As soon as the first customer showed up at the ticket booth, Wendy regretting ever agreeing to run it. She sat slumped over in her chair, chin propped up with her fist in an attempt to not fall asleep from boredom.

"And we have to sit here all night?" Tambry complained.

"Yep."

"Uuuuuugh." Tambry turned backwards and sat so that her head was dangling off the edge of her seat.

"This is sooo lame," Nate added. Lee nodded in agreement. The boys were scattered around the booth, each laying on the ground in a unique position.

"You guys don't have to sit here ya'know," Wendy said as she exchanged money with a customer. "Just go without me."

"Okay!" Thompson said, suddenly perking up as a smile spreading across his face.

"Shut up, Thompson!" Lee and Nate exclaimed simultaneously.

"You guys obviously don't want to stay here all night. I wouldn't want to either. Just go, alright?"

Tambry sat up. "No way. We're not gonna leave you here by yourself. Besides, I don't want to go inside. Mr. Pines has been charging fees in there for the stupidest things."

"Yeah, it costs like ten bucks just to use the bathroom," Lee said. "Which sucks cause I only have five. . ."

Tambry's eyes lit up when an idea hit her. "What if we all took turns running the booth?" she suggested.

Wendy paused and glanced at her. She couldn't help but feel drawn to the idea of taking a break. "I'm listening."

"I'm sure that Mr. Pines doesn't care who's running the booth as long as he's getting money for it, so I vote that the boys stay here while we go inside."

Thomson groaned. "Hey! That's not fair!"

"Ladies first," Tambry snapped.

"So when do you work the booth?" Nate asked.

His question was left unanswered. Wendy and Tambry had already disappeared inside before the boys could interject. The group let out collective sighs of disappointment when they realized that the work had been left in their hands.

Once the two entered the room, Tambry gasped. "Woaaaah! I take back what I said earlier, this place looks totally not lame."

String lights covered each wall and had been strung across the ceiling, glow in the dark posters were plastered everywhere, and balloons were clustered in every corner. The combination of the decorations, the dim lighting, and the music made the room appear much larger than it normally seemed.

Distracted by the dazzling lights and music, Wendy accidentally bumped shoulders with a boy. She stopped and spun around to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see yo-" Wendy stopped herself when she recognized him; Robbie Valentino. Her eyes immediately narrowed in annoyance.

"Watch where you're going, Corduroy," Robbie replied in a snarky tone, burying his hands deeper into the pockets of his oversized hoodie before continuing towards the DJ booth.

"What's with that kid?" Tambry asked.

"Ugh, who cares." Wendy grabbed Tambry's arm and pulled her along. "Just keep walking and keep an eye out for Stan. Like you said, he doesn't usually care what his employees do as long as he makes his money, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

. . .

"Hey, Mabes," Soos said, tugging at Mabel's sweater. "I've got another track once this ones over." He smiled and held up the disc for her to see. "It's really good."

Mabel took it and scanned it over before placing it next to the stereo. "Looks good, but first I have to announce the competition. It'll just take a second."

When the song came to an end, Mabel cranked the volume down and grabbed the microphone.
"Ladies and gents! Tonight the Mystery Shack presents the first annual Party-Off. Whoever proves to be the ultimate partier, wins the party crown!"

Soos held up the plastic crown for the room to see. Whispers filled the room and teenagers nudged each other, trying to get one another to volunteer. One short figure in a black hoodie daringly walked up to the booth and rested an arm against the booth.

"The name's Robbie, and you may as well hand the crown to me." He smirked, took the microphone from Mabel and turned to the audience. "Anyone brave enough to compete against me? Anyone at all?"

The room was quiet while Robbie waited for an answer. When no one spoke up, her turned back to Mabel with a satisfied expression on his face.

"I think I've proved my point. Guess I'll be taking the crown."

Mabel frowned and snatched the microphone back. "But that's not fair. That's why it's called a competition. Either you and another person compete or no one does."

Robbie crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow.
"Fine. So who's gonna compete?"

Mabel, looking suddenly flustered, lifted the microphone again. "Any takers?" She flashed a nervous smile. "Please?"

"I'll do it," Soos spoke up from behind the booth.

"Who said that?" Robbie asked, peering over the booth to see Soos glaring up at him. He broke into hysterics. "You're kidding. You're seriously expecting me to compete against the dwarf?

Soos stepped up in front of Robbie.

"You heard the lady. I'm your opponent or you don't compete at all." He puffed up his chest and curled up his hands into fists in an attempt to appear more intimidating. Robbie looked amused at this.

"Then you better get ready kid. You're going down," Robbie growled.

Soos paused to think to himself, wanting to say something that sounded menacing.

"Umm. . . well, good luck to you too?"

. . .

"Now that we're actually in here, I'm kinda bored." Tambry inspected the punchbowl and poured herself a cup of the mysterious beverage. She took a sip and stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Eww. . ."

Wendy sighed. "Well I don't know what else we could do. I really don't want to go back to the ticket booth."

"Does Stan happen to have any board games or something?" Tambry asked sarcastically. She glanced back down at her cup. "But seriously what is in this stuff?"

Wendy jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder but relaxed when she heard Dipper's voice.

"What're you doing in here?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just-" Wendy stuttered when she saw his arm wrapped around Pacifica, who smiled and waved in response. "-um. . . I kinda snuck off. But I got someone to cover tickets."

Dipper laughed. "It's fine. I'm not going to turn you in. I've pulled the same stunt myself. Speaking of which, did I ever tell you about the time I cloned myself?"

"I remember that," Pacifica giggled. "I can't believe you actually thought you needed help from twenty copies of yourself to ask me on a date!"

Tambry leaned forward and mumbled, "Wendy, are you okay?"

Wendy suddenly became aware that she had clutched her cup so tightly that the strange, purplish liquid was overflowing and pouring out from between her fingers. She clenched her teeth and turned away.

"Sorry Dipper, we gotta go." Still holding the cup, Wendy stormed out of the room with Tambry trailing awkwardly behind her without bothering to respond to Dipper's reply.

Wendy didn't stop when she rounded the corner. She continued further and further, walking faster by the second until she broke into a run. Tambry began shouting at her to slow down. When she finally did, Wendy dropped the plastic cup and wiped her hands off on her jeans.

"What the heck just happened back there?"

"I can't stand her!" Wendy exploded. Tambry took a step back in surprise.

"She's always sooo perfect with her cute laugh, her designer clothes, her obnoxiously blonde hair, it's all PERFECT!"

"Wait wait wait," Tambry said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Pacifica?"

"NO, SANTA CLAUSE! Who do ya' think I'm talking about?!" Wendy exclaimed. Her face began turning a bright red and she began to breathe even harder.

"Calm. Down. What's all of this about?"

Wendy fell back against the wall and slid to the floor. She burried her face in her hands. "Umuhurmuhnuhhuvacruzunduppur."

Tambry let out a long, low gasp. "NOOO WAAY." 

Wendy looked back up and nodded solemnly.

"YOU LIKE DIP-"

"-SHHH! Shut up!"

Tambry snapped her mouth shut and grinned.
"Sorry. It's just that. . . he's so nerdy. But like, it's not like he's not cute." She coughed to break the silence when Wendy didn't respond.

"So. . . Um, let's go find something to do to get your mind off of this," Tambry suggested.

Wendy sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve "Like what?"

". . . let's go. . . and explore! This old place looks like it has a few stories to tell." Tambry jumped to her feet and pulled Wendy up with her. "Do you have an idea of where to start?"

Wendy thought to herself for a moment before pointing further down the hallway.

"There's is old door I found once but I don't think it has a key."

Tambry smiled. "I can pick a lock. Come on, let's go."

They walked down the hall, which grew dimmer and dimmer until the only light source left was a single flickering lightbulb hanging from a string.

The light illuminated the strange door. It's wood didn't look like any other door in the Shack. An intricate pattern was carved into it, and the door's handle looked like it might've been made of pure gold.

Tambry leaned forward, took her hair pin and jammed it into the gold lock. After a minute of jiggling the pin around, the lock clicked and the door swung open.

Both girls coughed when a warm gust of air hit them, sending a wave of dust that filled their lungs.

"I don't think anyone been in here in years," Wendy said in between coughing. "It's so dusty."

Tambry felt along the peeling wallpaper for a switch and turned the lights on, which surprisingly still worked.

"It's actually pretty nice in here for a place that's practically prehistoric," she said before taking a few steps into the room.

The space was taken up mainly by a large, L-shaped couch and a giant carpet with a strange design embroidered on it. Wendy noticed a tag sticking out from under it, which said "Experiment 32B".

Tambry fell back on the couch, then coughed again when a cloud of dust engulfed her. She stood back up and patted away the dust that still clung to her clothes.

"There's so many things in here, and most of them look like weird science stuff," Wendy mused while eyeing a bookshelf covered in books on scientific topics.

"Ooh! What's that thing?" Tambry approached the shelf and pointed at a glass prism. The light from the moon shone through the window, through the prism's glass and reflected colors across the walls.

A small card was stuck under the prism. Wendy picked it up and read the text written on it: Experiment 617C (FAILED)

"Experiment?" she repeated. "But it's just a piece of junk. It looks like something we'd sell in the gift shop."

"I wanna touch it," Tambry said, eyes wide with curiosity. She reached her hands out but Wendy slapped them away.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I've had my fair share of weird for the summer and at this point I can tell when something's off." Wendy stepped in front of Tambry to block her from the shelf.

"But you just said it's a piece of junk," she whined. "Just let me hold it for one second." Tambry reached around Wendy and grabbed it before she could protest.

Wendy grabbed it back and held it up in the air so she couldn't reach it. Tambry jumped but Wendy was already several inches taller than her.

"Cut it out, Tambry!" Wendy stepped out of the way when Tambry resulted to running and jumping.

Suddenly, the moonlight touched the very tip of the prism, casting a rainbow of colors across the room. It slowly began to vibrate in Wendy's hands.

"What's happening?!" Wendy exclaimed. She tried dropping it, but it was as if it had been glued to her hand. The prism's color's began to melt through the glass, onto Wendy's skin until she was engulfed in vibrant, glowing color.

"Wendy!" Tambry screamed. She tried prying the prism from Wendy's hand, but it wouldn't budge.

Finally, once the prism was empty of the colors, it fell from Wendy's hand. Her skin color was back to normal. She stood still, her eyes glazed over and a black expression had settled on her face.

"Wendy?" Tambry hesitantly poked her with her finger. Wendy remained silent and still as a statue. Tambry grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her back and forth.

"Oh my gosh. . . this is all my fault!"