"Um, I'm not entirely sure if that's legal here." Dipper said, his eyes on a book full of pictures of dozens of cats in different positions being shown to him by none other then Lazy Susan. "Isn't there a limit on the number of pets you can own?"
"Well, yes, but...you can keep this between us, right?" Lazy Susan asked. "Wink. Haha! Here's Mr. Catface with his tail caught in the pantry. And here's Mr. Catface after going to the ER to get his tail fixed after it got caught in the pantry..."
It's official; I'm going to fail this assignment, Dipper thought with a sigh, before changing his course of thought. Well...maybe that's a good thing. Gideon doesn't deserve the points.
After a couple more minutes of one-sided cat-fawning, Dipper thanked Lazy Susan for nothing. Well, that was what he said in his head. Out loud, he thanked her for her useful information. She nodded and smiled at him as he exited the diner, with the only note he had taken being "Cat lady."
"So, Dipper, how goes the project for History class?" Mabel asked. "I got paired with this really dorky kid, and we're supposed to interview that news reporter guy - it's hard to get much out of him, though. He kept going on and on about his bird-watching club and some lady named Carla."
"Well, I got Lazy Susan, who showed me a lot of pictures of her cats and not much else." Dipper said, with a sigh. "I think I'm just gonna take an F on the project."
"An F?!" Mabel repeated in shock. "Dipper, you've never gotten an F before in your life! You can't go down that path; it's a slippery slope, you get an F on one project, then this happens, then that happens, then you DIE!"
"I don't think I'm going to die, Mabel." Dipper replied with a chuckle. "I got paired up with Gideon, and he's making me do all of the work or else he'll probably do something terrible."
"You mean he threatened you? I thought Gideon was turning over a new leaf and all that junk."
"Well, he was, but he decided after this morning to, in his exact words, 'show us no mercy'."
"Aw, donkey spittle." Mabel grumbled. Well then, you don't want to make him more angry by getting him an F by doing a crummy project, do you? That seems like it'd be worse..."
"Dang, you've got a point there." Dipper stated, before groaning in frustration and placing his hand on his head. "I just don't know what to do."
"Well, I'm not gonna let you screw up your own grades because of that expired candy bar Gideon." Mabel said, giving a smile to her brother in an attempt to cheer him up. "But it doesn't seem like Lazy Susan gave you much...oh! I know! How about you change her stories about her cats to the time she saw a giant cat monster in Gravity Falls?"
"Mabel, that's ridiculous."
"Yeah, but McGucket would believe it. Or how about-"
"Look," Dipper started, "thanks for trying to help, Mabel, but I think I can figure out what to do on my own here."
Dipper had no idea what to do on his own.
On one hand, he valued his own grades. On the other hand, Gideon was also going to be taking his grade.
And Gideon said that Dipper had to do the project on his own; he didn't say anything about him doing it well. Still, he wasn't sure if he should be testing Gideon.
Why am I scared of Gideon anyways? Dipper thought, tossing and turning in his bed and waiting for the morning alarm to go off. What can he honestly do?
His mind, of course, drifted to horrific places as to what Gideon could do, but Dipper decided to push that aside as his alarm got off and he prepared for the incoming school day.
The Paranormal Club was going to be meeting again after school; at least Dipper didn't have to worry about Gideon there...
"Get the hell away from our club, you demented pipsqueak!" Pearl shrieked at the top of her lungs, holding the door to the Paranormal Club shut with her body as best as she could. "Someone get me a chair!"
"You can't do this." Gideon stated through the door, still trying to push his way in. "The school has a strict no-discrimination policy, and if you don't let me in, I could get the club shut down. How does that sound?""Absolutely not!"
"You're full of it!"
"Am I?"
"Well, no, probably not, but..." Pearl sighed. "This is a club for a special type of people, okay, Gideon? You wouldn't really fit in here."
"Oh, I know that already." Gideon replied to Pearl. "Everyone in the club has parents who have mysteriously disappeared, right?"
Pearl suddenly froze - but still kept herself pressed against the door as she questioned Gideon. "How did you know that?"
"I have my ways. And if you let me in, there is some very useful information I can give you that will make it worth your while."
"Don't let him in!" Candy shouted to Pearl. "He's messing with you!"
"Yeah, how do we know we can trust you, Gideon?!" Dipper questioned loudly.
"You don't." Gideon said. "But sometimes in life you've just gotta trust what's best for you."
Pearl looked at her fellow group members with her hand on the doorknob, waiting for a final verdict.
"I...seriously don't know." Violet stated, looking at the ground in defeat. Tommy nodded and made a little peep of agreement - perhaps the only time Dipper had seen the two agree on something. (Then again, he hadn't known them for that long.)
Reluctantly, Pearl pulled her body off of the door and slowly turned the doorknob to let the boy in. "You've got five minutes, Gleeful. This had better be good."
A/N: And as such concludes chapter diez. i know it's a short chapter, but I've got some bad news; I'm actually in the hospital right now for a variety of reasons that I don't want to get into. My energy levels are slowly improving and I hope to be out by early this upcoming week, but if you all out there could keep me in your thoughts and prayers, that would be nice.
Also, as usual, if you liked this chapter, give it an R&R and it'd really make my day. See you all next time!
