# Rock Bottom Chapter 1

Chapter 1
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In a small apartment in Bumfuck, Nowhere, its inhabitant stares at the bedroom's beige ceiling. With each passing second, the occupant notices another hairline fracture. Another strand of spider silk. Another off-colored splotch that, hopefully, isn't actually mold. In the distance, the sound of two dogs barking can be heard. Still uncertain whether or not she even fell asleep last night, Fang silences the blaring alarm clock with the anger of someone roused from a pleasant dream all the same.
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With a drawn-out groan, the ptero gets out of the single bed and makes her way towards the bathroom to start her morning ritual. Brush her teeth, comb her hair, groom her wings, put on eyeliner. Resist the urge to shatter the mirror with her fist. Fang settles for scowling at her doppelganger while getting dressed. Plans for breakfast are dropped after realizing she's already running late. With no one to drive her, Fang has far less time in the morning than she's used to. Patting her jean pockets to make sure she has everything, Fang takes off for school.
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Most apartments in the complex are vacant, sparing the ptero from having neighbors wishing to make small talk. She can't blame anyone for not wanting to live in this dump of a neighborhood. The entire area looks like it has been stuck in time for thirty years. A far cry from Volcaldera Bluffs, that's for sure. It only takes a few minutes of brisk walking to reach her new school, a rare blessing among the endless downsides of the whole situation. The plain gray building quickly comes into view. Its walls are dirty from decades of accumulated grime. The windows are no better, some sporting cracked glass in addition to the hefty amounts of dirt on them. All that's missing is bars, and one could easily mistake the place for a prison. The words 'Rock Bottom High School' imprinted into the concrete do little but reinforce Fang's first impressions of the school.
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A few students are milling around on school grounds, smoking in plain sight. Fang can't help but imagine principal Spears losing his shit seeing his charges smoking so brazenly. Doing her best to ignore the stares from the overwhelmingly if not completely human student body, Fang climbs the short flight of stairs. More staring, accompanied by whispers and finger-pointing, follow the ptero as she continues towards English class. Fang's schedule doesn't differ much from the one she had in Volcano high. Finding the room also doesn't prove too difficult. Rock Bottom is merely a fraction the size of Volcano High. The bell rings just as she enters the room, sparing her from being late on her first day.
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Taking the one free seat left in the back, Fang mentally prepares for what's to follow. The teacher is an old woman, looking well past the age of retirement, wearing thick glasses. She still commands the respect of the classroom, despite looking like she was stolen from a museum. The room quiets down the moment she gets up from her seat.
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"I believe we have someone new with us today," she motions towards Fang, "Why don't you come up here and introduce yourself?"
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Whispers accompany the ptero as she makes her way towards the front of the class. Doing her best to ignore them, Fang decides to be as brief as possible to get the shitshow over with as soon as possible.
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"My name is Fang Aaran. Moved here because of reasons. I-"
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"Meteor dodger!"
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All the students erupt in laughter. Fang had expected something like this to happen. Maybe not this early, but it's still not unexpected. She can't help but think DNN was right about humans. Just when Fang is about to flip them all off and storm back to her seat, the teacher raises her voice.
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"That's enough!"
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The class falls dead silent. No one dared to even snicker under the old lady's withering gaze. The teacher turns towards Fang.
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"I do apologize, Miss Aaran. Please return to your seat."
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Every class ends up being much the same. The teachers asked Fang to introduce herself, some jackass making a racist remark, the teachers having to yell to get the class to stop laughing. Rinse and repeat. The lunch period isn't much better. A group of girls standing behind her in the lunch line has decided to talk shit. It took all of Fang's restraint to not bash the group's leader, a short tubby girl with shoulder-length hair, with her metal lunch tray. Taking the sorry excuse for what the lunch lady insists is edible, Fang makes her way towards an empty seat, preferably one in the corner, far away from everyone else. The ptero sits down and begins to wonder if starvation isn't a better alternative. Busy poking the mass of what's supposed to be meatloaf, Fang doesn't notice she has company.
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The group from the lunch line has decided they weren't done yet. Their leader seemed especially eager to start something.
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"What's the matter, bitch? Food not struggling enough for your tastes?"
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Fang doesn't even bother turning to look at them, instead opting to ignore them while focusing on her food, hoping that they go away. The sass in the tubby girl's voice makes it apparent the ordeal is far from over.
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"Hey! I'm talking to you, you oversized lizard."
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The only response given by Fang is a one-fingered salute. A second later, the ptero feels someone grab her outstretched arm and pull her upright. Some of the students start to take notice of the commotion, taking out their phones to record the outcome. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls create a circle around Fang and their leader. The chunky girl still hasn't let go of Fang's arm. Already dangerously irritated, Fang no longer cares about pretending to be cordial.
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"Don't you have a cake to scarf down, lard ball?"
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Fang pushes the other girl away with a forceful shove, finally freeing herself from her clammy grip. The comment about her weight leaves the leader in shock for a brief moment. Shock quickly gives way to anger, causing her to charge at Fang, nearly knocking her to the ground. For a few moments, the fight is in a stalemate. The tubby girl's ineptitude and Fang's scales protect the ptero from harm. The fatties bulk and copious amounts of sweat prevent Fang from getting a good grip to push her away. It isn't until the leader has the horrible idea of grabbing Fang's hair in an attempt to gain the upper hand. With a firm grip on Fang's hair, the leader pulls as hard as she can, eliciting a yelp of pain from the ptero. Unable to create any distance between the beached land whale, Fang thrusts her knee into her belly. It does little to harm her, with all her extra padding cushioning the blow, but it does create some much-needed space for Fang to end the fight.
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Before the leader can recover, the ptero slashes her face with a clawed hand. Tiny crimson rivulets begin forming on the girl's face in the wake of Fang's claws. A collective gasp, followed by an ear-piercing shriek, fills the cafeteria. The cohort tends to their mauled comrade, who is busy getting blood all over herself.
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"Next time, it'll be your throat, bitch!"
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Ignoring thoughts of the inevitable fallout for what just happened, Fang leaves the cafeteria and heads towards her next class. She doesn't make it far before being approached by an older man wearing a suit. The circular pin on his lapel with 'Principal Boulder' engraved on it informs Fang that the outcome of the cafeteria brawl has spread like wildfire.
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"Miss Aaran, if you would follow me to my office."
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Things ended up going better than expected. The girl that attacked her has been a problem for a while. Fang wouldn't face any assault charges since she did not instigate the fight. Detention was unavoidable since she did threaten another student with several witnesses hearing it. Everything considered things could have gone much worse.
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Rock Bottom's detention policy isn't nearly as physically taxing as Volcano Highs' beautification program. Far more boring, though. The teacher in charge of detention demands Fang gives up her phone for the duration. To ensure she focuses on schoolwork. With her phone locked in the teacher's desk drawer, Fang picks one of the many empty seats. After a while, Fang hears faint snoring coming from the front of the class, the teacher in charge has already clocked out. For a moment, she considers sneaking out, but that would mean leaving behind her phone, which is not happening. Looking around the empty room, she can't help but notice the only other student in detention is reading a comic book. The bald human male is engrossed in whatever he's reading. Seems unfair to make her give up her smartphone while he can goof around.
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Boredom overpowers reservations of willingly interacting with any more humans for the day. Fang makes her way towards her peer, doing her best to appear nonchalant. The human doesn't seem to notice her approaching or even standing right next to him. The comic he's reading isn't like anything Fang has ever seen before. The text is written using some sort of weird moon runes, while the art itself makes her think the human got detention for having bad taste. Sudden heavy breathing and beads of sweat forming on his forehead indicate the human has finally noticed he has company. Nothing rude has come out of his mouth yet. That alone makes him better than most other people in the school. The human looks like he's about to pass out from hyperventilating.
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"Hey, you OK?"
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A noise comes out, but nothing Fang can interpret as speech. Hopefully, she isn't talking to the resident 'tard.
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"Anyway..., how come you can have a comic while I have to give up my phone."
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Complete silence. It's clear the human heard her, he's staring at her like an idiot, yet no words are coming out of his mouth. Fang is about to give up and head back to her seat when the human speaks up.
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"I'm not here because I got detention."
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Fang looks at the human as if he just grew a second, equally featureless,
head.
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"Then why the fuck are you here?"
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More staring, and a long, awkward silence follows. The human is thinking about how to respond to such a straightforward question. Fang is still confused why anyone would willingly stay in this depressing hellhole of a school past final period. The human seems to have finally formulated a response.
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"I just don't like going home before I have to."
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It feels like time froze, allowing Fang to take her time to consider what to say. This seems like a personal issue, something that the human would be dubious talking about with a complete stranger. On the other hand, what's the worse that can happen. He says no?
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"You wanna talk about it?"
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The human considers for a moment before reaching a decision and turning away.
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"You don't have to pretend to care."
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Fang curses herself for botching things this early with the first student that has been nice to her in this school. At least she tried to listen, more than can be said others did for her back home. The ptero turns around to leave when the human speaks up again.
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"Why are you here?"
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"Slashed some bitch's face who thought she was hot shit."
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"I don't mean detention. Why did you transfer to this school?"
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Fang has to catch herself before she lets out a snide remark about it being none of the human's business. It's not like anyone would understand even if she told them.
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"Are you also pretending to care?"
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More awkward silence. Seemingly a theme of this conversation, if you could even call it such. The human is the first to break it.
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"I'm Anon, by the way."
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He reaches out a hand. A small smile creeps on Fang's face as she reciprocates to complete the handshake.
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"Fang."