The AfterLife [ON HOLD]

17

MABEL

Late lunch came and went, then all of a sudden it was dinner.

Candy and Grenda went home a few hours ago, said  their parents wouldn’t let them sleep over because it’s a school night, or whatever. Bummer, the time for school ruins everything, including exciting plans, like wanting to stay up watching movies with Dipper.

Stan of course was OK with it, but Grunkle Ford shook his head. I was about to say we were gonna wake up super early, but even Dipper said no.

I kind of understand, because not only does Dipper take school pretty seriously, he wouldn’t let me do something stupid like what I suggested. But still, I wasn’t budging to let it go so easily.

This semester wasn’t going to be boring.

“So how have you guys been?” Grunkle Stan asked.

Dipper shrugged.

“We’ve been OK,” I answered. “The past school year’s been pretty rough, but other than that, we’ve been holding up well by ourselves.”

“Rough, as in…?” Ford questioned.

“Oh, we were bullied a lot, but we’re glad to be away from all that.”

“And the teachers didn’t do anything about that?”

“No.”

“Why? They’re teachers. They should act like they have some sort of authority in their position. I mean, they were told! They have the audacity to ignore such a complaint?”

He looked at us.

I played with the hem of my sleeve, avoiding eye-contact.

Dipper did the same by looking down.

“You did tell them you were having trouble… right?” Stan asked.

“Um… maybe?” I smiled.

“You’re joking, right kids?”

“Nope.”

“Ugh. See, there’s the problem,” Ford said. “Why didn’t you tell anyo—?”

“I mean come on Grunkle Ford, they were big and strong and mean and they could do whatever they wanted with us because they knew we were small and just kids, and we couldn’t fight back. They pinned us to walls and punched us in the guts—”

“Whoa whoa, hold up. I’m all for violence, but they punched a girl?” Stan fumed.

“YES! ME! I don’t know what we did to them, but it was pretty clear they were jerks with no purpose in life. Or a heart.”

“Preach,” Dipper added.

“Well then,” Ford said. “Guess you’re glad you’re not going there for a while.”

“Oh, we so are. Hey, Gravity Falls High is opening tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, and you’ll immediately enroll in your chosen classes.”

“We get to CHOOSE?!"

“Well, yeah, I think.”

“THAT IS SO COOL!” I screamed. “I’M GOING TO PICK LIKE, 2 SUBJECTS AND BE DONE WITH LIFE!”

Ford laughed. “Not sure that’s how it works, Mabel.”

“Forget about the subjects,” Stan intervened. “The good news is, Wendy is going there as well, so you can go to her for any help you need, as well as her friends, and didn’t you say that Candy and Grenda were going there as well?”