Beep. Beep. Beep.
Dipper jumped from his sleep, startled by the alarm. Rubbing his tired eyes, he reached for his phone to turn his alarm off. He yawned and stretched before getting up. After he was dressed, he headed downstairs with his school items. Once he enters the kitchen, he smells eggs and sausage.
"Morning, kid!" Stan greeted him, standing at the stove with a slouch.
"Good morning, Grunkle Stan," Dipper greeted.
"Where were you last night?" he asked curiously.
Dipper didn't get home until both Stan and Ford were asleep due to hanging out with Wendy for so long. Soos and his now wife were managers of the gift shop, so with the less work for Stan, he went to bed quite early. While technically Stan still owns the gift shop, Soos is the main manager while his wife helps manage the weekend shifts. By the time he got back, he helped close the gift shop down with them.
"I came back around 8, after being with Wendy," Dipper responded, getting himself a cup of coffee. "Then I caught up with Soos while he was closing last night."
"Gotta love that man," Stan chuckled and walked to place a plate of hash browns, sausage, and eggs for Dipper. "He makes life a lot easier."
"Where do they live now?" Dipper asked, sitting down and digging into the food.
"They built their own cabin while Ford and I were on our trip," Stan explained, setting down a plate for Ford who was currently absent. "It's not far."
Dipper nodded. "They didn't want to stay here?"
Stan shrugged and remarked. "After Abuelita passed away, Soos and Melody wanted a new space so we took over the Shack again. I don't care, I'm just glad they're still taking care of the gift shop."
Before Dipper could respond, Ford walked into the kitchen still wearing pajama bottoms. Stan walked back to the stove to get his own food and Ford smiled to Dipper.
"Morning," Ford sat next to Dipper. Dipper smiled back and waved, mouth full of food. "How was your first day?"
"It was good," Dipper responded, swallowing his food. "I have a hot teacher."
Ford raised his eyebrow and chuckled, "Uh-oh. Look like someone caught your eye." Dipper blushed a bit but shook his head.
"Oh, no, no, no," he sputtered. "I just think he's the hottest guy I've ever laid my eyes on."
"Hot guy?!" Stan asked suddenly, sitting down at the table. Dipper bit his lip a bit, unsure if he had told them about his sexuality. "Look here, kid," he leaned in close to Dipper. "I know you like dudes, but the hot ones are the ones to avoid. Always bad news."
A wave a relief passed over Dipper before he shook his head again, rolling his eyes playfully. "I don't like him, I literally just have him as a professor."
"Yeah but this is college," Ford chimed in. "You're an adult."
"I'm not going to ask out my teacher," Dipper remarked. "Physical attraction means nothing if the heart isn't there."
"Good," Stan responded, digging into his own food. Ford rolled his eyes but didn't respond, not fully believing Dipper.
Dipper and Pacifica ate in the cafeteria together again, talking about Mable and her different relationships she was in during her time in college. Once the conversation died down, Dipper suddenly remembered his want to look up the bio about his professor.
"How long have you been at this school?" Dipper asked, hoping maybe she would know some information.
"A few years," Pacifica responded. "I told my parents I would go to their online school they picked out if they allowed me to take a few classes here. They didn't care, it's not like we have homework from these classes anyways."
"Do you know a Professor Cider?" he asked, hopeful. Sadly, Pacifica shook her head.
"Haven't heard his name," she shrugged. "Have you looked his bio on the school's site?" Dipper shook his head.
"I meant to yesterday but was overwhelmed with how many old friends I saw," he explained.
"When does your next class start?" she asked.
Checking the time, he responded quickly. "40 minutes."
"Go to the library," she suggested. "Just ask and they'll let you on a computer."
After saying his goodbyes, Dipper headed towards the library. Unfortunately, he didn't know where the library was located so he found himself exploring the school since he didn't take the time to the day before. The buildings were two-story, placed next to each other to form an O shape. The center of the field was a stage.
'Probably where school concerts take place,' Dipper thought to himself. Walking around the stage took a little longer than he actually expected. Once he passed the stage, he saw the library right in his sight, a single story that says "Books" on the outside. He checked the time then lightly jogged to the building before he was out of time.
The librarian didn't look up from her computer as Dipper asked to check the computer for a moment, just immediately handing him a paper with the login to the computers. He got to a computer rather quickly, trying to still have time to get to his second class a little early. The computer took a bit to load but once the proper page was pulled up, he typed in his professor's name. He watched the page load with anticipation until an error screen popped up. Crinkling his eyebrow a bit, Dipper sighed. That can't be right. He checks the time and closed the page, quickly leaving the library for his class. Thoughts about the now mysterious professor surfaced his mind.
'Maybe he's just too new?' his brain asked himself. By the time he got to class, all the students have already gotten to their seats they were in the day before. Dipper sat in the same spot and waited for the teacher to arrive. This time though, he registered his heart skipping a beat when he heard the doors open as the helper and professor entered the room. Today, the professor wore a flannel with suspenders and black jeans. A few students perked up and a few even greeted him as he placed his items down.
Once settled, Professor Cider turned to the class. "Hello again!" he greeted cheerfully. "Welcome back, we're going to actually talk about some stuff today so please take notes."
While the students got out their notebooks, Helper Stern helped the professor get a power point up and rolling. After a few minutes, the lesson began. It was really basic information at the start, just what they would go over in the first quarter of the semester. This first week was about gnomes and zombies. A lot of the factual information, Dipper already knew thanks to Ford's journal and his personal experience. Once the lesson was over, the students were asked to spend the rest of the day writing a short scene of either of the creatures.
At the end of class, Dipper got up and walked up to the professor a little quicker than the previous day. This time, only one other student got to the professor first. Once the student's questions were answered, Dipper felt his heart flutter in his chest when Professor Cider looked at him. He barely stood a few inches taller than himself, but Dipper still felt small under his gaze.
"How c-can I help you?" the teacher asked hesitatingly, starting to gather his items from the desk and looking away from the student.
"U-uhm," Dipper didn't think he'd feel this nervous to talk directly to his professor. "I-l tried looking your bio up on the school's site," he started. At this statement, he noticed the blond freezing and looked up at Dipper again quickly. "But I can't find you on the site." Dipper watched as the professor visibly relaxed.
"That's okay," Cider smiled softly, picking up his bag. "It's just basic information, nothing important." Helper Stern suddenly grabbed the blond man's elbow.
"Let's go," he stated firmly. Cider narrowed his eyes a bit before looking back at Dipper.
"See you tomorrow?" he asked, starting to walk towards the door.
"Y-yes!" Dipper smiled, not expecting that question as a goodbye. Cider smiled back to him sweetly before turning and leaving the classroom. Dipper stood still for a few moments, watching the figure leave the room.
The next few weeks went in the same way. Soon enough, he started talking about his own experiences with the supernatural in his class to other students. Professor Cider seemed impressed with the stories, occasionally commenting on the stories himself. By the end of their first month was their first field trip to a part of the forest. This had been something Dipper was really looking forward to, not just because he would be able to see old creatures that he enjoyed investigating, but his professor would be there too. He had a chance to further impress the teacher.
Once they were inside a meadow in the forest, with a proper trail to guide them back, the professor stood in front of the group of students. The students were looking around the open area they were in, in awe at the beauty.
"This is one of the safest areas in this forest," Cider started to explain. "There are hidden creatures here that don't like to be disturbed. The assignment is simple, go find one of the creatures and study it. Do not touch it, do not bother it, just watch. You're looking for its' personality traits, what it eats, along with a quick description. That can either be with a drawing or description, whichever you're more comfortable with. Any questions?"
None of the students spoke up. With that, the students were allowed to separate to work on their assignment. Around the meadow were creatures from gnomes, barf fairies, to leprecorns. While some students were gawking at the question quails, cowls, and hawktopuses; Dipper was searching for a stomach-faced duck. He's only ever seen one in the journal and to see that there was a small pound towards the edge of the meadow, he was hoping this might actually be his lucky day!
Dipper gasped softly to himself as he kneeled down to watch the duck swimming. Opening his notebook, Dipper made himself comfortable on the grass and started to sketch out the duck's appearance. He watched the duck swimming around for a little bit before more, bigger ducks waddled over and splashed themselves into the pond. The other ducks had fish in their mouths and the smaller duck didn't hesitate to take one of them that was hanging out. While Dipper wrote down the necessary information for the assignment, he saw in the corner of his eye his professor making his way over to where Dipper had seated himself.
Heat began to creep its' way into his cheeks as he tried to ignore the presence and stare at his book. Even though it's been a little while now, Dipper started catching himself daydreaming about the teacher's smile. It's gotten so bad that Stan has even tried giving him actual relationship advice, though Dipper just ignored it. After the last time he took his advice, he made too many girls angry with him. He stayed silent as Cider kneeled down next to him.
"How's it going over here?" he asked softly, careful not to disturb the family of ducks in front of themselves. Dipper looked over to the teacher and smiled a bit.
"It's going good," he responded, showing off the drawing of the creature. "I'm about done."
"That's really good," Cider complemented the photo. "You might be the first one done, I'm going around to offer help. Care to help other students once you're done? You're really knowledgeable about these creatures, your scores are good."
Dipper's face flushed at the compliment, suddenly feeling shy from the sweet honey that dripped in his professor's voice. "S-sure!"
"Thanks," the teacher smiled brightly and ruffled his hair. "Knew I could count on you." As he started to get up, Dipper suddenly grabbed the teacher's wrist.
"W-wait," Dipper spoke rather quickly. Cider stopped moving and stared back at Dipper questionably. "I, uhm, had a question."
Settling down back on the grass next to Dipper, the blond asked, "What can I help you with?"
"How old are you?" Dipper asked suddenly, catching the professor off guard.
"About to turned 27," he answered, feeling confused over the question. "What about you?"
"Turned 23 in August," Dipper responded, smiling a bit. "When's your birthday?"
An amused look crossed Cider's face. "Why?"
Dipper shrugged. "What if I wanted to get you something?" he mused. "You always have students around you, I'm sure birthday gifts aren't too weird to receive from students."
"You're not wrong," he chuckled softly. "October 13th. Any other questions?"
Dipper hesitated before taking in a big breath before speaking. "Do you want to hang out sometime?"
Cider raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you trying to ask me out?"
Dipper looked down for a moment then nodded. "You really seem like someone I would at least want to be friends with," he explained, finishing up what he was writing in his notebook, feeling very insecure all the sudden. Cider didn't respond right away, staring at Dipper as he wrote. Once Dipper was done writing, he rubbed his hands together.
"Sorry, kid," he started to answer. "I don't think you'd like me if you knew who I was." Dipper looked over to the professor, feeling a little rejected.
"Can't knock it until you try, right?" Dipper tried again. "Just coffee?"
Cider took a slow breath in and looked back to the ducks in the water. "Thank you for the invitation, but I know you can find better company." Dipper stayed quiet for a moment before watching his professor stand up to leave.
"Can you think about it?" he asked softly, trying not to sound too pushy.
Cider sighed softly and looked down to the student. "Why don't you go to the office and ask about me? I'm sure they'll give you that bio you asked for a few weeks back." With that, he turned and left to go back to the other students that were in need to help.
As soon as Dipper got back to campus, he went straight to the main office as the professor had suggested. Confusion ran through Dipper's mind like when he failed to get the bio from the library. He didn't expect the office to give a professor's bio, he just figured they would just redirect the student to the site. Pushing his thoughts aside, he went to the front desk. A lady with pink hair looked up from her computer and smiled sweetly to him.
"Can I help you?" she asked softly.
"Yeah, I have Professor Cider's class and I tried going online to read his bio online but it wasn't there," Dipper explained. Confusion flashed over the girl's face.
"Cider?" she asked, contorting her face into confusion. Dipper nodded. "I'm sorry, we don't have a teacher here by that name."
"What?" Dipper narrowed his eyes in confusion. "That's impossible, I go to his class every day."
"What does he teach?" she questioned, starting to type on her computer.
"Supernatural History Introduction," Dipper responded, taking out his schedule from his wallet and handing the paper to the lady. The woman accepted the paper and read the paper before sighing.
"I'm so sorry," she started, looking back up at Dipper. "His name is misspelled, it probably is because he has a weird last name. That's not your teacher's name."
Embarrassment washed over Dipper. He'd been saying his teacher's name wrong for the entire first month of his new school. No wonder he was rejected, he can't even say his name right!
"Here, I'll print you a new one with his correct name," she clicked a few things on her computer before standing to retrieve the newly printed paper. "Here you go," she said as she handed the paper over. "His bio is on the school's site if you want to read it. Might be easier to find with the correct last name. Anything else?"
Without looking at the paper, Dipper smiled to the lady. "Thank you very much. Actually, yeah. Do you know why it took so long for the teacher to be announced?"
"Anytime," she responded and sat back down. "The class you're in is just an experiment class and it took a while to go through interviews for the class. He's a well-respected professor around the school and is crazy knowledgeable about that kind of topic so it was an obvious choice once his interview took place. Whoever was supposed to update the site probably just delayed on posting the teacher's name."
After thanking the office support, he left the room. He held the paper in front of himself to read the actual teacher's name he apparently had wrong.
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM – Supernatural History Introduction – Cipher, William – Building C, Rm 326
Dipper stopped in his tracks as his eyes widened at the name. 'There's no way…' he thought to himself, feeling panic stirring through his veins. Without thinking, Dipper ran out of the main building and towards his class. Once he was there, he stopped before opening the room to try to calm his racing mind. He tried opening the door but found it locked. 'Duh!' Dipper groaned as he looked at the time. He's at a different building with a different class. Dipper decided to confront him about his new knowledge about him the next day.
Dipper caught up with Wendy at a new coffee shop after he left the school. Almost instantly, Wendy could tell her friend was distressed.
"Yo," she greeted him. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"That's because I did," he stated flatly and sat down, sitting down next to the redhead and running his hands through his hair. "I've been saying my hot teacher's name wrong this entire time and now I fear he's not who he is pretending to be."
Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
"You know Professor Cider?" he asked, placing one arm on the table. Wendy nodded.
"You said that was your Supernatural History teacher, right?" she asked.
"Yes," he confirmed. "Apparently he's professor Cipher. William Cipher."
Wendy opened her eyes and gasped. "You have THAT hot professor?" She sounded more excited than Dipper would expect her to. "Oh my god! He's like a legend at the school, his classes are always the first to fill up. He's my music theory teacher!"
Dipper shook his head, not really taking anything she said in. "Wendy, that has to be Bill. Remember? From when I was 12?"
"Bill?" Wendy asked, holding her fingers up to her eye to make a three-sided shape. "Like triangle dude Bill?" Dipper nodded but she shook her head. "No way, he's way too nice! He donates like a couple grand to the academy every month. He's like the nicest and funniest professors the school has. There has to be just some irony."
Dipper didn't seem convinced. "I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I'm going to confront him tomorrow after class."
"Alright dude," she held up her hands initially that she gave up. "Do what you gotta do. All I'm saying is he's an awesome guy. Doesn't seem to have many friends other than that helper of his. Tell me how it goes after."
Dipper nodded and sighed heavily. He's anxious to go to the class now, even though it's for the opposite reason than when he first went to the class.