A/N: Thank you for your feedback, everyone! Sorry for the wait, again! Here's chapter 10!
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Avery stood on the rooftop overlooking the city. A red-eyed black cat sat near her, its tail moving back and forth slowly as it watched her. Avery walked to the edge of the roof and jumped. Her arms were outstretched as though she were a bird. She was expecting to fly, but continued to fall. She couldn't open her mouth to scream and her eyes would not close. As the ground rushed closer, Avery swore she saw Bill.
Avery's eyes shot open as she sat up. Her breathing was heavy and her heart raced. She knew that her dreams had always allowed her to fly, so why didn't it work this time?
"Good morning, Eaves!" Bill's voice called from the computer speakers. "Did you have a nice fall?" Avery stiffened at the sudden noise, but then calmed down as she remembered yesterday's events.
"Morning, Bill." Avery forced a smile as she stood. Bill's face was on the video player, just as he had been yesterday. Avery turned off the monitor so she could change.
Once Avery was ready to leave, she turned on the monitor again. Oddly enough, the video player was empty. Avery shrugged, deciding that Bill had probably gone off to do… whatever it was he usually did. She unplugged her phone from the USB cable and turned the sound on vibrate. She thought she saw something on the screen as she locked the phone, but decided that she was still tired, and stuffed the phone in the pocket of her hoodie.
During history, Avery's kept feeling vibrations from her phone, as though someone was texting her, every few minutes. Thankfully, once Avery grew tired of the incessant vibrating, it was a period of time in class when Ms. Shanahan would allow the students to use their phones. Avery plugged in her ear buds and unlocked her phone. She yelped as she saw a miniature version of Bill on her screen. "Sorry." Avery quickly apologized, although no one who had heard bothered to show that they had noticed. Avery looked back at Bill on the screen. "What are you doing?" She whispered, not caring if anyone saw her talking to her phone.
"Just thought I'd tag along." Bill explained. Avery raised an eyebrow.
"Alright." Avery shrugged it off. She put her phone down by her notebook. Occasionally, she glanced at her phone to make sure Bill wouldn't go through any of her things or mess anything up. Bill just stood there looking at Avery.
Bill was utterly bored. He already knew everything that Avery was being taught. In fact, he could probably teach her this better than that hag could! Not like she needed to know it anyway... "Hey! Avery!" Avery jumped at the sound of Bill's voice in her ears.
"What's up?" Avery asked, her voice still a whisper. Bill smirked.
"Watch this!" The phone's screen went dark. Blue sparks flew off of the back and within a few seconds, Bill was floating in front of Avery.
"Woah!" Avery yelped. Some of the students turned their heads. None of them seemed to notice Bill. "Sorry!" Avery apologized again.
"Avery? Are you alright?" Ms. Shanahan asked.
"Y-Yeah." Avery stammered. "The music was louder than I was anticipating!"
"Okay, just making sure." Ms. Shanahan believed the lie. Avery faltered. Could they really not see him?
"No, they can't!" Bill exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. Avery sighed, hoping Bill wouldn't be too big of a bother.
"Great." Avery muttered sarcastically. The bell rang, dismissing students for the next class. Avery stood, putting her phone in her pocket, getting her things, and left for her English class. She glanced to her side as Bill followed her. Students walked through him as though he were not there. "Hey, Bill?"
"Yeah?" Bill's gaze didn't leave Avery.
"How the hell is no one else seeing you?" Avery asked.
"I used another of my powers." Bill explained. "I'm practically nonexistent to everyone else except you."
"Lucky me." Avery rolled her eyes as she stopped outside the door to Ms. Stossel's room. "Hey, would you be okay with me, like, writing things to you during class? I kind of don't want to freak anyone out."
"Yeah, that's fine." Bill smirked.
"Alright." Avery walked into the classroom and took her seat as the bell rang. Instead of one sheet as she usually did, Avery took out two. In all honesty, Avery didn't have anything to say to Bill. Since there was a test coming up, Avery wanted to focus as much as she could. Sadly, Bill wasn't being much help.
All throughout class, Bill kept doing strange things to try to distract Avery. He mimicked Ms. Stossel during a particularly boring lecture. He kept flicking the boy in front of Avery in the back of the head. The boy somehow felt it and blamed Avery. Bill even kept poking Avery's cheek. Avery was doing her best not to laugh as Bill kept messing with the other students. Ms. Stossel turned around.
"What's going on?" She asked. Uproars of accusations and defense came about from the students. Bill just laughed and Avery cracked a slight smile.
Having fun? Avery wrote as Bill floated back over to her desk.
"Absolutely!" Bill replied, grinning. Avery smiled, rolling her eyes at the demon. Ruben, who sat on the other side of the room, looked over at Avery. Avery noticed and waved to Ruben. Ruben smiled and waved back, seeming to not notice Bill.
Ms. Stossel just sighed and harshly told the class to return to their work and stop fooling around. Avery looked back at her worksheet and continued working. Ruben, however, continued to stare at Avery. Bill gave Ruben a venomous glare, but then grinned madly as he got an idea.
"Miss Bravo." Ms. Stossel spoke up a minute before the bell would ring, dismissing the students to the lunch period. "See me after class." Avery began to feel her stomach tie in knots. Ms. Stossel only called people to stay after class if they had done something wrong. Some students made remarks about what Avery might have done to make Ms. Stossel want to see her after class. The bell rang and Avery waited for the students to leave. It seemed that even Bill had left, leaving Avery alone with Ms. Stossel. Avery stood and walked to Ms. Stossel's desk. The feeling of impending doom followed on Avery's heels.
"Yes, Miss Stossel?" Avery swallowed nervously.
"Miss Bravo, what is with that tattoo on your cheek?" Ms. Stossel asked in a demanding manner. Avery stiffened, not being able to give an answer that Ms. Stossel would believe, and not wanting to lie about it either. A frantic scream rang out from the hallway, cutting off Avery as she was about to answer. "What on earth?" Ms. Stossel stood and ran to the door, followed by Avery. "Oh my god!" Ms. Stossel screamed. Avery stood in shock.
Ruben was floating upside down in the air. He was panicking and students watched on in horror, not knowing why Ruben had suddenly started floating. Avery saw Bill's hand glowing blue and a crazed look in Bill's one visible eye. Bill threw his hand down and Ruben slammed into the concrete. Students screamed and ran. Ms. Stossel went inside to the phone to call someone for help. Avery stood there in pure shock. Bill lifted Ruben and slammed him down again. Ruben howled in pain and blood began to drip from his nose.
"Bill!" Avery cried, not knowing what else to do. "What the hell, dude? Not okay!" Ruben was stopped in the middle of the third throw and Bill turned to look at Avery. Students who had previously been paralyzed with fear were slightly confused. Who was Avery talking to? Bill wasn't at school that day! Is she being delusional again?
"Avery!" Ruben called. "Get out of here!" Bill turned back to Ruben and slammed the poor boy down again. Bill's hand stopped glowing and Ruben just lay there, unconscious.
"Holy shit!" Avery cried and ran to help Ruben. She knelt down next to Ruben and tried to remember what she learned in middle school about emergencies. Where was she supposed to check for a pulse again? A brave Hispanic girl, who Avery had seen a few times in the hallway, strode over and knelt on the other side of Ruben.
"I've got this." The girl said, looking for Ruben's pulse. She carefully moved her hand about until she stopped at a certain spot. She paused. "It's still there."
The door to the hallway burst open and first-responders ran in. Students quickly moved aside to let them pass. The girl and Avery stepped back, letting them do their jobs. A police officer approached the two. "What happened here?" She asked them.
"We're not really sure." The Hispanic girl said. "All I saw was that kid over there floating and… it was like someone was throwing him down. It was like watching a basketball get slam dunked."
"Floating, miss?" The officer asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's true!" Avery yelped. "I saw it too!" The officer remained skeptical, yet continued to write in her notepad. The officer looked up as Avery and the Hispanic girl stood there awkwardly. Her eyes glanced at Avery's face. Her hand stopped.
"Miss." She said. "May I speak with you privately for a moment?" Avery stiffened.
"M-Me?" She asked. Her heart was racing. The officer nodded. Avery hesitantly followed the officer outside, where some other officers were interrogating other students as to what happened. The officer led Avery a small ways away from the mass of police cars and an ambulance. "Y-Yes, m-m-ma'am?"
"Miss." The officer paused, as if searching for the right words to say. "You… You have…" She placed a hand on her own cheek. "That, right?" Avery's breath caught in her throat. She tried to glance around, as if looking for Bill, but found that she and the officer were the only ones nearby.
"You… You know him too?" Avery asked, almost in disbelief.
"I made a deal with him, too." The officer said sadly. "My dad wasn't even worth it." She paused. "What did you ask him for?"
"Me? I didn't ask him for anything." Avery quickly said. "I don't even know how I got it." She looked down.
"Let me see it again." Avery looked back up. The officer looked intently at Avery's mark. Her eyes widened. "Is that… No, it can't be." Avery grew worried.
"What?" Avery asked, her nervousness showing in her voice. The officer shook her head.
"N-Never mind." She said. "It's better that you don't know. Well, I think he should tell you himself, but that's just me." She rummaged through a small pocket on her vest, then pulled out a small card. "My name is Lena Marchal. I know a fair bit about him. If you need anything, call me." Another officer called for Lena. "I've got to go." She paused. "Stay safe." Avery watched as she left. A school announcement came on, saying that school was dismissed early. Avery looked down for a minute, trying to process all that had happened. She finally looked up and went to get her things to leave.
When Avery arrived home, she went upstairs to her room. She didn't dare turn on the monitor, just in case Bill had decided to return back to it. Avery sat on her bed staring at the corner where her bookshelf lay. Finally, she stood and went to turn on her monitor. Much to her surprise, it was already on and showed the front of the Mystery Shack. Her eyes widened and she pressed her hand to the monitor. It went through and Avery smiled widely. She crawled through and landed on her stomach the way she always did.
She got up and ran inside the Shack. The bell rang and Wendy looked up. "Hey, Avery. Long time no see." Avery could hardly believe that she was back.
"Hi, Wendy." She smiled at the redhead. "Are Dipper and Mabel here?"
"In the back." Wendy pointed with her thumb. Avery nodded her thanks and went through the 'Employees Only' door.
"Mabel?" Avery called. "Dipper? Soos? It's me! Avery!" She heard gasping in the other room and rapid footsteps.
"Avery!" Mabel cried at the sight of Avery and ran to hug her friend. "Oh my gosh! I missed you! I thought we'd never see you again!" Avery chuckled and hugged back.
"Well, you thought wrong!" She smiled as Dipper walked in. "Hi, Dipper!"
"Avery?" Dipper blinked, as though he believed he was dreaming.
"The one and only!" Avery smiled as Mabel let go.
"I-I can't believe it." Dipper said, gawking. "I thought Bill kidnapped you!"
"No, I don't think he did." Avery gave a confused smile. She thought at that moment, she heard Bill's voice.
"Well, I haven't yet!"
A/N: OHMYGLOB! I'm sorry for taking so long to update! I honestly have no excuse. Sorry! I hope you all enjoyed anyways!