Never Trust Your Demons

25

I hang out with Wendy and her friends the next week or so, seeing as she had no work and I had no desire to stay in the shack all day. I know they all don't remember what I did, but... I still do.
"Cy" has been there too, and I'm pretty sure everyone-especially my cousins-seem to notice that I have feelings towards him. Though no one can quite read him. Of course they can't, he's Bill! Dipper, I think, has discovered the fun in teasing others about their crushes when it's not a ridiculous hey-this-guy-looks-cute-this-week-let's-obsess-over-him crush. I let him have his fun. I mean, Mabel and I gave him enough of that with Wendy, so it's only fair.
On this particular day, there's no Mabel and Dipper with us. Dipper got a new math/fantasy game he's been playing nearly non-stop with Ford, and Mabel is looking forward to the Ducktective season finale.
After meeting up at Gravity Malls, we try to decide what we actually want to do.
"We could head to that abandoned convenience store, Dusk 2 Dawn," I suggest, trying to ignore Cy, currently leaning on my shoulder. "I hear it's haunted an-"
"No!" Thompson exclaims. "Let's not! I have no intention of getting trapped in a dance game again!"
"Okaayy..." The others seem to agree with Thompson. Huh. What are they so afraid of? I mean, yes it is likely it's haunted in this town, but how bad could it be?
"Ugh, just standing here is so boring!" Robbie complains. "But I can't think on an empty stomach!"
"Great idea! Let's go get some chow!" Wendy decides. That actually sounds great, especially compared to just standing around. I lag behind a bit as we head to the food court, and Bill unexpectedly puts an arm around my shoulders, mimicking Robbie and Tambry's couple hug walk.
"...What are you doing?" I glance up at him. He doesn't answer, but just grins down at me. I shrug his arm off.
"Hey wait, what's this?" Robbie stops us, pulling a flyer off the wall.
"Ugh," Wendy groans. "This thing," She pulls the flyer away from him. I can now clearly see it's announcing an annual dance of some sort at the high school.
"What do you mean 'ugh'?" Lee asks. "You liked the ones before freshman and sophomore year."
"I've developed an aversion to that building," Wendy scoffs.
"Oh, c'mon, Red," "Cy" says. "A dance isn't gonna be like detention or whatever."
"Yeah, remember last year?" Nate laughs.
"Wait, what happened last year?" Judging by their smiles when it was brought up, I definitely want to know.
"Well, near the end," Wendy smiles. "They do this thing where they drop balloons and confetti and stuff from the ceiling." I suppress a shudder. I have never liked confetti. It gets everywhere and, often, sticks to everything.
"We volunteered to um... 'help' with that."
"Wendy had the brilliant idea to replace the regular balloons with-wait for it-water balloons!" Nate continues.
"Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!" I laugh.
"How chaotic did that get?" Cy seems to be eager to do something like that for this year.
"Oh, it was great," Tambry doesn't look up from her phone. "I, like, got the whole thing on video."
"Fine, if we do something like that," Wendy is a bit more enthusiastic about this than before. "I'm in."
"Not the exact same thing though," Robbie says.
"Pft, of course not," I agree. "We'd need something more original, like replacing the confetti or something."
"Or rigging a disco ball to explode into fireworks."
There's a silence, at least among us, as we state at Cy, me in shock, everyone else in awe. Tambry even looks up from her phone.
"Or... could we maybe do something not quite so... dangerous?" Thompson suggests.
"Lame, Thompson!" Lee tells him.
"That's the best idea ever!" Nate exclaims.
"With a good chance of burning down the school," Wendy grins.
"That... actually sounds satisfying," A smile grows across my face. "I'm pretty sure Stan's still got a bunch of fireworks left."
"Should be easy enough to pull off," We all agree with Robbie. Then there's a growling sound and we look back to him.
"Sorry. Still got an empty stomach."

Later that day, it's just me and Wendy. Thompson had chores and summer homework, Lee and Nate were going to go see how easy getting the disco ball would be, Tambry and Robbie went on a date with just the two of them, and Bill went to... go do whatever it is inter-dimensional demons do in their spare time.
Anyways, Wendy and I are hanging around at the arcade, Wendy teaching me how to play some sort of shooting game. I'm getting the hang of this. I'm about to beat the high score (hers) when she asks the question.
"So when did you stop wanting to pop Cy's head off his shoulders?" Wendy asks out of the blue.
"What?" I push my hat up and aim for the target. If I hit anywhere on it, I'll beat her score. I could practically win this with my eyes closed.
"Cy. During the Woodstick festival, it looked like you wanted the daggers you were glaring at him to be literal," She laughs as I'm about to pull the trigger. "Now it looks like you two... I dunno, like each other." My eyes widen as I pull my finger back. The bullet goes way off the target, shooting some electronic guy in the background. The words "Game Over" flash across the screen in blue letters as the high scores appear, a blank space just under "WBC," Wendy's initials, and her satisfied smile reflected on the screen.
I give a short laugh as I enter in "CON." "I don't think so."
"I'm not really one to talk about stuff like this, but have you seen the look he gives you when you're not looking? And vice versa."
"I... uh..." There is no way he likes me like that. I mean, he must not hate me, but there's no way he likes me... I'm just a clingy, annoying human who's curious about everything he does. Which sounds just a tad creepy. "Okay, fine. I like him. There's no way the feeling's mutual," I put the gun back. "Let's play something else," I walk away.
"But how'd it change that fast?" Wendy persists.
"I... sort of knew him before and I talked to him after and... I don't know," Yeah, sorry I can't tell you he's a demon I met when I first arrived and I sort of worked things out with him between then and about a week ago.
"Well, in any case, with the dance, we'll soon know if he's into you. He seems like the kind of guy who isn't afraid to ask someone out."
"Oh yeah? Then why hasn't he done that yet?" I push a quarter into Fight Fighters, Wendy joining me as player two
She shrugs. "I dunno. Maybe he was just waiting for the right moment."
The fight begins.
"Can we not talk about guys right now?" I ask. Whatever way he's appearing to like me, it's probably just another trick with his Cy persona. Bill fooled me one way, but he'll have a harder time tricking me the other way around.
She shrugs, already pummelling me as I'm distracted. I quickly fight back. "So some of my cousins just moved in."
"Cool," I nod.
"K.C. especially is excited for the dance," She rolls her eyes as if she despised the thought of said person.
"There's a guy at my school named K.C.," I smile. "Hearing his nose crack was satisfying."
"Dude, that's awesome! You think you could do the same with my cousin?" She asks. "Yes!" She pumps her fist victoriously as she wins round one. "I mean, he's pretty cool, but can be a jerk sometimes. He's planning on joining us tomorrow."
Round two starts, and this time, there's more of a challenge for Wendy, see as I'm actually prepared this time.
There's less conversation now, and more of just banter.
I eventually win.
"Yes! Round three!" I cheer.
"Tiebreaker," Wendy grins. "You're going down!"
"In your dreams!"