Dericka part 2: My Roommate

Caitlyn

I can’t believe my parents sent me to a boarding school for troubled kids. All I did was put a rat inside that girl’s backpack. What’s the big deal?

Immature. I know, but still, it was funny. And she deserved it after she blurted out my secret crush to my secret crush. So, I had to get her back.

And another thing: she’s why I’m here; Pleasant Valley Academy. Yeah, right. The school's name is a lie. This place is going to be a nightmare.

Oh, well. At least I’ll make some good friends. I hope I will.

But I didn’t want a roommate. I wanted my own room. Well, hopefully, this girl would be nice enough.

I opened the door and saw a tall girl sitting on her bed, eating…a piece of paper? She was ripping it to shreds.

Well…so much for wanting to make friends here.

Trying to ignore the girl’s weirdness, I approached her with an extended hand.

“Hi, I’m-“

The girl looked at me before I could say my name. She spit the paper out of her mouth and stood up with a wide Cheshire cat smile. “Hello,” she said, her voice strangely soft and high-pitched. My name is Dericka.”

“Um, h-hi, Dericka. My name is…Caitlyn.”

“Hello, Caitlyn,” she said, her voice sounding robotic as she stared at me blankly.

“S-so, you’re my new roommate?”

“I suppose so.”

“Oh, okay. Let me just unpack my bags.”

“Certainly.” She slowly turned away from me.

I unpacked my stuff, and after that, I tiptoed into the bathroom.

Dang, what is up with this girl? Why is she acting like this? Do most kids here act like this? Who knows? I guess I’ll find out once I get to my first class.

I heard some gnawing outside of the bathroom. That paper must’ve been gone by now. What could she be eating now? A sandwich she packed for lunch? Her nails?

Once I came out, I saw that she was eating my scarf! My suitcase was all the way open, and my clothes were already splattered all over the floor!

“Wh-what are you doing?!” I exclaimed.

She looked at me with wild eyes, pieces of the scarf still in her mouth. Not answering me, she continued to gnaw on the fabric.

“Oh, no, you’re not!” I trieI tried to take it from her mouth, but she let out an almost nonhuman-like scream. She shrieked so loudly that I could practically feel the room shake.

I didn’t have lunch today, so would you mind if I finish my meal?” That eerie, comb-toothed smile returned.

“I-I, why couldn’t you just eat your own clothes?” And why am I asking this?

“I was getting tired of doing that. Eating someone else’s clothes is so much fun!”

I gulped. How this was happening? This random chick was eating my clothes. And she wasn’t even choking.

“But th-that’s rude. You can’t just eat people’s clothes.”

She looked back at me. “But I’m already doing it right now!” She cackled.

“But you could choke. Or maybe get an infection!” I’m so glad I learned this in health class at my old school last year.

“I don’t care! I have enough diseases! Now leave me alone!” She hissed at me.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

I marched down to the administrator’s office and told them…

“I can’t have her as my roommate.”

“Who, dear?” The older lady lowered her glasses from her face.

“This…Dericka girl. I can’t have her as my roommate!”

“You mean Dericka Sanders?”

“Yes.”

The lady looked down at her computer and back up at me. “Oh, yes. That young lady is as troubled as can be. In fact, she should be sent to a mental hospital, not here. But please don’t tell her I said that. So, you’re requesting a roommate switch?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m afraid you can’t do that right now. That option is already closed. The best thing you can do is communicate with your roommate and tell her that her behaviors are inappropriate.”

“But I did tell her and she wouldn’t listen!”

“You said she’s eating your clothes?” She narrowed her eyebrows.

“Yes.”

“Well, maybe she’s hungry. Buy her some food, perhaps.”

“Why can’t she buy her own food?”

“Maybe she doesn’t have enough funds to do so.”

I sighed. “Fine. But she better eat it too.”

I went over to the college’s café, which was miles and miles away from the residential building, but it was worth it. Anything to get this psycho away from my clothes! The line was long and as soon as I order the food, all my clothes would be gone.

I bought the girl a hoagie and a bag of chips with a water bottle. Hopefully, that would satisfy her hunger. I also gave myself a hoagie and a cookie.

As I returned, I saw Dericka halfway finishing up my favorite childhood shirt. Farewell Monkey shirt. Farewell.

“Hey, I have something for you.”

She turned to me with those wide eyes again. “What is it?” she asked with her mouth full.

I told her what it was and handed it to her.

She looked down at it with curiosity, threw it on the ground, then started gnawing on my shirt again.

I bent down next to her and picked up the food.

“Please. I know you’re hungry, so at least let me feed you. I paid this out of my own pocket.”

She stopped gnawing again, looked at the food, and snatched the sub from my hands. She ripped out the wrapper and tore in the meat.

A “thank you” would’ve been enough.

“More!” she demanded. “More!”

“I have a bag of chips.” I carefully handed them to her.

She snatched them from my hands, tore up the bag, and chomped on the chips.

“And here’s some water to wash it all-“

She swiped the bottle out of my hands and chugged it down her throat, taking literally thirty seconds to finish.

“There, are you better?”

“I want more!”

Man, what more could this girl possibly want?

“More!” Her eyes widened with desperation, full of hunger, as if she hadn’t eaten a whole hoagie.

“Listen, Dericka. I know we just met, but since we’re roommates—“ and stuck with each other for the whole semester— “Let’s just try to make things work. I’ll buy you food as long as you promise not to eat my clothes again. Deal?” I extended my hand out to her again.

She looked down at it and picked it up. She didn’t shake it yet. “Mm. Your hand looks tasty. Mind if I-“

I snatched my hand back before she could do anything. She literally almost tried to bite my hand off.

“Come on. I just want a nibble!”

I backed away as she came towards me. I’ve met a lot of crazy people in my life, especially in school, but no one as near as dangerous as Dericka. She looked like she was about to tear me apart. She had me back against the door.

“I have you now,” she snarled.

I had nothing else to do…except…

I kneed her right in the belly.

She clutched it, groaning in pain.

I grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open. I could feel her grabbing at my leg, but luckily I got away.

“Whoa!” a girl said, stopping me. “What’s going on? Why are you running?”

I was going to tell her to move out of my way. But on second thought, maybe she could help me. When she asked me why I was running, she didn’t sound demanding. Instead, she sounded concerned and she looked like she might help me.

“There—“ I ran out of breath. There’s a girl in my room. My roommate. She’s trying to eat me.”

“You mean Dericka? Yeah, had her as a roommate last year. She ate my homework one time.”

“What is wrong with her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she just likes to eat random things.”

“Why isn’t she in jail? Or some mental hospital?”

She shook her head and looked down at the ground. “I don’t know, dude. A lot of crazy things happen inside that girl’s mind. Not even the therapists know what’s wrong with her. One of them said she has pica, a mental illness where you eat stuff that’s not food. Makes sense if she has that.”

“Has she been in jail before?”

“A few times, yeah. But she got out of bail and had to go to this school. Why are you in here?”

“Long story. You?”

She hunched her shoulders. “I punched my mom in the face. She was being a real…jerk to me, so yeah.”

“Wow. Sorry to hear that.” I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. My first class was starting soon. Well, I gotta get to class. My name’s Caitlyn, by the way.” I extended my hand. Hopefully, she wouldn’t eat it.

“Isabelle,” she said, shaking my hand. “I’m going to my class, too. Who do you have?”

“Math class with Mr. Baker.”

“Ooh, I love Mr. Baker. He’s funny and makes such good math jokes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Wanna hear one?”

“Not for now. I gotta get there soon.”

“I’ll walk with you. We have the same first class.”

As we walked to the school, the place was filled with a big group of kids.

“Wanna sit with me?” Isabelle asked me.

“Sure.”

“Hello, students!” the teacher said. “I’m Mr. Baker and I’ll be your teacher this semester. So, here’s the seating chart.”

Schools still do those?

Isabella leaned close to me. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. One thing about Mr. Baker’s class is that he assigns seats.”

After Mr. Baker listed the names, he got to me and said I’d be sitting with Dericka.

Great.

I hesitantly sat beside Dericka and she gave me that same creepy smile.

“I believe we’re going to be great friends!” she squealed.

This is going to be a long year.



Author's note ▼

This story is solely based on a character from a YouTube skit. I fell in love with this character and decided to base this story on the character.

Also, characters with different points of view will describe their perspectives on this character. This is purely experimental and mainly meant for entertainment. I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!