A/n: Back to Mabel's perspective today.
God, school has been kicking my ass recently. I hope you all enjoy, and please review.
*Just as a little side note, the setting is based on my old middle school's system. I have no idea if any other middle school operates the same way. In our school, kids were assigned blocks, a group of four teachers who would teach the students all the main subjects: math, science, etc. Each teacher only taught one subject, and the students would move to each teacher's room to learn. The only time you could talk to kids from other blocks was during lunch, before/after school, or during an elective, which in my school, they assigned to you without regard to what you personally wanted/needed.
Disclaimer: Look, if I owned Gravity Falls, Pacifica's parents would get more than bankruptcy and a temporary face rearrangement for being such shit parents to her.
Alright! It was a new day! And it was time for Operation Billwatch to officially start.
It was bad enough Bill had to stay over the night; that story about the cancer and the strokes rang a bit artificial to my ears. I couldn't sleep so well knowing that creep was in the next room over alone with my brother. So, I may have eavesdropped just a tiny little bit. Just a little and for a good reason, too.
I couldn't understand a single word they were saying; it was some weird gibberish language that practically screamed "suspicious." But then it stopped so suddenly I was worried that something happened. I tried opening the door, but it was locked. Dipper never locked his door. Not to me.
I went to see Mom and Dad to get him to open the door; if they yelled at him enough, he'd have to open the door. I opened their door to wake them up, and I started to shake them, but they didn't wake up. They started to toss and turn. Mom started to cry and Dad whimpered. I started to shake them harder, calling them louder and louder.
In the end, they didn't wake up until morning. Both Dipper and Bill seemed unharmed at breakfast, from what I saw of them. On the walk to school, neither of them talked to me.
Dipper never even told me "good morning."
He didn't greet Mom or Dad either, now that I think of it. I know Mom and Dad were mad at him, but he should have at least talked to them first, offer an olive branch after what he did.
Dipper never used to be like this. He used to be the responsible twin. Then Bill came along...
Bill has to go: triangle demon or not. He was corrupting my brother, warping him into someone I don't know anymore. If Mom and Dad weren't going to put a stop to it, it was up to me.
Now, we agreed over Snapgram this morning that we were going to meet up before homeroom. Ally said she felt like she needed to do something before school started, so she wouldn't be joining us. As long as it proved to be a good lead, I had no problems with it.
I sat across from Georgie as we waited for the final member; Georgie and I were in the same homeroom, but Jackson was in another block* entirely. I rarely ever got to see Jackson in the morning, so this'll be a treat. I look at the clock. 7:05. We have plenty of time.
I look at Georgie; something about him seemed different. He seemed a bit more jittery, like Dipper when he thought something was watching him. It could just be my imagination... But, he almost looked paler than he was yesterday, and I thought that would've been impossible with his vampire-ish skin. He had more visible bags under his eyes, the kind that came from not sleeping well instead of just going to bed late.
Something was definitely fishy here. Time to investigate!
"Something wrong, Georgie? You look more corpse-like than your normal 'undead abomination of the night' look."
"Please, you love my pasty ass. But, it's nothing really. Just had a bad dream, that's all."
Bad dreams... Just a coincidence or was it Bill? Bad dreams were not that uncommon, but the timing is awfully suspicious. Just as we started to investigate Bill, Georgie gets bad dreams. It could prove Bill was actually Demon Bill!
But it's not concrete; as Dipper would say, it's just circumstantial evidence. However, I think this is a sign that I'm on the right track. If I keep investigating, something is bound to show up.
Ah, there he is! Jackson, the perfect boyfriend material. He even brought a notepad to record all we say. He's so smart and well-prepared.
"Welp, I'm here. It's a shame Ally couldn't come, but I guess it couldn't be helped. Let's start the meeting." Jackson nodded to me. My time to present my case.
I looked around to make sure no one was listening in; the room was empty except for Jennifer McFee, the strange goth girl, but she had earbuds in, so she doesn't count.
"Let's start off with the basics: the target's name is Bill. No last name confirmed. He is a creepy weirdo who only hangs out with one person and one person only. He has shown unnatural strength and unnatural fearlessness. Georgie, did you find anything?"
"Yeah," he mumbled. "But it's all pretty weird. I'll admit: I wasn't fully convinced when you asked me to help you, but now I'm sold; this is just to strange to chalk up to coincidence and simple dislike."
"Spit it out, Georgie," Jackson said. Both of them sound so interested; it is nice to see someone else recognize just how weird Bill was for a change. It feels validating.
"Bill is registered at the school under the name 'William Madden,' son to John and Victoria Madden, but when I search for the parents on the web, all I get are individual Johns and Victorias; only a few of them were married to each other, and yes I did check for maiden names and whatnot, but none of the married couples had a son named William who goes to middle school and lives in this area.
"And if you think that's strange, get a load of this: the guy has no digital footprint. He has no social media accounts, and when I search his name, he doesn't pop up at all. I can't even find a photo of him besides the one on his school registration. It's like the guy didn't exist before he showed up here. Weird, right, but wait, there's more.
"The address on his file, you see it? Well, when I put that location into Boogle Maps, all that shows up is an office building at the edge of the district. Not only is it an office building, but it's been essentially abandoned after it foreclosed two years ago. Nobody lives there; I don't even think it's in living condition. As for the rest of the links that pop up in his file, they all lead to dead ends."
Georgie pauses and looks at Jackson and me. I'm not all that surprised, to be honest; if we were dealing with Demon Bill, it'd only be natural that he wouldn't have a past. Jackson looked pretty shocked though.
"So what you're saying is: William Madden doesn't exist?"
Georgie nodded. "He could be in witness protection?" Georgie explained weakly.
"You don't need witness protection for eighth graders," Jackson spat. I've never seen him so worked up before; he must feel as frustrated as I do, and probably confused too because he never dealt with Bill and his tricks before. It's okay though; I can be the one in charge.
"I don't think it's witness protection either." The only crimes Bill would have witnessed would be his own.
"Then what do you propose?" Jackson asked. Proposal... I wish he would propose something to me. "Something supernatural!?"
Well, I can't reall tell him I think Bill is actually a dream demon by the same name; he'd never believe me! Think, think, think...
Aha! "No, it's just that a witness wouldn't blow his cover by doing something suspicious like what Bill is doing. It's something else, maybe something related to drugs or organized crime? We won't find out until we search more, though."
A perfect argument to sound sane and reasonable. Well done, Mabel! Jackson can't shun you now!
But wait, this would mean the meeting was over now! Aw, but I wanted to hang out with Jackson some more. How could I make this meeting last longer?
Yes, the things that happened yesterday. Well, minus the creepy sleep thing. But, do I really want to expose my family's drama? All Dipper's exceptional current weirdness and issues to people he doesn't know? Eh, it'll be fine. Besides, Dipper will forgive me.
"Bill slept over last night. Said something about his dad being dead and his mom being sick or something, and my parents ate it all up."
I mentioned how the day before Dipper was in big trouble with Mom and Dad for staying out late with Bill. When Jackson asked for extra details, how could I resist? What harm could it do? And, anyway, Dipper was the one in the wrong for choosing to hang out with Bill instead of going home to be with his family and his sister.
As Jackson was going to open his luscious lips to spout some words of wisdom, Ally popped through the door.
"Guys, you cannot believe what I just found!" She came over to our little group and put some pictures upside down on the table. We huddled around them.
"I found these in our science teacher's desk. I honestly feel as though I'm going to throw up. I kinda figured he was a creep, but I didn't think he was... God... I'm kinda scared, Mabel. We gotta tell the police or the school board or something."
Jackson bit his lip. "But how, Ally? If we present these photos to the police, they won't believe us; for all they know, we could've took these to try to get him fired. And even if you did tell them, you'd get in trouble for snooping around his desk."
This wasn't exactly what I intended for this group to do, but hey, it gets me more time with Jackson. And we get rid of a criminal, like Duck-tective. I can't complain.
"How about you just put them on the floor and make it look like they just fell out? They're doing that teacher evaluation thing for your class today, right? They always start with the science teachers. If you go now, you won't get caught."
Nice idea, Georgie! Wish I thought of it. Then, Jackson would have to be impressed with me. Oh well, maybe next time.
Ally left at the speed of light, photos in hand. I consider that side quest solved. As leader, I should congratulate my team on a job well done after the guy gets caught. Boost morale, like Dipper talked about when he was playing his nerdy dice game.
But still, how did Ally think to check that pervert's desk anyways.
Eh, it probably wasn't important.
