Nobody Forgets Bill Cipher

Even Close To Ready

"Wake up, wake up!" I'm awaken this morning by excited shrieks and my shoulders being shaken vigorously.
"Stop that," I grumble, pushing the hands off of me. "Just let me sleep," I add, turning away, tucking myself deeper under my bedsheets.
     "Dummy!" I receive a sharp blow to the back of my head. "It's Summerween!"
     "Summerween?" I yawn, still giving into my body's call of staying in bed for a bit longer. "That's stupid. Just wait for Halloween. I'll be in bed..." I drone off, falling again into the precious lull of sleep.
     "No!" Mabel counters, grabbing my wrist, trying to pull me out of bed (to no avail). "You're going to miss the second best day of summer if you stay asleep!"
"Second best?" I groan, rolling out of bed. "And what's the first?" I ask, stretching my arms above my head.
"The 31 of August, of course!" she beams, then walks to the door. Before she exits, she turns and reminds me, "We're leaving for the Superstore at ten. Don't be late!" Then she leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.
The cot across from my bed is empty, meaning that Dipper must already be up and downstairs with the rest of his family.
     Before I begin to get ready for my day, I call Yule. As to the fact that he never sleeps in, he picks up immediately. "What's up?" his voice sounds from the end of the line, his morning self chipper as always.
     "Want to come to the Summerween Superstore with us at ten?" I mumble, still rubbing sleep out of my eyes.
     "Uh, yeah!" he answers at once. "I'll be over at 9:45. Good?"
     "Good," I reply, hoping that some of his morning peppiness might rub off on me. I hang up and fully heave myself up out of bed.
By the time I'm ready, it's close to 9:40. When I get downstairs, everybody is already brainstorming costume ideas.
"Ooh, what about Bonnie and Clyde?" Mabel shakes her brother's arm.
"Well, it's a lot better than Yule's suggestion yesterday of milk and cookies," Dipper laughs.
This causes me to laugh as well. "Hey," I reprimand him with an amused smile, "he tries."
"So what about you, Bill?" Mabel asks. "Have any ideas for yourself?"
"I don't really care," I reply, sitting at the kitchen table next to them. "You guys can pick whatever."
"What about that twisted forest cat costume Stan had you wear for the Shack last year?" Mabel asks me with a smirk. "I'm sure Stan still has it in the ba-"
     "No!" I counter immediately. "I take back what I just said. Absolutely not!"
     "Then I guess we can just go with whatever we find there," Yule's cheerful voice sounds from the back. He closes the unlocked door behind him and then joins us. "So, you guys ready to go?"
The rest of us agree and we head out to the Summerween Superstore.
Going to the Summerween Superstore with the Pineses (and friend) is quite a chaotic experience. Apart from ourselves the place is swarming with energetic children and frantic parents, so everything is a mess to begin with.
One fairly large child knocks into Yule, sending him flying against one of the storage shelves. Now, these shelves, as this isn't always a Summerween store, are stocked with cooking products. The one that Yule jars just happens to be stocked with damaged bags of flour.
Two of the torn bags fall over the edge, spilling over a stunned Yule. He yelps, the white dust now coating most of his hair, face, and shoulders.
Mabel, Dipper, and I laugh as Yule spits the powdery flour out of his mouth, only getting more of it on himself. He coughs and sputters, "Hey! Help me out here!"
"You look like a ghost, Yule!" Mabel laughs, attempting to brush some of the product out of his hair. All she manages to do, though, is spread it more.
"What a shame," Dipper smirks. "Why don't you just go as a ghost for Summerween? The look suits you," he remarks with a nod.
"Really?" Yule asks while trying to wipe flour from his eyes. "I guess it's not a bad idea."
     So we decide on Yule going as a ghost, Dipper and Mabel deciding on Bonnie and Clyde, and I going as the grim reaper (wasn't my choice, it was just literally the only decent costume in the entire store). Well, at least Yule and I kind of have matching costumes.
     Pacifica has invited us to her place along with many, many of her other friends to a Summerween party at her house (she may not have a mansion anymore, but trust me, their current house is still one of the biggest Gravity Falls has). Naturally, it's a fantastic party.
     Pacifica sure knows how to throw a party, and many people I know from school are also there. I get to know some kids better, and also force Yule to talk to Merrily, completely flustering him. Hey, what are best friends for?
     I stand a few feet away from the two of them, pretending to be picking at the spread of food on the table.
     "I, uh, like your costume," I hear Yule say to Merrily, who beams in return.
     "Oh, thanks!" she responds, twirling a complete 360. Her Cinderella gown swishes as she does so, the baby blue color bringing out the blue in her eyes. I can tell why Yule likes her so much. "Your costume is so cool too, Yule!" she adds, toying with her gloves. "How'd you get your skin to look so pasty?"
     Yule laughs and blushes. "Flour experimentation," he shrugs.
     "We should do more stuff like this, don't you think?" Merrily asks, twirling a strand of her brown hair between her fingertips. "I mean, school's kind of the worst, but I do miss hanging out with everyone, you know?"
     "Yeah, I get that," Yule answers with a gentle smile, definitely less tense than he was when he started the conversation. However, the two stand in awkward silence for a moment, both at a loss for what to say.
     The silence is broken when Merrily's friend Ivy approaches them, saying something about the dance floor.
     Merrily's eyes sparkle as she nods to Ivy and says to Yule, "Wanna join us? You know Thriller, right?"
     Yule, stunned at the invite for a second, stutters, "I- Yeah!" and goes off to join the girls and the other people on the dance floor.
     Yes. That's right. I am the master wingman.
     The night ends all too soon. Of course, all good things must come to an end, even exciting nights with awesome friends, great music, cool costumes, and delicious food to eat.
     The four of us who came together leave together, laughing as we discuss the fun events of the night.
     However, despite the fun I've had, that feeling in my chest has returned. That sense of impending doom is back, crushing upon me. I know we don't have much time left, if any, before the demons find a way into our world.
     When they do, will we be prepared enough? Will I be ready to protect my friends, whatever the cost? I'm afraid I won't have time to figure any of that out.
     Because if we aren't ready now, will we be even close to ready when it really counts?
     My chaotic dreams tonight are filled with disturbing thoughts of crazed demons.