"I'll see you later Mabel," Dipper said as they both walked their separate paths.
"You too Dipper!" Mabel called back. She met up with her friends, a huge smile on her face. She waved at Dipper then turned around and walked off with the two girls surrounding her.
Dipper noticed that they usually had a certain order when they walked off. A huge girl to Mabel's left, in the middle Mabel, and to the right of her an Asian girl with glasses. It reminded him of the sun somehow, the planets always revolving around it because of the natural gravitational pull. Meanwhile, Dipper didn't know what he would be, but he guessed he'd be a meteor; crash and burn.
Sighing himself out of the depressing thought, Dipper walked to his first class of the day. Math.
What he liked about math was how formulaic it was. He knew what to do. Even if he made a mistake along the way he could fix it. He could make absolutely sure that he was correct in what he was doing. Unlike with people who were very, very fickle and unpredictable.
That day the teacher was running late. His students were left out in the hallway because the door was locked. They were lined up in 2 lines against the walls with some rebels not in the lines.
Despite how early it was, everyone besides Dipper were in a bright and cheery mood. Like Mabel, he thought, on a 24 hour daily basis. The chatter of the hallways was really loud, he was surprised that no one came out of their classroom to shush them. He had a headache already from all the noise.
He was always bored even when doing schoolwork. It wasn't that he liked doing it. Schoolwork was merely something to distract him from the boredom that plagued him. It also served as something to distract him from the jealous thoughts of Mabel he'd been having for a year or so. Mabel did nothing wrong, he knew, so why did he keep having urges to beat her - pummel her - destroy her - into dust?
Dipper groaned to himself, holding his temple with his forefingers. He didn't want to hurt Mabel, he really didn't. The urges weren't very strong when Mabel was hanging out with him but when she was gone the voice in his head constantly whispered. "Killherkillherkillher." That was what the voice said, but the urge was to put her in a near-death state, but that was pretty much the same thing. In both cases she'd end up dead. And that really wasn't good, was it? He felt like a madman what with the voice in his head which he was sure wasn't normal. Then again, Dipper wasn't what a regular person would call 'normal' to begin with.
Rapid footsteps knocked him out of his thoughts. The teacher was jogging towards them, his rolling backpack in tow, sliding along the smooth floor. Quickly taking out his keys, the teacher opened the door and all at once the kids went in, Dipper with them. He felt trapped momentarily between the crowd of bodies. They were pushing against him to enter the classroom all at once, causing him to feel very uncomfortable.
Once he was out of the traffic he let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding. It figured that he would have to encounter this again tomorrow. Rather, multiple times again today and tomorrow… and many more days after that.
School really was hell. He'd get to watch so many people hang out with each other and he, he was just a focal point in the picture.
Dipper knew people noticed him alone all the time. Sometimes he'd hear "he's always alone" or "I feel sorry for him" whenever people passed by him everyday, sitting near the swing-set since it was the most isolated part of the school during breaks. But it was barely isolated; so many people still came there.
There'd be some people who would come to tease him about how lonely it was. It wasn't strong enough to be bullying since they would leave only a few minutes later, but the words they said definitely cut skin deep. Coupled with other skin deep cuts and each time they were usually by different groups of people teasing him near the swing-sets.
Mabel was one of the people who hung out there once in awhile. He saw her and she saw him. During the brief moments they made eye contact, Mabel was the one who always looked away first, a pang of something flashing in her eye, disappearing quickly as she regarded her friends around her. He'd look back at the book he'd chosen to read and try to disappear into it. Harder than it seemed with a crowd of talking chattering behind his ear.
When they were alone, Mabel would talk his ear off, all her attention on him. Not unwelcome and she did keep him company. It made him feel less lonely but come school and come his parents, Mabel was the star.
And everyday he was reminded of this. It was like math in a way; the problems changed but the way you solve them didn't, and if it did, only moderately.
Like his routine. Everyday was different, but everyday was the same. His boring old routine. It was something he liked, the predictability. But someday, somehow, he wished that the routine would be broken. That it would become exciting.
After all, it was no fun solving the same math problem over and over again.
...
Dipper didn't remember most of his dreams. The one he remembered for the longest was only for a few minutes after waking up. He remembered it because it was the happiest dream, a dream where he wasn't lonely. A dream where the stage was shared with him and Mabel. The mundanity of it was nothing special, but he was happy. He was in a shared spotlight and he loved it.
That dream was pushed away from first place and it was replaced with this dream he was having now.
Dipper didn't know this was a dream at first. The world was painted in a monochrome black and white. The ground was concrete, cracked and broken and rugged. The only thing there besides the clouds and sun that were too pitch black was an antique swing-set, sitting atop the uneven terrain and nearly falling apart.
"What is this place?" Dipper muttered to himself, looking around. Thunder flashed in the distant sky, but there was no illumination to accompany it.
"WELL WELL WELL. IF IT ISN'T ONE OF STANFORD'S RELATIVES," an echoey, high-pitched voice said. The voice was coming from everywhere.
The air, which was previously still, began to move, most noticeably swirling in the area in front of Dipper. As quickly as it came, it stopped, and out popped a yellow triangle with an eye in the middle and limbs somehow protruding from its body.
"HIYA PINES," the triangle being said, lifting his top hat in greeting. "NAME'S BILL CIPHER." He floated closer to Dipper. "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DEAL?"
"A deal?" was what came out of Dipper's mouth, though he was mostly focused on Bill's one eye. It was not Dipper's imagination. The triangle really was smiling.
"YES. A DEAL." He circled around Dipper. "TELL YOU WHAT, I'LL BE YOUR FRIEND."
"You will? And… Pine Tree?"
"IT'S A LONG WAY OFF IN THE FUTURE, PINE TREE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT." Bill answered, wrapping his arm around Dipper's shoulder. "SO WHAT ABOUT IT KID? I'LL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND. NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME. WHAT DO YOU SAY PINE TREE?"
It was only natural to hesitate. Dipper didn't know how to answer to the floating shape, which Bill noticed.
"THAT'S FINE. I'LL WAIT." Bill held out his hand. Blue flames engulfed it, making Dipper take a wary step back. "TAKE YOUR TIME KID. NO STRINGS ATTACHED. I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE IF YOU EVER NEED ME. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE A DEAL." The flames were extinguished.
"A deal?" Dipper was suspicious. "And in that deal, what would I have to do in return?"
"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? YOU TREAT ME LIKE YOUR FRIEND IN RETURN. AFTER ALL, THERE'S NO POINT IN BEING FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE YOURS. AM I RIGHT?" Bill put his arms behind his back. His eye grinned smugly.
"Yeah," Dipper said. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked at the ground. A flower that looked very similar to a spider web was growing out of one of the cracks.
"I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE. IF YOU EVER NEED ME…!"
"Where is here, anyways?" Dipper asked softly, but he was sure Bill could hear him.
Dipper didn't get a response, and it was obvious why once he opened his eyes. "A dream?" he murmured. He groaned, putting his head under the covers. "Of course it was a dream. No one, not even a geometric shape, would ever want to be friends with me."
"Hey, Dipper," Mabel said. "What are you mumbling about over there? It's time to get ready for school." She threw her hands up in the air and made a hushed cheering sound.
Leave it to Mabel to be excited for school.
"Huh. School. " Dipper threw the covers off. "Yeah, I'm coming. Let me get ready."
"You got it bro-bro!" Mabel flashed him a thumbs up. "I'll wait for you at the bus stop."
"No need to tell me," Dipper said to himself so Mabel couldn't hear. "You wait for me there everyday."
"You're talking to yourself again. Give some of your talking to me, huh?" Mabel said playfully, pushing the door open.
"What?"
"Betcha I can beat you to the bus stop Dipper!" Mabel said, zooming off and arms in the air like airplane wings. "Vroooommm."
"That's no fair," Dipper said. "You had too much of a head start."
In the hallway Dipper could hear the sound of Mabel's laughter.