Chapter 1 - A Tiger in the Principal's Office

A Tiger In the Principal's Office

By: Rachel Cohen





A young girl about 16 stepped into the school. Her jeans were torn on one leg in three small lines and the other dragged on the floor. She wore a shirt that said “Don't interrupt me when I'm talking to myself” and her left hand was bandaged up to the middle of her arm. Looking at all the students she sighed, wishing to take her claws and destroy those “puny humans”. Her name was Rika, a demon girl with the soul of a tiger. She could turn her fingernails into claws at will, change her ears into tiger ears, and she had fangs, which Rika thought were awesome. Rika walked through the hall to the office, glaring at those who stared at her hand. She tucked her long black hair over her ear and walked up to the office's secretary, who was typing something on the computer. The secretary looked up at Rika.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh…yeah… I'm new here, so…um…where do I go now?” The secretary paused for a moment.

“Can I have your name please?” Rika was shocked. Now this creature wanted her name!

“Rika. Rika Sendoh.” God, this is taking forever she thought as the secretary looked through some shelves behind her. She pulled out a blue folder and brought it to her desk where Rika was standing impatiently.

“This has your new schedule, school supply list, and your regular and gym locker combinations.” Rika grabbed the folder out of the secretary's hand.

“Thanks.” Rika said through her teeth. She started to trudge out of the office.

“Have a good day!” The secretary shouted as Rika slammed the door, almost knocking the clock off the wall above it.

“I… hate… HUMANS!” Her voice rang through the halls as Rika stomped to her locker: #326. Suddenly, there was a “BANG!” and two girls found themselves on the floor. One of them was Rika. The other was a girl about Rika's age. Her bright red hair stood out from the neatly pressed white polo shirt and blue jeans. The girl had small glasses that had slid down her nose and was surrounded by a pile of books.

“Watch where you're going you idiot!” Rika snarled, her hand and claws raised, about to strike the girl.

“I-I'm so s-sorry… this is all m-my fault!” Rika put her hand down and her claws went away.

“Whatever, just pay more attention next time.” Rika got up and started to walk off. The girl chased after her.

“My name's Robin by the way!”

“I'm sure it is…” Rika wanted to go back to the good old days. She would just sit in her room for hours and throw darts at stick figures she made to represent those “smelly humans”. Now one of these creatures was following her.

“By the way,” Robin said, “what's your name?”

Rika sighed, “Rika.”

“Well… I like you Rika! Do you want to come to lunch with me today? Let's be friends!” At the word “friend”, Rika's head perked up. She grabbed Robin by the shirt and picked her up. Her claws were outstretched and she had tiger ears.

“Friends?! I'll never be friends with a human like you!” Robin trembled.

“You're a- a de-”

“A demon, yes…” Rika felt something strange come over her then. Now she didn't want to hurt the girl. She sighed. “Consider this a warning. You saw nothing.” She put Robin down and right before the human girl could run. Rika grabbed her once more and struck one claw across her face, leaving a cut below her eye on her check. “You saw nothing.” Robin paused and then ran off screaming. Rika laughed, but that time it was a weak laugh. “Stupid human.” Rika walked to her locker as the late bell rang.

Five minutes later, Rika slumped into her history class.

“You're extremely late, Ms. Sendoh,” the teacher scowled at her.

“Like I care.” She slowly took an available seat in the back of the room. Her head slammed onto the desk. “I hate this place,” she mumbled to herself. She felt something hit her.

“Psst!” Rika put her head up. Someone- or something was poking her in the head.

“Psst!” It was Robin. She poked Rika again. Rika felt her anger meter explode like an erupting volcano.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” The classroom got silent and everyone stared at Rika, even the teacher. The dismissal bell rang. “Finally!” Rika pushed her desk over and ran out of the classroom like her pants were on fire. During lunch, Rika ate the school's food, but she didn't like it. It was a pile of grease and rotten things, whatever they were. Robin walked into the cafeteria with her bag lunch and saw the demon alone. She went and sat next to her.

`Go `way…” Robin sat there for a minute and then reached into her lunch bag, pulling out a sandwich.

“Want half?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? It's ♫Tuuuunaaaa!♫”

“Tuna?” Rika's head shot up. Tuna was her favorite thing in the whole world.

“Yeah. Here.” Robin ripped the sandwich in half, giving the larger part to Rika. She wolfed it down in one bite. “ `S good, right?” Rika nodded. “Well, you can have a whole one, if you want to come over after school,” Robin said, looking at her feet shyly.

“Sure, whatever.” As long as there was food, Rika could tolerate that girl. Robin's face lit up.

“ OK! Meet me in the library after school! We can walk to my house!” Robin got up and left for class early.

“The library, huh?”

The after school bell rang. The day was finally over. Rika got up from her locker and headed towards the library, school map in her hand. When she got there, Rika stood in the doorway. Where was that girl? She sat down at one of the tables and popped open 101 Recipes for Tuna. A few feet away, two boys were fooling around near the bookshelves. One of them threw a fake punch, causing the “victim” to fall, hitting the bookshelf, hard. Robin was at the end of the row of shelves, waiting for Rika. The push caused the shelves to fall in a domino effect, toppling one after another. Rika looked up and saw a flash of red in the path of the shelves. It was Robin! Robin looked up and screamed.

“Robin!” Rika let out an ear-splitting roar and lunged. She grabbed Robin by the waist and pushed her out of the way as the bookshelves fell, falling onto Rika from the waist down.

“Rika!”

“Are you okay?” Rika said wearily and then blacked out.

Rika woke up in her own house.

“Unh…” She clutched her head.

“Oh good, you're up,” said an older voice. A woman walked in. Her hair was as long and black as Rika's, but her eyes were as red as blood.

“Hello, Mother.” Rika's mom went up to her and smacked her across the face.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT RED-HAIRED HUMAN? SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU!”

`WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! ROBIN WOULD NEVER DO THAT!” Her mom scowled.

“So, what do you think you were doing under those bookshelves? What actually happened? Were you trying to kill yourself?”

“I s- I sa-”

“You what?”

“I SAVED HER!” Rika got up and stormed out of her room. Her mother had a shocking look on her face. How dare her daughter save one of those wretched things!

“Where are you going?” she yelled down the stairs.

“Out.” Rika slammed the front door. Rika's father walked in Her mother turned around and looked at him.

“We need to talk. Sit.” They sat. “We need to do something about that human, “Robin”, or whatever her name is.” Outside, Rika was on the roof, listening to their conversation. Her tiger ears twitched. Her father pushed his wide-brimmed glasses onto his nose.

“What are we going to do then?”

“We're going to get rid of her. When the girl comes home with Rika, we'll grab the human and then we'll decide how to finish the job.” Rika gasped.

“I've got to get to Robin's house and warn her!” She jumped off the roof and started to dash towards the school so she could get her planner, which held Robin's address. Her parents heard the “THUMP!” on the roof. Her mom growled.

“She knows. We have to act now.”

When Rika reached the school, she ripped the door of her locker open and grabbed her planner. Flipping it open, she quickly searched for Robin's name.

“Robin…Robin…HERE!” Rika dropped the planner and dashed out of the school towards Robin's house. When she got there, she rang the doorbell several times, panting. Robin's mom opened the door.

“I n-need to s-see R-Robin,” Rika gasped.

“I'm sorry Rika, I just sent her to your house.” Rika's eyed widened.

“I-I'll go find her.” She sped off. “You better not be dead when I get there!” At the same time, Robin was waiting on Rika's front porch. She was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the house.

“HELP!” Robin screamed. Down the road, Rika heard the cry. Her tiger ears popped up again.

“Robin!” she growled. “I'll save you from those parents of mine!” Rika sped off faster than she'd ever run before. When she reached the house, Rika kicked down the door. “ ALL RIGHT! WHERE IS SHE?!” There was silence. Rika sniffed the air. The smell of demon and human led to the backyard. Outside, Robin was in a cage, trembling. Rika's mom was standing over her with a lit torch in her hand.

“I pity you. I pity all humans.” Her red eyes blended in with the flame. “Oh well. It's time to go!” She flung opened the cage, grabbed Robin by the neck, and started to bring the torch to Robin's face. Suddenly, a roar filled the air. Rika jumped out, striking her mom, who dropped the flame, burning out in the soil.

“Get you mangy paws off my friend.”

“Rika!” Robin gasped.

“I'm just glad you're okay. As for you…” she lifted her claw and pointed it towards her mom, “I'm going to end this mess once and for all.” She turned her head around. “ Robin! Get out of here!” Robin paused for a moment, and clenched her fist by her side.

“No, I'm staying here.” Rika grinned. She then grabbed the bandage on her left hand and arm and ripped it. The bandages fell too the ground. Robin then realized why those bandages were there. It wasn't a cut. Her arm and hand had black stripes on it, like a tiger. The stripes gleamed in the sun.

“It's the curse of my clan, given to all the firstborn children. Now, I am going to break it once and for all, avenging my friend's capture!” Her hand glowed a deep orange.

It only seemed like a second, and Rika was a couple feet away from where she started, her claws now a deep crimson. Her mom lay on the ground. Her father and Robin gasped in horror.

“She's not dead, and she won't die.” Rika's father and Robin sighed in relief. Rika looked at her hand. The stripes were still there. “I guess I didn't break the curse.” Her father stepped forward.

“You did, though the mark will stay there until you die. It is what it should be.” Rika walked over to Robin. Robin grabbed her hand and looked up at her friend. She nodded.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“I…I…” tears filled Rika's eyes. “I'm going to stay with Robin!” she sobbed.

“Don't cry,” her father said. “If you're happy that way, you can go.” The two girls smiled at each other.

“C'mon Rika!” Robin said cheerfully, “We've got a lot of new things to do!”

Rika smiled at Robin and the two girls laughed, walking into the horizon and the red setting sun.

The End

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