The Summer After ||Billdip||

Chapter six

Before I could say anything I woke up.  I shot up, confused by what just happened and confused about the group of people downstairs who were now calling my name.

My heart started racing as I fixed my hair and ran downstairs.

Mabel stood in the corner of the living room with a smirk on her face.  Ford and Stan were waiting for me, standing up almost in the doorway to the living room.  Soos looked down at the floor and Wendy looked sad.  I felt my throat tighten.

"What?"

"Mabel just told us some very...interesting...information about you."  Ford began.  I felt my heart drop, then anger at the look of her face.

"You son-of-a-bitch Mabel!"  I yelled at her.  Stan held me back so I couldn't even get anywhere close to her.

"Your real name is Madison?"  Ford asked me.  I felt like I was in a bad dream.  I didn't cry though, it would only make Mabel more proud of what she's done to me.

"Technically it's not since I got it legally changed."  I laughed.  It wasn't really funny, it was actually really stupid.  So I'm different, sure, but what does that have to do with anyone here?

"I was just trying to have fun with her and my friends and I thought we were all having a good time, she looked pretty in the makeup and she seemed happy, and then out of no where she just started flipping out!"  Mabel explained what happened last night.

I scoff, Stan still holding me back I yell back at her, "oh please.  You knew exactly what you were doing.  And even if that's what happened, I have every right to be mad at you right now."  I felt dizzy and numb.

"So what's your legal name now dude?"  Wendy asked me.  I saw Ford roll his eyes which scared me.

"Mason."  I replied quietly.

"So why do people call you Dipper?"  Stan asked while still holding my arms behind my back.

"After I came out at school not a lot of people were supportive,"  I began, shooting a look at Ford.  I took a deep breath, "Mabel came up with the nickname Dipper because of my forehead.  The nickname caught on and in the matter of a few weeks everyone was calling me Dipper since it was a nickname, it wasn't a girl or boy name so no one cared.  No one called me Mason or Madison anymore."  I explained quickly.

"You lied to us, how can we even trust you?"  Ford demanded.

"Trust me?!"  I broke out of Stan's grasp and shoved Ford, "None of you would be here without me!"  I yelled at him, "I've done everything for you guys.  I've given up so many opportunities and made myself unhappy for so many years just to make other people happy and protect other people.  You wanna talk about trust?  Seriously?!  What about trusting the person who goes around spilling private information?  No, you can trust her because she's normal.  Forget it.  It's my fault.  But just know that if you can't trust me and if you're all going to be a bitch to me, I'm not protecting you all anymore."  I snap at them.

"What is that supposed to mean?!"  Ford yelled in my face.

"It mean's that I'm not helping you all this time.  If Bill comes back you all can fight him on your own.  Have fun fighting him, coming up with a plan, and protecting yourselves."  I snap and storm out of the room.

I heard Ford yell at me a few more time's before I slammed the attic door shut.

I fell onto my bed and I few tears fell.  It felt like in the matter of hours my whole world kept crashing down.  It felt like a heartbreak to know that nothing would ever be the same now.

And what hurt most of all is that it all happened because of the one person I thought I could trust.

I've realized that everything Ford had ever said to me was useless.  He was usually wrong when I came to real life situations and he was wrong in judgment of people.  But he was right about one thing.

Trust no one.

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Word Count: 722
Date Published: 5/7/23