

"Let's say…" Dipper quickly pulled out his Monstermon wallet and double-checked his funds, making sure that he could keep his word, "…upgrading that microwave popcorn to a nice pepperoni and anchovy pizza for tomorrow's movie night…"

Upon mention of her favorite midnight snack, Wendy's stomach purred, almost as if it were begging her to reconsider.

"…extra-large?"

Dipper nodded, "You know it…"

"Grr…" Taking a second to think it over, Wendy extended an open hand towards her friend. "Deal."

Ecstatic, Dipper reached out towards the ginger, only for her to pull her hand away at the last second and mockingly run it through the crown of her long red hair. "HEH! Too slow!" She hopped off her stool, walked around the checkout, and towards the door leading to the front room, "This is going to be a cinch!"

"HA!" Dipper let out a sardonic laugh, prompting Wendy to look over her shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He started to elaborate, "I know you think I'm being over-protective, but trust me when I say that Mabel can definitely be more than a handful. She has a knack for getting herself into deep trouble, especially when she has her mind dead set on something…"

Wendy let out a raspberry and waved his concern away, "Relax, Dipper, man. You gotta stop being so paranoid. I mean, it's just a spa! What's the worst that can happen?"

Without waiting for a response, Wendy pushed open the door and entered the next room, "Hey, Mabel? Listen, I changed my mind…"

Despite having a huge weight lifted off his shoulder, the sense of uncertainly wouldn't fully leave Dipper's mind. Taking a piece of paper and pen from Wendy's desk, he wrote a short sentence on the sheet:

"DINGEO LEEGULF…" the tiny detective repeated to himself, as he scribbled the name again and again. For some reason, the representative from the Gravity Falls Gossiper stuck out at the back of his mind.

"But why…?"

"Well, this is it!"

Wendy started to remove her helmet as Mabel hopped off the front of her red bicycle. The smaller Pines twin looked up in amazement at the white-bricked building before her. The mounted sign at the top paneling stated: "GRAVITY FALLS SPA AND REJULVINATION CENTER."

"Whoa!" Mabel exclaimed with a sense of whimsy, "This place is massive!"

"Yeah…" Wendy couldn't help but to be somewhat amazed herself as she carefully secured her bike to a nearby light post. "I've must have passed this place a billion times before, and yet, I never really paid it any mind…"

Before she knew it, Mabel snatched her hand and started to pull her inside the complex, "What are we waiting for, Wendy? Let's go!"

The still-hesitant teenager dragged her booted feet against the cement sidewalk as she was yanked from the last of her comfort zone, "Just – hang on – let me - "

"Oh, c'mon already!"

Little did they know, from the first moment the friends entered the beauty establishment, they were being watched.

"She's here…"

From a hidden room deep within the compound, their mysterious host watched Wendy and Mabel's every move from behind a series of surveillance monitors. Sinister chuckles echoed throughout the space as the order was given:

"Follow the plan to the last detail! There can be no mistakes this time!"

The mastermind placed a hand against the screen, "Now, don't you worry. It'll be just a little longer, but everything will be right soon enough…I can promise you that…"