Author's Note: This story was from 2013 or 2014, I can't remember. But it's back, because I enjoyed the process of writing it. There WILL be changes that some of you who read this before will notice. I hope you still think it's good, though; whether you're a new or old reader.

If you're on the desktop site, I suggest you change the story width to either ¾ or ½. There are a lot of single sentence lines and it would be a drag to keep moving your eyes back and forth.

Dedicated to: my 14 year old self.

Coming Down! Neff's First Day!

In which Neff goes to a new high school and meets new people.

~x~

After being here for a few days, I don't know what to think about Elmore. My dad gets lost everywhere, even with GPS. Maybe it's broken or something. We haven't met a lot of people except the person we bought the house from. But then again, we'll never see them again. We're complete strangers to this new place.

Back in my hometown, we had it made. Financial stability, always going places, being a happy family. Unfortunately, my parents split up for a reason I have yet to know. I would hear them arguing over me all the time. They wouldn't tell me exactly what was wrong. These days, I'm never told anything anymore.

It took us thirty minutes to find the school, and I TOLD my dad that we needed to leave earlier so we'd have time to spare. But no. As a result, I'm fifteen minutes late on my first day at my new high school.

I don't have a problem with school. I do fine. Elmore High School has a clean campus, I noted, as I got out of the car and looked around. The sun was beating down on the tan concrete walls that stood intimidatingly. A banner hung high above the doors to the entrance, reading "Welcome Back, Mustangs!" Pristine windows revealed classrooms inside and some of the people in them, who I'm honestly scared to meet. I don't know about the people yet. I hope they're not like the ones back home.

I walked in and went to the front office that was in plain sight. A cupcake secretary sat at her computer. It was surprising seeing a different species, as I haven't seen one in a long time. My hometown all had the same species: synthetic mice that have red skin because of the blood given to us at birth to stay alive. We have electrical wires and a machine heart that pump it all around our bodies, along with crystal white eyes that light up at night if we want them to. Whenever kids see us they think it's cool, so I feel pretty proud of my kind.

"Ah, you're late. Name?" she asked, her tone was that of a smoker.

"Neff Mau5. I'm new here."

"Oh, ugh, that means more paperwork." She searched her cluttered desk drawers and eventually pulled out a tan manila folder. Handing it to me, she said, "Here. Just take this. It's a copy of your old transcript, schedule, all that info. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work."

And she continued to type away at her old computer.

Without saying a word, I walked out of the office and sat on one of the wooden benches outside.

"She hates me. She definitely hates me!" I whispered to myself, putting my face in my hands. "What did I do wrong? Did I talk too much? I only said like one sentence…" My mind was racing with all of these thoughts and possible scenarios that caused her to be that way towards me. I don't see what I did wrong. Does she hate everyone? I always want to get on the good sides of people. I hate it when others don't like me or think badly of me.

After calming down, I went down the hall to find room 137. First class of the day. The inside of the school was as nice as the outside. Pristine white floors, ruby red lockers, and neatly placed posters amongst the walls. Hell, this might be better than my old school. Just as I'm getting to the room, a blue cat and a fish with legs are running out of it. They whip past me, almost knocking me down.

"JUST RUN!" one of them screams. I hear a loud, ear-piercing screech. I've never heard a screech that loud and terrifying in my life. "RUN, I SAID! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! COME ON!" the blue cat said, as he grabbed my wrist and forced me to run with him and the fish. Another screech comes from behind us, and I turn my head to see this apeshit angry baboon coming towards us covered in white paint from head to toe.

I shrieked.

We hauled ass down the hallway with her almost at our feet. I could feel the anger radiating off of her. I don't know why she's covered in white paint, but judging from the fact that these two boys are running away, they probably had something to do with it.

"DARWIN! THIS MIGHT BE THE END, BUDDY!" the cat screamed. We rounded a corner and watched her fail to stop and slide out of a window at the end of the hall. With a loud crash from the glass breaking, she screamed, and a thump was heard outside.

I started panicking.

"IS SHE OKAY?!" I shouted, going to the window.

"Yeah, yeah, this happened before. But I'm really glad we didn't die," the cat said. "There's a new game coming out today that we have to buy after school."

"You're…. you're worried…. about a game… when she just fell out of… a window…" I trailed off.

"A first floor window. And?"

"The glass… could cut her…"

"Ah, she'll be fine. Once Principal Brown comes and finds out, she'll be as good as new."

There was a long silence. I stared out of the window at the monkey who was still covered in paint, now dried. She lay face down on the concrete with shards of glass surrounding her. It was good not to see blood at least. Her body lay twitching there, with her legs at odd angles and her facial expression that of a knocked out clown. I didn't want to laugh, but it was pretty funny.

"What is going on here?!"

All three of us turned around to see a furry slug with glasses. His hands were on his hips menacingly with a fire in his eyes. Looking over, I saw that Gumball and Darwin were unfazed by him.

"Oh, hey Principal Brown. Miss Simian had another outburst and fell out of the window," Gumball said casually. How the hell could he pull that off so smoothly?

"This is the third time this month you two have pulled another prank! I saw the cameras! Do you think I'm stupid? Why do you keep doing this?" Principal Brown demanded. Gumball and Darwin still were unfazed. I now know it's because they've done this several times. Probably dumber things in the past.

"It's April! Literally this whole month is for jokes!" Gumball protested.

"Uh, isn't it just April 1st that you joke around?" I poked in.

"And who are you?" the principal said in an angry voice, looking over at me. I flinched.

"I'm Neff. New here." I really hoped he didn't want to get me in trouble. I mean he saw the cameras, right? I just got unlucky and ended up running for my life.

Principal Brown shook his head and ended up giving all three of us detention. Now usually I'm one to protest and demand justice, but seeing as how he had that angry, tired look in his eye made me want to back off. He seriously looked like he was about to kill somebody. That is no understatement. I hope he doesn't hate me...

He told us to get back to class, and that's how I found out I had most of my classes with these two troublemakers. I was looking forward to it, honestly. With how much they seemed to fuck around it meant mild entertainment in class. On the other hand I felt bad that they had to be in trouble all the time. It was a mystery how they didn't get expelled.

A few classes rolled by. Nothing too serious. But when gym rolled around I knew I was in trouble. I am NOT athletic. I cannot run for more than 10 seconds without wanting to take a breather, nor can I lift more than 15 pounds per arm. Pathetic, I know. Being active isn't really my hobby. I just sit on my phone all day like any lazy teenager, scrolling through social media and watching videos. Again, pathetic.

After getting dressed shyly around the other girls, we headed out to the gym. I recognized a few people from my other classes. None of them I wanted to really talk to. Instead, I sat down on the bleachers and wrote in my journal for a bit until Miss Simian came out to tell us what to do. Some rainbow fluff kid came and sat next to me, but I just ignored him.

April 12th, afternoon.

Alright, this is my first day here. It's going good I guess. I still want to know why we moved to Elmore in the first place. I seriously thought my dad was fucking joking at first because it came out of nowhere. But he looked me dead ass in the eye and said he was serious. I packed my shit after a week, the moving truck came, and we left. I didn't want to say goodbye to mom. If anything, I would rather have stayed with her. My dad likes to get abusive when he's mad and I hate it. Now I have to deal with that with no input from my mom for him to stop. He doesn't abuse me physically, no, it's verbally. Name calling, hollow threats, shit like that. It's not right at all. You don't call your kid a dumbass or whatever and expect them to be okay with it. Meanwhile when my mom is mad she just stays silent and lets it pass. And then actually apologizes!

My dad and I haven't talked much since we moved. I'm seriously gonna miss my hometown. All my friends, especially Sunny. God, he's so fucking great. We've been friends for as long as I can remember.

I'm glad I don't have to see my creepy doctor anymore. I go to these appointments with him and he does a lot of brain scans, said it's just for research and my parents agreed to it so I'm stuck with it. I don't know why they agreed but it gets me out of the house more. Maybe that's the reason. He also injects this liquid into my stomach for research too and then takes blood samples a week later. It's a big ass needle and I FUCKING HATE IT. I hate needles so much. I'm cringing right now thinking of it.

Ugh, the teacher is coming out. Gotta go.

I closed my journal and Miss Simian said we were playing dodgeball. Great. I was put on a team with the kid who sat next to me, this girl named Jamie, Gumball, Darwin, and a few others I didn't get the chance to recognize.

Within the first few minutes I got hit in the stomach with a ball.

"I suck at sports. I should have told her that," I mumbled to myself as I sat on the sidelines.

Back. I got out in dodgeball.

Alright anyways, Elmore isn't all that bad. It had a nice ne

I forgot how to spell "neighborhood". The rainbow kid was next to me again. I really didn't want to talk but it would bug me so much if I didn't spell this word right.

"How do you spell 'neighborhood'?" I asked him. He looked over at me.

"I don't know. I'm not good at spelling. I'm good at sports though," he said proudly.

"Then why are you out?"

Realization spread across his face and he sighed. "Okay, I'm not THAT good at them. But I still like doing them."

"It's fine. I'm not good at them at all. You're definitely better than me," I stated. "Just keep practicing and you'll get better."

"I guess. Aren't you new here?"

"Yeah," I stated. Before I knew it, I was engaged in a conversation about my first day. I didn't even realize it until I looked back down at my journal that we had been talking for so long. Tobias was his name.

Maybe conversation comes naturally to me. I'm just too shy to do so.

The hour ended and I went to go get changed. I wasn't looking forward to detention. My dad was pissed, of course, so I wasn't looking forward to that when I got in the car with him.

I made my way to Simian's room and opened the door. On top of the desk lay both her and Principal Brown, sucking face like there was no tomorrow.

My first reaction?

"What the FUCK?" I shouted on impulse. Both of them looked up at me like a deer in headlights.

"I thought you said we had ten minutes, Lucy!" Brown shouted. "And you! Just go home and get out of here!"

I nodded and ran off without another thought. Never in my life have I seen something like that at school, and I hoped not to see it again!

Gumball and Darwin were walking towards me as I dashed down the hallway.

"Just go home!" I shouted. "They're making out in there and they just sent me out. Spare your eyes!"

April 12th, evening.

I'm back home. Simian and Brown were making out when I was supposed to be in there for detention, it was super fucking weird. I'm glad they sent me out instead of making me sit there awkwardly. God, that would have been so embarrassing. I screamed out "What the fuck!" and got more detention because I cussed, so I'm not looking forward to that tomorrow.

The car ride home was even worse. It was completely fucking silent. My dad is never silent like that. He would have chewed me out about how it's my first day and I'm already in trouble and may have called me a few names.

I'm tempted to try and ask him about everything. Why we moved here, why he and mom split up, why everything happened the way it was. What was the point of moving here? Do they not love each other anymore? Did somebody cheat? Did my dad decide to ditch his career?

He's not doing music anymore and we're living off the millions he has in the bank because of his fame back home. At least he doesn't buy a big ass mansion with servants and we have a normal life. I'm thankful he has that same mindset. I don't like being rich because when people find out, they automatically assume that I'm some Mary Sue, perfect, spoiled, bitchy type. No, that's really not it! I'm just trying to get my shit together, graduate, and go to a normal college! People back home were such assholes about it!

I'm getting heated and that gives me confidence to talk to him. I'll be back later.

Shutting my journal, I got up and headed downstairs to talk to him about all of this. He was sitting in the living room staring at the TV. Some sports game was on. The curtains on the big windows were closed, but enough sunlight was pouring in the room to make everything visible. He sat there with his feet on the coffee table and a few soda cans next to them. I sighed and walked towards him.

"Dad. Can I ask you a few questions?" I asked nervously. There went my confidence. But it was too late to back down now.

"What about?" he responded, not taking his white eyes off of the TV.

"Serious questions. I'd like your full attention at least," I said.

He sighed and got his feet off the table, sitting up and looking directly at me.

"Why did we move here? What happened back home for all of this to happen?"

"Don't worry about it."

His response pissed me off. He was sitting there, in our new couch, in our new home, in our new town. And he's telling me not to worry about why everything changed. Is he fucking kidding me right now?

"You're seriously not going to tell me? I kind of deserve an answer since all of this made an impact on my life!" I exclaimed. I was close to fuming.

"You're seriously still asking me after I gave you an answer? I told you not to worry about it. Leave it at that."

"What? Did you cheat on mom and not want to admit it?" I shot back. That would push his buttons. "Or did you quit your career and you're too ashamed to say so?"

Immediately he stood up and stormed over to me. Compared to me, he was literally twice my height. But I was angry and gained my confidence back. I stood as tall as I could. He stopped inches away from me and bent down, his face menacingly close to mine.

"I fucking told you not to worry about it. Now shut the fuck up and stop asking, you little shit. Be glad I didn't leave you back home."

"I would have been fucking glad being with mom!" I growled.

He caught me off guard and slammed me against the wall by my hair. I yelped as my head hit it hard. Yanking my head up to make eye contact with him, he shouted, "Shut the fuck up and listen to my fucking answer! I told you already! It was to fucking protect you!"

"To protect me?" I shouted back. It was a risk. I was shaking hard out of the adrenaline rush and some sort of fear. But I shouldn't be scared of him. He hit me before, why should I be scared if he does it again? Why should I be scared if he does anything? Life didn't seem to matter anymore. He and mom split up. I'm in a new town away from everything I loved and cared for. I didn't want to start a new life. I'm only 16. Why did it have to happen so suddenly on top of that?

"You should be grateful I want to protect you! That town is fucking dangerous!"

"Suddenly it's dangerous? For what reason?"

He pulled on my hair and threw me to the ground. I landed on my arm and it made a hard impact on the wood floor as I fell. Tears were streaming down my face as I looked back up at him.

"What the fuck is your problem putting your hands on me? All I asked was a simple fucking question!" I screamed. "You need fucking help with your anger!"

"AND YOU NEED HELP SHUTTING THE FUCK UP! NOW DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD OR I'M KNOCKING ALL OF YOUR FUCKING TEETH OUT!"

And with that, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

I was still shaking and eventually began sobbing. I was scared. No matter how badly I didn't want to admit it, I was terrified. This is the worst he's done in a while. He's been acting so different and it didn't help that he took his anger out on me. I couldn't go to anyone for comfort. No calling mom, her number was blocked. Sunny's phone was deactivated, and Amaya, my cousin, was too young to understand. Not having many people to depend on was fucking terrible.

I guess now is my time to depend on myself.

Slowly, I got off the ground. My arms were shaking, but I eventually stood up. My face was soaked with tears, and I knew the hair in my face was drenched, too.

"Can't depend on anyone anymore," I mumbled to myself.

My dad's car roared out of the garage and down the road. He left somewhere to smoke a full pack of cigs in peace. He always does that.

The rest of the night I sat on the bathroom floor, staring up at the small window outside. The plug-in light softly illuminated the room. My hair was put up in a bun, and a bag of hot and spicy chips sat next to me. The usual depressed routine. I would binge eat and fall asleep on the floor in whatever room I cried in. For the next week or so my dad and I wouldn't talk, I would walk myself to school, avoid eating dinner with him, and sit in my room until I finally got the unfair courage to apologize. I hated apologizing when he did this. I didn't need to. But I had to depend on him for some things eventually. It was all new to me. Usually I had my mom to give me a hand. But now, nobody.

I was scared of that too.

Around midnight I fell asleep in the shower stall. But suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door. I checked my phone. 3 AM. Why was he back so early? And why was he knocking on the door? He never made an attempt to talk to me after arguing like that.

"Neff," I heard him say. I stayed quiet. I was too sad to say anything. There was a sigh. "Look, there's just been a lot of shit going on. It's best if you don't know. It'll fuck up your life in more ways than you can imagine."

My heart skipped a beat. That didn't help! Now I wanted to know even more!

"That's no excuse to be like that towards me," I said to myself.

"I know, I know. I'm… I'm sorry."

I face palmed. I forgot about his good hearing.

Then it hit me. He actually apologized. For the first time in my life after getting into it with him, he apologized. I didn't know what to think. I was still upset with him and was debating on continuing to go with the usual routine. But suddenly I didn't feel the need to do so. I felt that he was genuinely saying that. Not just to avoid even more conflict.

"It's… alright, I guess."

"Now come out. Please. And get to bed."

April 13th, midnight.

We got into it bad. I was thrown to the floor and had my hair yanked. Along with my face being screamed in. He left the house as usual to smoke again, but then around 3 when I was in the middle of sleeping off my depressed phase, he knocked on the door and apologized. What I don't understand is why he did that. I didn't bother to ask. But I'm sort of glad it happened. Things might be awkward tomorrow though. When I came out of the bathroom he was gone, so thankfully I didn't have to face him.

All I wanted to fucking know was why everything happened. And now he's telling me that the reason will fuck up my life, and Mau5ville is dangerous.

I'm tired. And confused. I'm just going to sleep. I plan on writing to mom tomorrow and having any possible reply sent to the school so my dad won't find out. They can do that, right? I think so.

Goodnight. I WILL find out things soon. No matter what.