Hello there, everyone. I have returned after an extremely long hiatus and I apologize to anyone who is following my other stories, and I appreciate the patience. I have started college and I am a Music Education Major after changing from Graphic Design and my life is super hectic right now, I have very little free time and what free time do I have I spend practicing the saxophone and the piano. Anyway, again I am so so sorry for just dropping off the planet with no prior warning. I want to try and update my incomplete stories as consistently as possible because I know I have many people waiting for updates to several of my stories, and I thank you all for your patience.

So I know I have other stories I need to work on, but I have been on a Monsters Inc. and Monsters University kick and I figured I would get myself back into the swing of writing by creating a new story, a fresh start, if you will. This story will feature one or two OCs and it is set in the MU universe because I am currently watching the movie as I type this. Lol.

Anyway, I think that's about it, I hope you all enjoy my new story!

To be completely honest, growing up I never really thought about the idea of going to college. It just never seemed to concern me, even in my senior year of high school while all my friends were getting all hyped up over their acceptance letters to various universities I was still uninspired to apply anywhere. Yet, here I am, about to step off the bus to begin my new life as a college student at Monsters University. It's still pretty surreal considering I only applied two months before the start of the fall semester, and I did it out of spite. My father told me I wasn't applying because I knew I would fail and drop out before the end of the first semester, but I wanted to prove him wrong, so I applied, and got accepted… obviously.

The bus screeches to a halt before the driver's scratchy voice rings out, "Call for Monsters University. Anybody getting off here?"

"I am, ma'am." I reach to the seat next to me and grab my single blue tote bag and my black instrument case, which holds my prized saxophone inside, shimming off the chair, trying to avoid hitting someone upside the head with my saxophone case.

I approach the front of the bus, avoiding eye contact with the deadpan expression of the driver, though nodding in thanks before stepping off. I hear the door scrape closed behind me and the engine roar back to life after idling for the short time it took me to squeeze myself off. I turn around and watch the bus disappear around the corner, its destination above the rear windshield flipping from Monsters University to Monstropolis. When I turn back to the entrance of the campus I am in awe of the design of the arch, influential scarers perched on the top of each pillar, guarding the entrance and casting a shadow down on the cast-iron sign that read "Monsters University".

I take a deep breath before mumbling, "Welcome to college, Reed."

As I walk down the main pathway I watch all the various types of monsters mingle together in such a friendly manner I am almost surprised, but what really catches my eye is the monumental architecture of the buildings across campus, each with its own unique look, yet they all somehow belong together. The spikes on the columns, the grand steps that lead up to the buildings, the cobblestone pathways, and the brilliantly bright red brick astound me. Though that is not surprising considering the school I come from the nicest building still had two-hundred things wrong with it.

I spot a registration table outside a dorm building and walk up to the girl standing behind it, her huge smile almost mental. "Hey! I'm Kay! What's your name, freshman?"

"Smith," I say, looking at the load of orientation packets setting in front of her. "Reed Smith."

She gives me another huge smile, one of her three eyes twitching ever so subtly, before clawing through the various packets in a box marked "Q-S" and pulling out my packet and reaching over the table to hand it to me. "You can leave your bags here and have your picture taken with Tray for your I.D. card."

I hesitate before handing over my tote bag and my saxophone to Kay, taking my packet and following the signs that say "I.D. Photos This Way". When I sit down on the stool to have my picture taken by yet another overly cheerful monster I look down at my short legs as they dangle off the relatively short seat. "Awesome… "I sigh before looking up at the camera.

"Say hooray!"

I look at my new I.D. card and sigh once more. My pale yellow scales look even paler in comparison to my bright blue spots of various shapes and sizes that dot my entire body, and my horns look like two ivory sweet rolls stuck to the sides of my head, at least they're pointed off as they curl in towards my eyes, which are the same shade of yellow as the rest of my body. I read the handwritten space that says "Major" and see that it says "Scaring/Music" because I'm insane and decided to double major. My mother has always told me that I'm the most ambitious monster she's ever known, my dad on the other hand just thinks I'm suicidal. I'm not really sure who is more right.

I sit down at a stone bench next to the dorm and look over my orientation packet. It contains my schedule, campus events for the whole first semester, a detailed description of all the sororities and fraternities on campus, a free MU pen and matching journal, and a decal of MU's seal. If only I had a car to slap it on.

After a few more minutes of sitting in the shade and watching all of my fellow freshmen flow onto campus I decide to go pick up my key to my dorm room and meet my roommate. I can really get along with anyone, so my only concern is whether or not she will be nice. I stroll up to the receptionist's desk and am greeted with yet another sickeningly nice smile. I hand him my I.D. and he picks up a key with one of his many tentacles. "Reed Smith, Room 421. Your bags have already been brought up and I believe your roommate has already checked in."

"Can you tell me her major?" I ask while taking the key from his grasp.

He flips through a folder, his slender green head turning slightly as he skims over the words with his single eye. "It says here she is a Pre-Natal Care major."

I feel my eyes widen. "She's a med-student?"

The R.A. nods his head. "Yep, will that be a problem?"

"No, no," I shake my head. "Just wasn't expecting that I guess."

He smiles at me and I smile back before heading up the stairs to the fourth floor. I could take the elevator but my tiny reptilian legs could use the workout. I put on a few pounds over the summer considering all I did was stay home and play my saxophone until my claws fell off. Good workout for the arms, not so much for the midsection, despite what people may think due to the constant use of the diaphragm that goes into playing an instrument.

I reach the fourth floor and I feel the burn in my legs, so I pause to let the muscles calm down before walking to my room. The last thing I want is a med-student to see me in physical distress. I begin to walk down the hall through the crowd of excited monsters as they meet their new roommates and I finally find my room and notice that the door is slightly open already. I gently knock on the door. "Hello?"

"Hello!" A gentle, sweet voice answers from the other side of the door. "Are you my roommate?"

"Yes," I say a little too quietly.

The door opens and I look into the soft green eyes of a petite, solid white monster, my same height; short, with lovely tufts of fur around her neck that resemble a scarf I could never afford. Her ears are perked and tall on top of her round head, her muzzle short with a black button nose, and tiny dagger fangs peering out gracefully from under her lips. Her legs and arms are about as short as mine, her midsection cinched in with a long tail floating behind her. She's a beautiful monster, and if I ever have kids I would want her to be my doctor. "Hello there, lovely, my name is Addison Wilde." She extends her arm to me for a handshake and I see her perfectly manicured claws.

I shake her hand and hope she doesn't notice how bad my own hands are. "I'm Reed Smith."

Addison smiles then turns around. "I was going to wait until you arrived before picking my bed, but you took so long I thought maybe you weren't coming. I hope you don't mind that I've already claimed this bed." She sits down on her bed on the left side of the room and I notice her blood red satin sheets.

"Oh no," I wave my hand. "I don't mind, besides," I look over at my stuff placed neatly on the unmade bed and notice how close the air conditioner is to my bed. "I have the A.C. next to me and I like it cold at night."

"Oh really?" She gives me a baffled look. "I thought lizards liked heat?"

I blush. "We do, but the cold helps me sleep better."

Addison nods. "I'm sorry if that sounded rude of me."

I shake my head as I dig through my bag for my bedsheets. "It's cool, I understand it's a bit odd for a reptilian monster to like the cold."

She smiles a kind smile. "So what is your major, Reed? The R.A. at the desk told me you were a double major. That can't be right, can it?"

"It is," I unfold my blue sheets and start tucking them into the corners. "I like music and my dad wants me to be a scarer, so I figured I could make us both happy by doing both."

"Wow," I hear her claws click on the wood floors as she walks over to the other end of my bed to tuck in those corners. "You're going to be so exhausted."

I unfold the comforter and throw it messily on top of the sheets and stuff my pillow into the matching blue pillow case. "I know, but I already don't sleep that much, so I am not necessarily worried."

Addison starts to smooth out my messy comforter with gentle claws and smiles. "I just want you to know that I value my sleep. It's good for my complexion."

"I understand," I place the pillow neatly on the bed. "I will do my best to not rid you of your sleep."

"Thank you," She gives me another kind smile before going back to her own bed.

After I unpack everything, I set my laptop up at my desk next to my large pile of sheet music that I have been working on over the summer to try and get ahead of what I will need for my music classes. Earlier Addison told me about how excited she was to begin her pre-natal classes because she has always loved babies and wanted to be around them every day, though she seemed excited about it, I saw something in her eyes that said otherwise, but I was probably just imagining it. I'm excited to see how my scaring classes go. Maybe I'll meet some really fearsome monsters that can help me hone in on my scaring routes because I know I'm not the most intimidating thing, with my tiny lizard frame, but my father is a scarer and he looks almost exactly like me, only bigger, so I at least have that to help with my confidence.

I hear Addison start to get into bed and I look at the clock and it says "10:30", which is early for me. I turn off my desk lamp and plug up my laptop since it died on the way up here before grabbing my baby blue sweat from the bed post. "I'm going to go explore the campus. I'll do my best not to wake you if I come back."

"Thank you," Addison yawns as she curls up under her expensive sheets. "Be safe."

I walk out of the dorm building and down the stone steps. The campus is quiet, eerily quiet, but I enjoy it. I look around for the building I saw earlier that looked like a library and start towards it. Alone time in the library sounds pretty good to me, hopefully it's open this late.

When I finally find it I see that it is still open and carefully pull the large doors wide enough for me to slink inside. I see a sign on the reception desk that says "No Librarian from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.". I smile because that means I have the whole library to myself, which is exactly what I want.

When I enter the main part of the building I look up at the night sky through the tall glass ceilings and am floored at how beautiful this building is with only the moonlight illuminating the wood detailing that decorates the shelves upon shelves of books. I find a nearby ladder and start to ascend to the top and grab the first book I see; The Collective Accounts of Human Encounters Vol. I. "Wow, sounds cool," I grab volumes two and three as well before climbing back down the ladder and finding a seat closest to the shelves, clicking on the green and brass desk lamp and opening my book to page one.

I wake up to a gentle tap to my shoulder and turn my head to see Addison looking down at me, the sun directly behind her, showing the stray strands of fur around her ears and neck. "Did you stay here all night?"

I sit up slowly, rubbing between my eyes. "I… I think so." I look down at the book I was using as a pillow and see that it is the sixth volume of the collection I started reading last night. I was about halfway through when I fell asleep. "I didn't expect to fall asleep."

I watch Addison look over the pile of books next to me, she leafs through the pages, creating a soft flapping sound as her claws graze the pages. "Did you read all of these?"

I nod and she sets the book down. "Well you didn't tell me you were also an avid reader."

I shrug. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't," she says as she takes the seat next to me. "I was looking for a book for a class and saw you over here passed out."

I smile, "It is fate."

Addison shakes her head, "Dear, you are a strange one." She laughs before crossing her arms. "What other surprises do you hold?"

"I dunno," I stand up, stretching my arms behind my back. "I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I'm doing here," I put my face in my hands. "And why I'm double majoring."

She pats me on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, eventually."

I snort before spotting a group of monsters parading in like a flock of geese, the most intimidating of them at the front glances over at me before flashing me a smirk full of sharp white teeth the two canines on his bottom jaw protruding up past the rest, and his dark mahogany-like horns on his round bluish-violet head curve in and forward slightly as if they are some kind of evil halo.

"Eventually."

So there you have it, my first chapter of my first Monsters University story. I hope you enjoyed it so far and will leave feedback on what you like and what I could do better. I know I didn't include any major canon characters until that last bit at the end with Johnny and his band of ROR goons, but I didn't want to just jump into all that immediately, I hope you understand. I will try to have a second chapter up as soon as possible, but I want to update a couple of my older stories before I get too involved with this one. So until the next chapter, bye-bye!