Nobody Forgets Bill Cipher

A Surprise

     I walk home in the waning light of the day, an uncuttable chain hanging around my neck. It's a genius work of technology, really. A tracking device, huh? I couldn't have done better myself.
I check my watch: 7:55. I said I'd take the late evening shift at Yumberjacks tonight from 8-11. And I should definitely keep my word if I'm going to keep this job.
I practically run all the way to the establishment. Thankfully, I did bring my uniform with me when I went to meet with Sil. I open the back door of the fast food restaurant and I'm greeted by my coworker.
"Hiya, Bill," Nessie greets me, a smile on her face. How she's so happy to be working for minimum wage and being a high school student like me, I'll never understand.
"Hey, Nessie," I return, fastening my name pin. "How's tonight going?" Her shift ends an hour before me, but she always starts an hour earlier.
"Busy, as always," she responds. "I'm on break right now." Nessie is the only coworker I appreciate. All of the other people I work with are nasty and unpleasant. "I'm glad you showed up," she grins. "Thomas seems even more ticked off today than usual. Now I'll at least have one person working the register next to me that I can actually appreciate."
The manager must have heard my voice. Her annoying voice sounds from the back kitchen. "Bill! You're on register two! Don't screw up!" I scowl. Man, do I hate her. Just because I messed up on an order once does not mean I'll screw up every time.
Nessie laughs after seeing the disgusted look of anger on my face. "Don't let Jen get to you," she pats my shoulder reassuringly. "All worst jobs in the world have to have a worst manager in the world, right?" We both laugh.
"Nessie, I heard that!" Jen storms up behind us, fuming. "Now get back to work, both of you! I can still hire and fire around here you know."
"Yes ma'am," we respond in unison. I can't lose this job, even if it is the worst one in the world.
     So I spend my next few hours working the register. I have fair share of both pleasant and annoying customers. One woman ordered a Whopper and her daughter ordered a Big Mac. As I corrected them, slightly annoyed at their incompetence for not reading our menu, Jen yelled at me for my matter-of-fact tone, then apologized to them for my 'awful' behavior. I despise this place, but it pays, and that's all that matters.
When my shift is over, I say a hasty farewell to the workers beginning the night shift. I'm finally able to leave this grease-ridden building.
     I open the door at home to find Melody sitting with Rosanna in her arms, sleeping soundly. "You're still awake?" I ask her. She's always asleep by now.
     "Yeah," she responds with a yawn. "Rosanna was having trouble falling asleep. You weren't here, so I took night duty tonight," she adds in a hushed tone.
     "Oh, I'm sorry," I tell her, feeling a little guilt for not doing one of the only things I was asked to do in exchange for living with the Ramirezes. "I can take over now if you want."
     "No, but thanks. She's finally asleep now. I'm sure I can put her down without any trouble," Melody assures me kindly, standing up. "You should go get some rest, Bill. You look really tired."
     "Mind if I shower first?" I ask, trying to wipe away the last of the grease in my hair.
     "Go ahead. Good night," she tells me softly, making her way upstairs, being careful not to wake the baby. I go up to my own room and turn on my cell phone: 4 missed texts. All of them are from Yule, sent three hours ago. Wait, scratch that. One is from Mabel. Both of them are asking about what happened (though Yule is a bit more frantic). I decide to do a group video chat between us all.
I add them both to a chat and wait for them to pick up. Contrary to the tones of the texts, Mabel is actually the first join the call, though Yule joins only seconds later.
"Bill!" they both exclaim in unison. Actually, all three of them. Dipper's just taken a seat next to Mabel.
"Hey, guys," I answer, as if everything's fine.
"Dude, what happened?" Dipper asks. "You know we're dying to know!" Dipper holds a journal of his own in his hands, pen at the ready.
     "Hey, hey," I warn him, shaking my hands. "Don't write anything down, or tell anyone. Whatever I tell you has to be kept secret, you hear?"
     "Tell us everything, Bill!" Yule exclaims urgently. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I proceed to tell them about my meet up with Sil, and everything she informed me about the Society of the All-Seeing.
     When I finish, nobody speaks. After a few moments of silence, Mabel finally says something. "And... so, the tracking device is around your neck right now?"
     I pull on the chain, showing it to them. "Sure is."
     "You're not suspicious of this group at all?" Dipper asks, looking unsure himself.
     "I was," I admit. "I let Sil know of my suspicions, but she assured me that if she intended to kill me, she would have done so as soon as we met."
     "And you trust her?" Yule asks, looking worried.
     "Enough to wear this tracking device, yes."
     "You're insane, Bill," Mabel tells me, but I know she trusts me to make the right decisions. If I trust Sil, she does too.
     I smile. "I know." Dipper rolls his eyes.
"Oh gosh, Bill, I sure hope you know what you're doing," Yule notes, though he looks more relaxed than before.
"Well, we'll be back in Gravity Falls in only a couple weeks," Mabel reminds me. "We can probably help you more then. Also, we have a surprise for you!"
"We do?" Yule asks, just as confused as I am.
"Shh!" Mabel shushes him. "I'll call you about it, okay?"
"Well now I'm interested," I tell her, intrigued. Mabel begins giggling and frantically waving at her brother and Yule not to say anything more.
"We'll call you later! Bye!" Both sides hang up on me at once. A surprise, huh?
Like I haven't had enough of those lately.