A/n: This is going to be from Dipper's point of view. I hope you enjoy.

Trigger warning: a character gets bullied and beaten. If any of these bother you, tread with caution.

Disclaimer: I don't own this series, so please don't sue me; I'm too broke for a lawsuit.

It's only the first week of November, and I already want the school year to be over. Normally, I usually get to March or April before becoming eager about the end of school. Shows how much I want it to be summer, I guess. I want to go back to Gravity Falls so badly; that's where I belong. The Dipper there was happy. The Dipper there had adventures and thrills. The Dipper there met all sorts of different creatures, learned all sorts of secrets. The Dipper there belonged and had people he could talk to without being judged as wrong or delusional.

The Dipper here was none of those things. The Dipper here lives a dull, ordinary life. The Dipper here only meets humans that deny the existence of any other sentient life forms. The Dipper here is called a freak in the halls, an unwanted and disliked entity.

The Dipper here is pushed around and insulted. The Dipper here only has his sister to talk to, and even then he can only talk to her in their home, where her friends won't flee at the sight of him. The Dipper here can't speak his mind in front of any parental figures without censorship, disbelief, or scorn. The Dipper here is miserable.

I drag my feet to my last class of the day: gym. It's my least favorite class, being that it's the thing I'm horrible at. Mabel was the more athletic twin; it didn't make her the alpha twin, though; I smile at the memory of when we were back at the shack and Mabel kept bragging about how she was exactly one millimeter taller than him. It seemed like such a big deal to me at that time; I guess I didn't like to think that I wasn't good enough. And then I made that shrinking flashlight just so we could be the same height again. That stupid flashlight I made nearly doomed us all.

I quickly grab my gym clothes and dash into the showers, hoping to change in private. The last time I changed in public with all the other guys, they used it as an excuse to mock me. "Scrawny, ugly little freak," they said. "All skin and bones. You're practically a skeleton. No wonder no one wants to be around you; you're not just a freak, you're a freak of nature." And then they laughed at me. They just kept laughing at me with more and more of them joining in like how a wildfire gets bigger and bigger if there's no one around to stop it, and I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. And they do it every day. Every. Single. Day. It was even worse than the embarrassment of not being able to win the pancakes in that manliness game. At least then the people weren't so malicious. Even the Manotaurs weren't this bad.

As I take off my shirt, I hear the locker room doors open, and I hear them laughing. I hurry up. I don't want them to catch me while I'm changing. They'd be even meaner then, because if I learned anything from Gravity Falls, it was that a predator gets angry when things don't go according to plan. While middle school bullies aren't on the same level as homicidal dream demons, both feed on the fears and insecurities of others.

That's right! I can't believe I've forgotten! I fought Bill! Or, at least, I faced Bill. Bullies aren't as bad as Bill. If I can face Bill, I can face some bullies.

But Bill never brought up my pathetic noodle arms and lack of muscles. Bill never made fun of me for how I look or how my sister is more "manly" than me. I know I shouldn't try to change who I am because of what random strangers think, but having it rubbed in my face every day on how everybody hates the way I am picks at an old wound that's still healing.

Breathe in, breathe out. They can only hurt you if you let them, Dipper. And hey, if you stop reacting to them, maybe they'll leave you alone.

I just got to get my shorts on first.

Miraculously, I get to the gym without getting spotted by the bullies. I work my way to the corner of the gym where the teacher can't see me so well, tucked in behind the bleachers. The teacher hasn't called for attendance yet since most people aren't done changing, so it shouldn't be any problem. I go over some Latin verb conjugations in my head, quick exercises that are surprisingly effective. Can't let myself get too rusty. It's always good to practice.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mabel exit the girls' locker room; gym is the only class we have in common, so it's the only time I see her except for lunch. She's flanked by two of her new friends: a tall, muscular girl and a short, nerdy girl. I wonder idly if Grenda and Candy are aware they've been replaced. Not that Mabel would do that on purpose. She wouldn't! She couldn't. But, that's sort of what it looks like. Maybe it's just Mabel's subconscious yearning for her old friends. Yeah, that has to be it. Mabel would never abandon people close to her. Never.

The teacher's whistle tweets, and everyone goes to stand around the teacher until their name was called; the gym teacher, whose name I forget, was almost as much of a stickler for rules as Mr. Poolcheck, so he had to see someone to mark them present. He called out my name, looked at me disdainfully, and crossed me off before swiftly moving on to someone else.

"Listen up, Ladies!" The teacher bellows. "Today, you're gonna have free choice. You can play football, soccer, or..." He looks down at the clipboard the way a normal person would look down at their shoe once they've stepped in dog feces. "...Walking," he sneers.

I head over to walk, obviously, and I feel the gym teacher glare at me like he's trying to manifest heat vision and laser me to death. I notice that barely any of the other boys choose walking: three of the lazier students and the guy who broke his hand. All the rest were girls, and even then there were only six of those. Mabel and her friends went off to play soccer, so we wouldn't be able to talk. In my peripheral vision, I see the leader of the bullies spot me out of us eleven walkers. Of course that jock would pick football; how much more stereotypical can you get?

I walk around at a decent pace while continuing to practice Latin in my head; it's a good distraction from the burning glare that gym teacher is giving me.

When I get back to the locker room, the bullies are lying in wait around my locker. No escape from this one. I just have to remember: Bill is tougher than bullies.

"Hey, Freak!" Give him no reaction. Don't let him win. Breathe. "Coach is pissed at you, you know, and I don't blame him. You're a disgrace, picking walking. No wonder you're a skeleton; you're as weak as a baby." If you dissect his words, it's kind of pathetic really; he must be running out of material with his insults; he's like a parrot, repeating the same thing over and over again. It's sad I was so bothered by this.

"Are you listening to me? What a rude little bitch. It's about time someone taught you some manners, huh?"

He punched me, suddenly, right in the Solar Plexus. Me from a year ago would be crying now, but compared to what I've been hit by in Gravity Falls, his punch feels like nothing. I go to open my locker. "Hey, you fucker, are you still ignoring me!?" He kicks me in the back of my knee, and I stubble to the ground. I instinctively go into armadillo formation, curling up to protect my face and most of my internal organs. The rest of his friends join in now, all kicking me. Compared to being beat up by Rumble McSkirmish, this was nothing. I can't believe I was so afraid of this.

Mid-beating, I see the gym teacher enter from the gym, most likely heading to his office. The bullies stop, comically scared faces on all of them. The teacher gives an approving smile and nods before heading along.

Figures. That teacher hated me since day one. I didn't expect anything else, honestly.

The bullies kicked harder then, not afraid of being caught and punished. At this point, their kicks will leave bruises, but I don't really care. Bruises fade, and there's no one to see them in the meanwhile. Honestly, compared to that time when Bill possessed me and cracked at least a few of my ribs by falling down the stairs, this was like being hit with pillows. I feared these bullies and cowered from them when I went face to face with Bill? I could laugh at how ridiculous I was. In fact, why not laugh? My reputation's already at rock bottom; at least, if they think I'm crazy, they'll leave me alone.

And so I laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Just like they laughed at me. They slowly stopped, probably out of surprise because who could have predicted getting laughter in response to getting beat up? Once they backed off enough, I got up and adopted a blank expression before opening my locker. I ignored them as I changed, taking note of the red marks that would most certainly bruise. I left without another word. I got the feeling they wouldn't be bothering me anytime soon.

Who would have thought all the misery Bill put me through would eventually be helpful one day?

I go to collect my bag from my normal locker and return to home room for dismissal. I take my designated seat in the back and start reading my book, a novel in Latin so that I could simultaneously entertain myself and brush up on my skills; it was such a lucky find in some local, pre-owned bookstore, and it only cost three weeks of allowance too.

I notice out of the corner of my eye someone is gossiping, amassing quite a ground. From the pointed looks and whispers, I know they're talking about me. Nothing new on that front, I suppose. I think I recognize one of the gossipers from my gym class; they must be talking about today's incident. Oh well, maybe they'll spread a rumor all around the school saying I'm crazy or unstable, and the rest of the bullies will leave me alone as well.

The final bell rings for the day, and most of the students run for the buses as fast as they can. Since Mabel and I walk to school, being late isn't a concern for me. I head for the school library; it's my favorite time to be there, when everyone else has already left leaving true peace and quiet. The old librarian is distracted by retrieving her things to go home, so she doesn't see me sneak in to the older, more abandoned part of the library.

For a public school, my school had a very big library; it seemed to be school policy since the day it was founded to never throw anything away, even old Latin textbooks from when the school used to teach high schoolers as well. The books are still usable; it's not like the language changed any since a few decades ago.

I took an hour learning before I thought it best to return home. When my mom asks where I've been, I can say I was at the library studying; it wouldn't even be a lie. Though, "if my mom asks" would be more appropriate. This wasn't the first time I've stayed so late in the library; I've spent nearly an hour everyday. My parents have stopped asking about my whereabouts; however, they still punish me for it. So far, I've lost all of my video games indefinitely and I've been grounded for the next month, not to leave my room accept for meals, since I have a bathroom attached to my room. They haven't even noticed that I don't care about that stuff anymore. What good are fantasy video games when you've seen the real deal? And why would I want to leave my room? I has books, a bed, and a bathroom. What more do I need? This clearly wasn't as good a punishment as they thought it would be.

As I walk home, I see something shining out of the corner of my eye in one of the side streets. Not shining like a piece of metal caught in the sunlight, but a more... familiar yellow glow. I turn my head, just a little bit curious.

Bill?