Home [Gravity Falls AU](DISCONTINUED)

School

Dipper sat alone, like usual, on the bus. He watched the houses and streets pass his window as the bus made its way to the next stop. This bus picked up two stops of elementary schoolers, one stop of middle schoolers, and three stops of high schoolers. Dipper knew this because he had always counted the stops and which students were which at each stop. He lost his interest in conspiracy theories, but he never lost his interests in other subjects, like math. Usually, Dipper counted the stops after his own, which was the first stop on the bus and the last to get off the bus at the end of the day. Nobody paid him any attention as they got on, chatting with their friends they hadn't seen in three months or playing on their phones. The bus got crowded enough to the point where people sat three to a seat, but nobody dared sit next to Dipper Pines. Everyone thought he was crazy, not right in the head. Well, he wasn't right in the head sometimes, but that didn't mean he wasn't normal other times.

The bus bumped over some train tracks, and Dipper found himself at school a lot sooner than he thought. He got to his feet like every other high schooler did as each seat filed out. Dipper pulled his phone out and checked the time. Almost 7:15. School usually began at 7:30, which gave him time to find somewhere secluded to sit for lunch. He changed where he sat every day to stay out of danger. As soon as he got off the bus, he headed towards the front entrance. Dipper pulled his hood over his head and kept his head down to get through the crowds undetected by his peers. He heard Mabel's voice drift over the crowd as she chatted with her gaggle of friends. Her group usually clogged up the entrance to the school. Dipper nimbly weaved his way through the crowd and his sister's friend group to get inside the school doors. He speed walked forward to break away from the crowd and started searching for a place for lunch.

He usually did this every morning. Find somewhere new to hide out for lunch. He walked down some hallways to see if he could find a narrow nook that he could fit into comfortably. Or maybe an empty closet or classroom. He checked each door to see what he could find as he walked.

"Hey!"

Dipper stopped. He was the only person in this hallway, so he assumed the person calling was calling for him. He slowly turned around. Will was running down the hallway, waving to him. Dipper's heart rate immediately started to quicken. Why was he following him? He seemed to be the only person in this whole school who would talk to him, but why? He wasn't that interesting, was he? Except for the whole maniac thing. Maybe Will was following him because of that.

Will soon caught up and stopped to catch his breath. "Jeez, you move fast!" He said, laughing airily as he caught his breath. "I was hoping I would catch you before I lost you again. I never actually caught what your name was." Will chuckled.

Dipper looked a bit stunned. "Uh...it's Mason." He responded. He normally told new people this was his name. He'd lost confidence in his nickname a long time ago.

"Mason? Are you sure?" Will said. He was giving Dipper a questioning gaze. That was a bit strange, no one had questioned his name before.

"It's my name, so yeah, duh." Dipper gave Will what he hoped was a convincing I-was-obvious look.

"I don't feel like it's, y'know, you though." Will said. He studied Dipper for a bit. "You got any nicknames?" He asked, giving Dipper an inquisitive look.

"I do, but it's a dumb nickname that I hate." Dipper lied. He never hated the nickname Dipper, he just stopped being called it.

"Well, could you tell me?" Will asked, giving Dipper puppy-dog eyes. Dipper felt his face heat up when Will looked at him like that.

"Um..." Dipper bit his lip. "Dipper. It's Dipper." He said quickly. It was like a bandaid, you just had to rip it off. He rubbed his wrist nervously.