Dipper Pines had never looked so confident on the first day of school before. While he and his sister shared the majority of their classes, he had been placed in AP science while his sister was in AP Art. It wasn't too bad for the thirteen year old twins (who are technically teenagers… technically…) Dipper had changed for the better over the summer he had spent with his estranged great uncles in Oregon. He had learned confidence, bravery, survival skills, and that it was perfectly fine for him to be himself. His Great Uncle (Grunkle Stan) Stanley had taught him to stand up for himself and to value family over anything else. His Great Uncle Stanford (Grunkle Ford) had taught him to never fear the weirdness, but to embrace and learn from it… and to never trust "Muses" and one eyed triangular demons.

He couldn't wipe the smile off of his face as he sat down next to his equally giddy twin in homeroom on the first day. They had already planned out what they were going to say about their summer if asked. They went to stay with their uncles who lived in the woods. They went fishing. Mabel won a pig at a fair. They went camping. They helped out at their Great Uncle's shop which was a tourist trap. They made friends with the "Neighbors". Nothing dangerous, all completely normal… and true technically. Yes, it was a safe enough truth. The two had talked it over on the bus ride home. Their mother had been reluctant at first to keep Waddles, between her daughter and her husband's excitement for a pet pig and love for it, and Dipper's insistence that it was a well-trained pig already and that Mabel wouldn't do well without it, Waddles had become the official pet pig of the Pines Family.

Dipper didn't even frown when gym class started. It was a game of dodgeball. He looked to his sister who was on his team, of course, and the two nodded. Last year, Mabel would get so distracted after a while, that she'd get hit, but Dipper, being the wimpy nerd brother, was more often the one to get hit first. This year was sooooo different.

When the bullies who usually picked on Dipper grabbed the red rubber balls of death, they were not expecting for the nerd and his twin to both grab ammo and return fire. They were not expecting the Pines Twins to be able to dodge the red orbs of doom. They were certainly not expecting both twins to land a few hits on them, even though Dipper failed the first throw. "Seriously?" He asked the ball as it flopped right in front of him. Mabel had just laughed and said it was like the water balloon fight they had over the summer.

As the day ended, the twins went to their lockers, which were next to each other, both laughing at the day they had just had, and how simple everything had been compared to what they had done over the summer. Their laughter quickly ended as Dipper opened his locker only to be hit with a large book in the head.

"OW!"

"Dipper, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing should be in the locker yet though… do you think that someone just left something in it from last year?" Dipper asked as he picked himself up.

Mabel's eyes widened as she picked up the item that had hit her brother. "Not unless they went through the bottomless pit and shoved this in there!" Mabel held the journal up to Dipper's sight.

"Wha! Journal Number 3!" It was a journal with a golden six fingered hand on the cover and a number 3 made in black paint. The red leather bound journal had guided the boy through the majority of the last summer he had barely survived, and now was fully repaired in its original form while still holding the notes that he and his friends had made over the summer. Dipper snatched the journal from his sister's grip and looked through it. "It's all here! It's all here, Mabel! Everything is just as we left it, and Grunkle Ford's recent notes are still in it too!" He excitedly showed his twin who was happy to see him so excited.

"Alright! OH, do you think the other journals are nearby too? Or do you just have a special connection to that one?"

"Who knows? I don't know! Isn't this exciting!" That statement of course got students to look around. There was something Dipper didn't know? How unheard of!

"Easy there, Dipper. Don't hurt yourself." Mabel said with a smirk. She opened her locker and dodged as a portal, from the bottomless pit no doubt, chucked journal number 2 at her. "Besides, now we've got number 2 as well!" Mabel chuckled as she grabbed the red journal from the ground. She was somewhat surprised that Gideon hadn't found it, seeing as he had found it originally, but then again, she was the member of the Pines family that the boy had a crush on… an obsessive and creepy crush… uggh…

"YES!" Dipper fist pumped and started jumping up and down in excitement before remembering the two had to get to the bus. "Oh, man, we gotta get to the bus!"

"Right!" The two shoved what they didn't need into their lockers, grabbed their backpacks and the journals, and high-footed it towards the front of the school where the buses were parked and ready to take them home.

An hour later…

Stanley was busy looking through the cupboards of the "Stan of War 2" for the coffee. As he opened the last cupboard, not only did he find the coffee, he also found Journal Number 1. "Ugh… didn't we chuck you into the bottomless pit?" He muttered as he looked at his old frenemy.

The book had been the curse that got his brother trapped, and yet helped to bring him home all in one. It was quite strange how he had come to depend on the book to help him bring his brother back, and yet how much he hated it for what it stood for. Now that everything was said and done though? He just didn't think it went with his coffee.

Stanley grabbed both the book and the coffee and started to make a new pot before going up to the upper deck to talk to his twin. "Oi, Poindexter!"

Stanford, the smarter of the twins, looked over to his conman counterpart. "What is it, Stan?"

"Here!" Stanley shoved the book in his six-fingered twin's chest. "Keep your nerd stuff out of the coffee cupboard. "

"Stanley, what are you talking abou… oh my… this is… but then… where are the other journals?" Ford's eyes widened in fear until a small beep from one of his machines pointed out that the duo had gotten an email from their niece and nephew. Stanford had rigged up a few things so the two got internet anywhere in the world and were always able to stay in touch with the younger mystery twins and their friends at the shack.

Stanley had beaten his twin to the computer and opened the email that they had both received. "Heh, looks like the kids got them." There was a picture of the twins smiling while holding Journal 2 and 3 in their hands. The email also went on to document their first day, and how they had ganged up with their dad to keep Waddles. Their mother had never stood a chance. Dipper had asked if they wanted the journals sent to them, but the elder twins both agreed it would be best kept with the younger set, as Piedmont had less trouble and was less of a hotspot for the paranormal. Things would be fine…