The Beginning: Starting Anew (Gravity Falls Fanfic)

Chapter 18

Bill's POV

I started to realize that this whole befriending thing was going to be a lot easier than I expected. I was perfectly joyous at that fact. I raced into the field with Pine Tree following after me and I glanced over my shoulder to see Shooting Star watching us in utter awe and amazement.

I was going to fool everybody again. I was definitely the master of manipulation. "You're it!" I called to Pine Tree, smiling.

Pine Tree glanced at Shooting Star and nodded at me, before bursting off after me.

I laughed and darted away across the field, drawing farther away from Pine Tree.

He quickly gained speed - being in soccer - he started to close the gap between us. I snapped my fingers, powering strength in my legs as I took off running.

"Whoa!" I heard Pine Tree gasp and I laughed at him.

I skidded to a halt and turned around taunting him to come at me.

He stopped too, taking a minute to catch his breath. "Y-you're f-fast." He gasped.

I chuckled and ran a hand through my hair. "I know, right."

Pine Tree smirked and launched himself forward and I lurched away from him and stumbled backwards before whipping around and bursting off running.

I never thought that a simple fun moment could change a person's entire opinion on someone. Especially an opinion about me. I turned around and ran backwards and waved at him, sticking my tongue out.

I turned back around, laughing and running, and not out of breath.

In the distance, Shooting Star stood at the edge of the park watching us, completely dumbfounded. I ran up to a single tree at the edge of the field and leapt up at one of the branches and swung up on it and held on.

"H-hey! N...." Pine Tree ran up, his breathing ragged. "No...no climbing."

I smirked at him. "Out of breath, Pine Tree?"

He dropped to his knees. "One...one second. Let me catch my breath. Please."

I laughed and sat on the branch, letting my legs dangle off. I snuck a glance up at Shooting Star who was examining Pine Tree from a far, confused. Oh yeah. I was tricking them all, and it was working. "Yah ready, Pine Tree?"

He stood up on his feet again and took a deep breath. "Sure."

I steadied myself up on the branch and leapt down and stumbled for only a moment, but not long enough for him to catch me. I ran off immediately and I could hear his hard breathing grow fainter.

"Bill! Come-come on man!" He called.

I laughed and closed my eyes, breathing in deeply. This was fun, honestly. I smiled, but that lasted only a moment. My body slammed into another and I cried out, flipping over and landing on top of whoever I crashed into.

"OW!" The person cried.

I was dazed for a moment when I blinked. How did Pine Tree get in front of me?! I got up and recoiled when I saw Arrow lying on the ground with papers and books scattered all over the place. I scrambled backwards and realized that I was on cement now and I was under neath a shaded area, by a table.

"Hey! Watch where you're-" Arrow's eyes widening. "W-what are you doing here? A-are you following me?"

"No! I-"

"Tag! You're it!" Pine Tree slammed into me and I slipped onto the table as Pine Tree held me in place. He smirked at me. "Take that." He looked over at Arrow. "Hi- ELLA!" He leapt away from me, his face bright pink. "W-what are you doing here?"

Arrow's eyes darted from me to Pine Tree. "I was here doing summer school work..."

There was a long heavy silence.

"What are you doing here?" She asked me fearfully.

"I'm here with, Pine Tree, I swear." I said quickly.

Arrow looked to Pine Tree, confused and concerned. "Why are you playing tag with him? I thought you hated him?"

"I do! It's just, we are pretending to be friends to make Mabel happy..." Pine Tree looked flustered and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I didn't know you'd be here too."

Arrow gathered up her papers and books and stuffed them on her bag. "Well, I'll find somewhere else to work." She hugged Pine Tree quickly and jogged off.

"Wait!" I exclaimed and ran up to her.

She turned around, brushing her brown hair back. "What?"

"I'm sorry for running you over. I wasn't paying attention."

"It's fine, Bill."

"I'm trying to be friends with these people, can't you be friends with me too?" I asked hopefully and I wanted to take her hand.

"I don't know, Bill." She glanced over at Pine Tree who was standing awkwardly by himself, sitting on the bench with his eyes closed. "I gotta go. Bye."

I let her walk away and sighed. Of course she had to be here and ruin everything. I turned around and jogged up to Pine Tree and sat beside him. "Sorry about that." I apologized.

"It's....it's fine. This fake friendship is stupid." He growled and buried his head in his hands.

I flinched. He sounded so much like Ford when he said that. "What?! No! Come on! That was actually, uh, fun!"

Pine Tree looked up at me, his brown eyes angry and confused. "Bill! Don't you understand that this is weird! I-I hate you! Don't you understand that?! I'm doing this for Mabel." He clenched his hands into fists. "Not for you."

I flinched away, studying him. "I thought that you were actually becoming my friend." Disappointment and anger fled through me. I thought my plan was working.

"We are faking the friendship, Bill, we made that deal. But I think it's stupid. A couple minutes of fun and then we ran into Eleanor and now she's confused 'cause I was putting an act on for my sister. Well, I don't think it's going to work."

I grabbed his arm before he could walk away. "No! Come on! Friends are better than enemies!"

"And what would you know about that?"

I tensed up, my grip on his arm tightening. "I- Pine Tree-"

"It's Dipper. Nicknames are for friends." With that, he yanked his arm back and stormed off.

I dropped my arm and tugged at the hem of my shirt. Kay, maybe I was wrong about this being easy...