Chapter 1
It's all over. Summer. Gone. One week until school starts. We have to leave. Mabel finally dragged me out of the closet that I had been hiding in for the past half month. She packed for me. I wouldn't move. I huddled into a ball and stayed on the floor. I ate when I had to eat. I couldn't sleep. Grunckle Stan knew. Mabel told him after saying that I was sick didn't work as an excuse anymore. They got me long sleeved jackets, jeans, and an eyepatch.
Our parents came and questioned my appearence. Grunckle Stan told them I had got in an accident, which led to a heated conversation about why they were not informed of this earlier. At the end of it, we all piled into the caravan and drove off. Back to Peidmont in California.
"Dipper!" I heard a call from downstairs. "Get up! You don't want to be late for school!" Yes I do, I wanted to say. I don't want to go. I'm sick. Which was true, depending on how you looked at it. "Dipper Pines! I know you can hear me! Get up!" I sighed. I silently stood. I got dressed without making a sound. I packed my bag with notebooks. I was in grade 8 this year. I wasn't nervous like I always was every other year. No one was going to make fun of me his year. I'll make sure of it. I finished brushing my teeth. I spit out the excess toothpaste.
"Bleh". I half gagged as some got caught in my throat after accidentally swallowing it. Suddenly a blur was on me. "Ahhh!" I fell over and tucked into a ball. I groaned. Well if any of my wounds had closed, they were sure open now.
"Hey bro bro!" Said a voice enthusiastically. "What's up?" I uncurled to see a face with a silver filled smile staring down at me. I let out a breath.
"Goodmorning Mabel". I said without emotion. By now it was slightly normal. Lately for me, that's extreamly happy. She smiled. She then grabbed my cheeks and tried to pull them into a smile a wide as hers.
"Mabel, stop! Really, please, come on haha-" We both froze. She was staring at me and I was staring at nothing. She hugged me.
"All my life's goals are complete". She muttered. "Well except for-" She started ranting off a list of things that she wanted to do. I got up while she was talking and made my way downstairs, my face once again emotionless. I walked past the kitchen and through the door. Going to the bus stop. Kids were already there. They were joking and goofing around. Suddenly one spotted me. He tapped his friends arm. Eyes never leaving me. His friend turned and then tapped another arm. The procedure went on until everyone had noticed me. Either from being tapped or wondering what everyone else was looking at.
"What?" I hissed. I didn't mean to put venem into it. It just came out that way. They quickly turned back to what they were doing. Except now they seemed a little unerved by my presence. Mabel soon joined me. She immedietly jostled me with her elbow quickly. 'I'm here for you' It said. I elbowed her back. 'Thanks'. The bus came and we all boarded. I sat at the back alone while Mabel sat with some friends. I could hear them talking about their summer activities. I scrunched up my face and shifted my eyepatch. Much better... Well it would be better if I didn't have to wear one in the first place. I closed my eyes and stayed perfectly still for the rest of the ride. Thinking, but not thinking all at once. The bus stopped. I opened my eyes to find that we were at school. I stood when the doors opened. Put my head down, and walked off towards the school. I could feel eyes on me as I walked through the door. I walked down the very centre of the hall, head down. I knew what they were thinking. Literally. There were only a few people who noticed me this time. They were a few of the ones from the bus stop. I could vaguely tell that people were thinking about what happened to the wimp. And, holy crap. Even though the jeans and jackets hid most of the marks, there were still long scratches on my face that had stopped bleeding but wouldn't close. I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I knew they were coming at me because they were thinking my name. Right when they were less than a foot behind me and I could here the whistle of a fist through the air, I whipped around. There were four people standing there. I snapped up my wrist and caught the fist an inch from my face. The person behind it looked shocked. So did the three people behind that person. Actually, everyone did. I stared at the guy in front of me. His name was Mike Phillips. He had redone eighth grade four times. He was 17 years old and was still in middle school. I glared at him from under my signiture pine tree hat. Something dangerous sparked in my eye. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't like it. He suddenly looked unsettled. He quickly rippd his hand out of my fist. He turned and walked away. But not before I caught him starting to rub it. I frowned even deeper, if that was possible. The other three were still standing there. I turned and started to walk away. I heard another fist. I suddenly ducked while still walking. I heard it go over my head. I winced. Ow. I could feel one my wounds on my midriff start bleeding again. It was a relatively big one but I didn't care. Only one person noticed that I even winced but I couldn't tell who it was. I walked to my locker. I shoved my bag and all but one of my notebooks and a pencil inside. I walked to my first class. Mythology. I stopped when I reached the door and debated whether to even go in or not. This is the kind of stuff that got me into this situation in the first place. I made up my mind and walked in. I had never ever missed or skipped a class, why not keep it that way? I wanted at least one thing to stay the same. I took a seat at the very back. I was the first one there. I sat straight and looked forward. The bell rang. Kids slowly filed in, trying to take their time. They were moving so slow it looked more like a marathon on rewind. After the last one pushed through the door, the teacher passed by them to the front. It was Mr. Atcear. He was one o the more strict teachers in the entire school. I wouldn't doubt it if he was in the top ten for strictest in the entire system. I'd never had a problem with him though. People always called me teachers pet, which in a way I was. Mr. Atcear turned to face the class. His eyes scanned over everyone. He suddenly called out.
"Is there not supposed to be a Veronica here today?" The door then burst open. A blond streak rushed through to sit in a seat halfway across the classroom.
"Sorry!" She exclaimed all too loud. "I'm on time though, right?" She couldn't have had better timing because at just that moment, the second bell rang. She beamed up at Mr. Atcear who had looked like he was about to say something about it until the bell rang.
"I will see you after class Miss Jordon". He turned back to the rest of the class. "Today we will be studying something a little different" He started. A couple of the few people who weren't paying attention looked up. He turned and started writing on the board. People got weird looks on their face and were thinking, 'What the heck is that?!'. He turned back. "Can anyone tell me what this says?" I looked at the board for a second. It said;
9-20 19-1-25-19 19-15-13-5-20-8-9-14-7
He was trying to be tricky. I raised my hand. Just because I'm anti-social doesn't mean that I don't want good grades. He looked over at me. "Yes, Dipper? What do you need?"
"I know what it says already". He looked slightly shocked.
"Okay. What is it?"
"It says something", I stated proudly. Everyone laughed at me. Mike, who just so happened to be in this class with me, looked over and called loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Good going dweeb, you're 'such' a genius". Everyone laughed harder. I kept my face blank. I counted down in my head. 3, 2, 1,
"QUIET! Called Mr. Atcear. The class shut up immedietly. "Actually", He started a little calmer. "He's right". Any still lasting smirks were wiped off their owners faces. They stared unbelievingly as he wrote 'It says something' under the numbers. He faced me. "Do you know what that's called?" He asked. I answered without hesitation.
"It's called the A1Z26 cipher"
"Very good. Does anybody know any other ciphers besides this one?" I once again raised my hand. So did the girl Veronica. "Veronica". He addressed.
"I can burp speak", she said still smiling. Was there something wrong with her? I looked down only to see an empty package of Smile Dip sticking out of her pocket. Oh. I kept my hand raised. Mr. Atcear sighed. He walked over to his desk and wrote something on a paper. He then pointed to me.
"I know two others" I said. "The Atbash cipher and the Ceasar cipher". He wrote on the boards as I spoke.
"Can you please spell a word in each of them? It can be the same word". I started.
"For the Ceasar, k-h-o-o-r. And for the Atbash, s-v-o-o-l"
"What word is that?"
"Hello". He nodded at me then wrote the word under each set of letters. I suddenly felt weird. I raised my hand once more. He finished writing.
"Yes? Is there something you would like to add to that?"
"Actually, may I go to the washroom?" He nodded and held out a hall pass. It was one of the two that are always right behind his desk. I walked up and grabbed it, then walked out of the room.
I rushed to the bathroom right after I was out of sight from everyone in the classroom. Once I got there I checked to see if anyone else was there, and, by some miracle, no one was. I ran in front of the mirror only to see that there was a faint gold glow, almost undetectable, around me. great. I thought. How am I going to hide that?! I heard the creak of the door and whipped away from the mirror, my eyes hidden in the shadow of my hat. Mike walked in. Seriously? Again? I internally sighed but on the outside I was silent and still. The only hint he had that I was even looking was that I was faced in his direcion. He took a step forward. He held his tensed arms out a little from his sides, trying to look intimidating. I didn't move.
"What're you doing, geek?!" He asked loudly. My eyes were still shadowed but I felt that same spark flare in them. His eyes flicked to the left before he regained his confidence. It made me wonder what that flicker was. He walked towards me quickly. I stood straighter than I already was and realized that between Yesterday and today, I had gained almost a foot. Mabel was sure to notice. She was sure to pretend that she didn't care. To shower me with sprinkles and stickers until I got over this new alteration. After a week to make it seem realistic, I would pretend that I didn't care. But I did. I always did. He stopped right in front of me then went to grab me. I dodged. The flare was back. It was on.
