Chapter 4: You're Stronger Than You Look
AN: Please excuse the Chemistry. I was a Health Science Major, we did Bio.
"Everyone's project proposal should be on my desk," Mr. Crawford announced to the class at 8:21am. Dipper glanced at Pacifica who nodded. "If it is not, it is as of now, late." As there was no shuffling or crying it was assumed everyone had turned their projects in on time.
"Acid and Bases. Can anyone tell me what is the difference?" The class was still all careful to avoid eye contact. "Did anyone do last night's reading?" He glanced around the room. "Mr. Pines, if you would be so kind as to tell us the difference between an acid and a base?" Mr. Crawford asked.
"An acid is a compound that, when dissolved in water breaks down to form a hydrogen ion, while bases break down to form hydroxide ions in water."
"And what are some other differences, Mr. Duncan?"
"Acids are sour, bases are bitter," the short black haired kid in front of Dipper responded.
"Correct, and since we won't be tasting the different compounds to figure out if they are bitter or not for safety reasons, what are some tests that can decipher the difference for us, Ms. Hernandez?" Mr. Crawford called to the red haired girl in the back corner.
"Um, with the litmus paper?" she guessed.
"Perfect. Which is what you will be using today. You have before you six mystery clear compounds, a small tray, tongs, and litmus paper. You will squeeze the compound into the tray then label if they are an acid or a base on the worksheet you should have printed out last night. Throughout the course of this year you will be performing several tests on these compounds and by the end of the year you will be able to correctly tell me what 1-6 are if you want to pass this class." There were murmurs of concern throughout the class. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get your aprons and goggles." He gestured to the class.
"You weren't kidding," Dipper said under his breath.
"About what?" Pacifica's brows were drawn together in confusion.
"He is a hardass," Dipper deadpanned. They shared a giggle before catching themselves and quickly busied themselves with their protective gear.
Dipper coughed. "So, we should, uh, start with number one."
"Yeah," Pacifica agreed. "I think we should label the tray, so we don't get confused." She held up a sharpie.
"Good," his voice squeaked. He cleared his throat speaking deeper, "I mean good."
Pacifica wrote out the numbers on both sides of the tray. Dipper raised a brow. "We should do it twice just to make sure," she defended.
"That's, uh, good thinking." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Thank you." She smiled to herself but turned to hide it from Dipper. "I'll just..." She indicated the prelab, lab, and post lab worksheet.
"Right. and I'll just..." Dipper poured three drops of mystery liquid one into the divots labeled one. He grabbed a tiny piece of litmus paper with the tongs, and making sure the tongs did not to touch the liquid, placed the paper in one of the compounds. It almost immediately turned blue.
"Mystery compound, trial one; base," Pacifica said aloud as she wrote it down. Dipper nodded. He then repeated the procedure with the second divot labeled one. It, too, almost immediately turned blue. "Confirmed base?"
Dipper nodded. They continued on with the other five compounds in a similar manner. When they were finished they glanced around and noticed they were the few who were.
They stared at each other awkwardly. Pacifica bit her lip before breaking the silence. "You're going to investigate aren't you?" Pacifica asked.
"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked.
"You know what I'm talking about. The," she glanced around the room, "the whole coma thing? You can't tell me that's not up your weird little alley."
"What? Me? Alley? I don't have an alley...I have a forest. Well, it's not technically mine. It's my Grunkle's. Well technically it's not his either. I mean technically it's Gravity Fall's forest. Which would-"
"Dipper, stop deflecting."
"Why do you even care, Pacifica?"
"Because now I know this thing can affect kids too. If it was just old people, that's different. I told you, if I'm in danger I want to know."
"It's probably a coincidence, Pacifica. Don't worry your fragile little brain about it."
She scowled. "You're-"
"The worst? I know. But coming from you, I'll take it as a compliment." Dipper smirked.
Pacifica punched his stomach causing Dipper to wheeze.
"You're stronger than you look," he managed to gasp out.
"And don't you forget it. I think this goes without saying, but you can clean this up." Pacifica spilled some of the compound on their table creating a mess.
"What? I am not-"
Pacifica raised her hand.
"Yes, Ms. Northwest?" Mr Crawford asked.
"Mr. Crawford, I'm not feeling too well, may I please be excused?"
"Of course, I'll write you a note." He rummaged through his desk procuring a note and signing it for her. She gave Dipper one last glare before walking out the door.
"Mr. Pines," Mr. Crawford exclaimed suddenly beside him, "what have you done to your desk! Clean this up immediately or you'll get 5% docked from your grade."
"Why didn't you text me guava?" Mabel asked Dipper outside by the science building.
"Because I was handling it."
"Getting punched in the stomach and then asked to stay after class doesn't seem like handling it."
"Mabel, there are more important things than Pacifica acting like a bit-witch," Dipper explained.
"Like?"
"Like finding out what's causing people to age rapidly!"
"Oh, that."
"Yes! That. Mabel, something out there is causing people to fall into a coma. What if next time it doesn't stop at that? We have to stop it before that happens," Dipper urged.
"Okay, okay. But you couldn't find anything in the journal," Mabel reasoned.
"That just means the author never encountered it."
"How are we supposed to figure out what did it without the journal's help?" Mabel asked.
"With some good, old fashioned investigating."
"Why does that sound like it's going to be boring?"
"It won't be. We'll go to the new crime scene and look around for clues. You said it happened at the park. You've seen that park. No one's cleaned it for years! We'd find-"
"A lot of gross, boring trash that would have nothing to do with what happened."
"When did you become the logical one?" Dipper asked.
"I just really don't want to 'investigate' garbage."
"Fine. We'll find a witness. Someone must have seen something." The bell rang indicating break was over.
"How are we supposed to find someone when we don't know who we're supposed to be looking for?" Mabel asked.
"I don't know, Mabel, but we can't just sit around and do nothing. Something big is going on and we have to figure out what it is."
"Who is that tall piece of man candy that's been sitting with you at lunch?" Dipper heard Grenda ask as he approached them outside of the girls locker rooms.
"Only the love of my life," Mabel replied dreamily.
"Mabel, code 24!" Dipper said promptly scaring Mabel.
"Sheesh, don't just sneak up on a girl, Dipper," Mabel said.
"Yeah, we're delicate creatures." Grenda nodded.
Dipper raised a brow but decided to say nothing. "Lunch?" He asked the girls.
"Lunch!" They replied. They made their way to their usual spot.
"Thanks for inviting me to your lunch guys." Grenda smiled.
"Of course, Grenda. You're our best friend!" Mabel exclaimed. Dipper grimaced at her but turned it to bite into his sandwich when Grenda looked at him to save him from having to say anything.
"Hey, Dipper, Mabel," Jonathan greeted. Dipper coughed on the sandwich lodged in his throat in way of greeting, Jonathan thumping him on the back helpfully.
"Jonathan, fancy meeting you here," Mabel gushed.
"Mabel," Dipper warned.
Jonathan laughed good naturedly and sat down. Grenda stared at Jonathan intensely. "So, who is your friend, Mabel?"
"This lovely lady is Grenda. Grenda, this hunka burnin love is Jonathan." Mabel introduced causing Dipper to groan and Jonathan to blush slightly.
"Well hello, Green Eyes." Grenda offered her hand. "Just remember I'm taken," she informed him, "so even though your wavy brown hair and tight butt are to die for, you mustn't fall for me."
"It'll be difficult to resist, but I'll try," Jonathan joked.
"Don't encourage them." Dipper shook his head at his friend.
Jonathan laughed. "I don't mind. I think they're funny"
"Yeah, Dipper, he doesn't mind, we're funny," Mabel teased.
Jonathan gave her a conspiratorial smile causing Mabel to giggle.
"So, what happened in Chemistry?" Jonathan turned towards Dipper.
"What? Nothing." When Jonathan didn't look convinced, Dipper added, "Just a small misunderstanding."
"That ends with you getting a fist to the gut?" Jonathan raised a disbelieving brow.
"You saw that, huh?"
"Yeah, looked like it hurt," Jonathan sympathized.
"She just caught me off guard."
Mabel opened her mouth to respond but Jonathan, taking pity on his new friend, changed the subject. "Did you all hear about Stacy Keegan?"
Mabel frowned. "No. Who is she?"
He leaned in whispering conspiratorially. "I heard she was held for questioning by the cops last night because of what happened to Kevin Schwartz."
"Kevin who?" Dipper asked.
"He was the football player who fell into a coma at the park," Jonathan explained.
"How did you know who it was? I thought they weren't releasing the name."
"I told you, it's a small town. Plus, I'm friends with the Quarterback, Aaron, and Kevin is his best friend," Jonathan admitted.
"What's Stacy have to do with it?" Dipper asked.
"From what Aaron said, she was the person he was meeting at the park. They think she was the last person to see him awake."
"Did she see what happened?" Mabel asked.
Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know. She wouldn't talk to Aaron about it and I didn't want to push him. He's pretty tore up about it. I think he went home early to go to the hospital."
"Do they know when he's going to wake up? Or how it happened?" Dipper pressed.
"They don't know on both accounts. The only person who might have some answers is Stacy and she's not talking."
"Is she here today?" Dipper asked looking around the cafeteria.
"No. She's absent. Probably didn't want people asking too many questions." Mabel gave Dipper a pointed look at Jonathan's words.
"Is she just a witness or is she a suspect?" Dipper asked.
"You can't honestly think a girl Stacy's size, who by the way is about the size of your sister, could put a football player the size of a brick house into a coma, do you?" Jonathan asked skeptically.
"You've obviously never seen Mabel angry. Plus, I've seen stranger things," Dipper joked but sent a meaningful glance towards his sister.
"Stranger than a little girl taking out a line backer?"
"You'd be surprised. So, what project did you decide for Chemistry?" Dipper asked trying to change the subject.
Jonathan looked for a moment like he wouldn't let Dipper get away with it but then he shrugged."We're doing one of the previous projects. The one with the pennies. See what year works the best for making the battery and what other coins work as well."
"Fascinating." Mabel smiled. Dipper stepped on her foot
"Just say you have to go to the bathroom," Dipper urged his twin.
"We can't both use that excuse, Dipping Sauce, that's way too obvious."
"I'll say something else. Just raise your hand."
"But you're terrible at lying," Mabel said.
"No, I'm not. Are you going to help me or not?" Dipper huffed.
Mabel rolled her eyes but raised her hand. "Mrs. Bumtruffle?"
Mrs. Bumtuffle looked up startled at having been interrupted from her powerpoint presentation.
"Uh, yes….Melanie?" she asked looking down her glasses.
"I have to go to the bathroom. Girl troubles," she informed in a mock whisper.
"Oh, yes, of course dear." The teacher waved a dismissive hand and then went back to her boring lecture. Mabel gave Dipper a thumbs up before grabbing her things and walking out of their English class.
Dipper waited the preplanned five minutes before he too raised his hand. "Mrs. Bumtruffle?"
The teacher looked up again looking around for the disturbance to her lesson.
"May I be excused. I don't feel well, I think I might-" Dipper gagged.
"Yes, yes, leave. Don't do that in my classroom! Take your things and see the nurse. I don't want you to come back to my class and get us all ill," she urged.
Dipper nodded miserably, gathered his things, and made his way out the door to a waiting Mabel.
"We could literally do anything we wanted right now, Dipper. We just skipped our first official class together and Grunkle Stan isn't expecting us for another hour. But no. We have to go to the Library to solve a mystery," Mabel complained to her twin,
"Oh come on, Mabel. Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Not in the library, that's for sure."
"Come on, we have no clue who this Stacy Keegan is! If we want to find her we have to know who exactly we're looking for. And aren't you the one always telling me a picture is worth a thousand words?" Dipper coaxed.
"Yeah?" Mabel eyed him skeptically.
"If we look up the school's old yearbook photos they might be able to tell us something about her. Where she likes to hang out, who her friends are…" He could see Mabel wasn't convinced. "I'll let you have the lamby lamb picture back?"
"I'm sold." Mabel took her brothers arm in hers and led him towards the library.
Dipper looked at the last years yearbook starting with the freshman. He was quickly speeding through it when Mabel squealed.
"Look! It's Jonathan! Oh, he looks so cute and young there."
"This was taken a year ago, Mabel."
"And boy has that year been kind." She elbowed Dipper in the side. "If you get what I'm saying."
"Mabel. Focus. We're looking for Stacy, not my friend."
"Alright, alright, but I don't think anyone would miss this if I just-" Mabel pulled out a pair of bubbly scissors and cut out Jonathan's face.
"Mabel, stop being creepy."
"A fish has got to swim and a bird has got to fly, Dipper. Let me fly!" She spread out her arms in mock wings.
Dipper shook his head at his sister's antics but continued his search for Stacy. He moved on to the Sophomores and quickly found her.
"I found her!" He pointed to a girl with long chestnut brown hair and bright grey eyes.