Ch. 2
(Sophia's POV)
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock, I had tossed and turned all night as the nightmares resurfaced and I couldn't myself lucky that I hadn't woken the whole school screaming my head off. I roll out of bed and set my feet on the floor, a shiver soon follows as my body adjusted to the chill of the building. It wasn't like the place was freezing but mom is ALWAYS cold so the house was warming than most. I grabbed my house-coat and walked over to my mirror, semi-dark bags were under my eyes, my hair was a mess and I felt disgusting. I rolled my shoulders, grabbed my shower bag and left my room with my keys. Walking down the hall I glanced around the building, getting used to the sounds, the smells and the overall feeling of the university.
I walked down the hall before turning left and stopping at the glass doors, using my room card I swiped the pad with a small tone the door clicked open and I walked in. The school had to put in security because the boys kept sneaking into the girl's shower room and one very angry girl with a powerful father caused a lot of fuss for the pristine school. Now each door has key cards that record each card and each person that uses the showers. I walked into the quiet room and the lights flickered on, I flinched at the brightness. The room was empty and I set my house-coat on a hook and walked into the shower, with a flick of my hand I'm drenched with warm water.
That's one thing I don't miss about home, the school always has warm water. That was when I finally sunk in, I was in University. Finally, after everything that has happened in my life, I had made it. It filled me with such joy and yet such pain but this was real and this was happening now, I ran my fingers through my hair and let the tense muscles fade away. I washed away my stress but I had to hurry as classes started in an hour and I had no idea how long I had been in here. I finished and shut off the shower and I heard the semi-loud tone of the door and the footsteps and the loud voices of females. I ignored most of them but one voice echoed in the room and I froze, my hand on my house-coat.
"Could you believe it" a semi-high voice chuckles, I close my eyes and force my body to work.
I slip into my flip-flops and grab my coat, slipping it on my body I wrap my hair in a towel and quickly leave the shower room. I could tell by their pink fuzzy outfits that they were PNK, my eyes quickly scanned their faces and I wish I hadn't as my eyes landed on a certain pair of eyes, eyes I would know from anywhere.
"Hey, don't I know you?" she asks with a smile
"No, sorry," I say, quickly ducking my head and leaving the room.
Oh for fuck sakes, of course, SHE would be here. Out of all the schools, she could have gone to why did she have to come to this one. I swerve around other monsters and get to my room and slam the door.
How the hell did she even get into this school?
I throw my towel on the bed after I semi-dry I'm hair, I set my hands on the bed and I finally notice that I'm shaking. Seeing she now brought back so many emotions that I had long since buried.
"Holy shit Sophia, get a hold of yourself" I say and bury my face in the bed, I let out a steady breath before lifting my face "Stop acting like a baby, you are in University and you have class" I throw off the towel slap myself in a face a few times and get ready for class. 20 minutes later I was finishing my braid as a knock echoes on the door, looking through the peep-hole I see it, Claire.
"Okay, so you have class in 15 minutes so can we go," she says with a sigh, I send her a smile before chuckling.
"Yeah, let's go," I say and grab my books, I shut the door and we walk down the hall.
(Claire's p.o.v)
I walked down the hall, weaving through the endless swarm of monsters to get to Sophia's class. Chuck was walking beside me, being his usual loud self. High-fiving and yelling to other monsters, I rolled my eyes but kept walking. Our conversation last night was constantly playing on my mind.
Flashback
I was lying on the couch when chuck came in, picked me up as if I were a blanket. Laid down himself and draped me over his chest, I rolled my eyes but didn't stop the chuckle from leaving my lips.
"Okay, what's wrong?" he asks after a minute, I glanced from the TV to look at him
"What, nothing's wrong," I say and look back at my show, it pauses and I see chuck glancing at me with the remote in his hand.
"Come on, I know you better than that. You only watch the news when somethings bothering you" he says quietly" I roll my eyes but shirt from my back to my stomach "You're worried about her aren't you"
"Sophia?" I ask "Yeah I'm worried about her." He sends me a look and I sigh before propping myself upon his chest "What is she doing here Chuck? She's an omega." He chuckles
"Oh come now, since when are you prejudice towards ranks" he smiles and I roll my eyes
"That's not what I meant. She's an Omega and a pretty one at that; she's bound to turn a few heads." Chuck nods
"yeah I already saw a few of the JOX's checking her out," he says and I groan, remembering the commotion they were causing this morning, I was counting my lucky stars that Sophia hadn't noticed, yet, maybe she had… if I considered the way she shut herself in her room last night. Chuck must have sensed my worry and tightened his grip "Don't worry if they get to close I'm not opposed to busting a few heads"
I smile but roll my eyes as he flexes his muscled arms, I'm sure he would have stood up, striking a pose to show off his impressive muscles if I weren't on top of him. This calmed me a little but the last thing I needed was my boyfriend being kicked out of school for causing a fight. Dean Hardscrabble was nice but not that nice.
"You didn't see it, Chuck." I sigh, burying my head in his jacket "it's like she's scared of everything but she's in the scare program." I pull my head up "She has a room fitted all to herself when we're low on rooms as it is. Then to top it all off Hardscrabble asks us to look after her but she won't even tell us why?" I sit up on his lap "Logically it's driving me insane, everything about this situation makes no sense. Yet the Dean just wants us to go along with it?"
"Well, why don't you ask her?" Chuck smirks before turning to a sports channel.
"I couldn't do that!" I snap, sitting up as if his words had burned me, Chuck only glances at me for a second, his eyebrow raised.
"Why not?"
The question was so simple. Shot out with no thought as Chuck smiles at me like I'm deciding if I should have vanilla or strawberry ice cream. Why couldn't I do that? Well, it's simple! It was so… so….perfect? Chuck only smiles, a happy puppy dog smile like he's just said something intelligent and turns up the volume on the football game.
End of flashback
It took me a little while, wandering around the school and asking some people but I finally found the freshman. Sophia was in the scare class a few hours early. There weren't any classes yet, not for a few days but every student was told to come for a brief meeting and the class books. Mr. Knight and the Dean would say a few words; lay out the hard truths and the class expectations before sending them on their way. Letting the students and the Greek system focus on the students, not the classes they'd be in. Moving past a larger monster and instantly found Sophia; she was talking with the professor. Sophia calm and attentive as she had her full attention on him, a luxury that I had yet to grasp and I silently wondered if they secretly knew each other, gently clearing my throat they both turn to look at me.
"Sorry Professor Knight but I'm here to take Sophia around the campus," I say, he nods before sending her on her way.
"Hey Claire," Sophia says quietly wrapping her arms around her book more tightly, I give her a nod
"Okay, so I have to know," Chuck says, quieter than yesterday "If you freak out by me yelling then why on earth are you in the scaring program?"
I paused because she paused. the air thick with tension as if I'd just stabbed her in the back. I worried quickly, wanted to kill Chuck but to my surprise, Sophia just chuckles.
"Well that would be thanks to my brother and my parents, they think that me learning how to scare will my get over my fear of being scared" she shrugs "like that makes a lot of sense but whatever I guess"
A brother? Yet again another curve ball was thrown by this chick.
We stopped by the catwalk to look out of the view, I stood there and pointed out the buildings and the class that she could and most likely would take this year and in the future. Sophia would chuckle at my comments and add a few of her own, I smirked.
(Javier's p.o.v)
We had left the house as Jonny and the others were checking out the fresh meat, I rolled my eyes as Jonny winked at girls. I swear that monster had no shame sometimes.
"Oh come on Jav, smile a bit," Jonny says as he elbows my side gently "this is going to be fun"
I suppressed the eye roll and sent him a nod instead. I don't know what Jonny thought was going to be fun about it. This was just going to be another boring year of classes, loose girls and winning the stupid scare games. I swear Jonny cared about the games more than school, as this would be the fourth year we had won it. I could already feel the eyes of girls as they checked us out, the best of the best. The whispers and the giggles of the girls, the others eat it up with glee as they sent winks and smile left and right. My eyes wandered up to the sky, the way the blues mixed with the white. I put a mental picture in my mind, saving it for a later moment. I would paint it out later, around three in the morning when I knew my brothers wouldn't come barging into my room unannounced because no one knew I loved to paint. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I was embarrassed or ashamed about my love of painting, the opposite in fact but it wasn't the others did.
My eyes stop on the platform, Claire was standing there, explaining god knows what to how knows what. Usually, I ignored her but my eyes stopped as they froze on the outline of a smaller monster, not the large frame of the jock I was accustomed to seeing, her hair was pulled back in a half pony-tail. I sifted through my mental list of people I know and members of the student council and after finding no one that fit her figure, I'm guessing she was a freshman, but tryouts and membership applications for that wouldn't start for a few weeks at the earliest. The council wanting to weed out the bad eggs before opening its doors to anyone, maybe it was personal favour or courting of sorts but it was odd that Claire would spend her time with a newbie. Even from here I could tell she was an Omega, the way she glanced around the campus with nervousness or how she shyly brush back her hair as they talked. Omegas weren't anything new at our school but the fact that she was beautiful and an Omega was rare. I heard a chuckle and glanced to see Jonny staring at me
"Well has Javier Rios finally found a monster that tickles his fancy?" he asks as the others glace up at the platform. Jonny lets out a low whistle of appreciation "I'll admit she is a beauty, and an omega too" he adds as the others chuckle.
"Javier you beast!" Chet chuckles as he elbows me
"I never said I like her" I defended myself but the others only chuckle louder
"You don't have to man, it's written all over your face" chip smirks as we continue walking towards the school.
"Go talk to her," Chet says and pushes me forward with his claws, I spin out of his grasp and hiss at him "Are you a ROR scarer or not?" I glare at him as the others look at me, knowing I wasn't getting out of this I turned and started walking towards the school.
(HardScrabble's p.o.v)
I sat outside the infirmary; my face was set in stone as I glared down at George Sanderson. He was staring at the ground as he nervously wiggled his hands.
"George do you understand the seriousness of your actions," I say in a low tone, his hands stop moving as he glances up at me.
"It was an accident Dean Hardscrabble, I didn't see her and by the time I had it was too late," he says as he glances into the room
"yes an incident that I should expel you for," I say and he gasps
"Dean hardscrabble, it was an accident I swear. I would never-" he tries but my hand raises and he stops before looking at the ground
"George I'm not sure you understand the problem here," I say and "If Mr. Rios had not been there you would have killed her," I say as his eyes widen a bit.
"I know…" he whispers brokenly
"George you are a great scarer, you work hard and you have made your sorority proud but I cannot just overlook the seriousness of this. You have been warned many times about practising football in the school and your actions have left one of our own severely injured." I sigh "when Ms. Jones wakes up we will have a talk with the superintendents, if they deem you a threat then I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do." Mr. Sanderson nods "I will be in touch"
I watch as George walks back to his group, his sorority brother looked at the ground as he told them the news. I really had high hopes for my Sanderson, it was such a shame that they can't listen. The sound of a door opening catches my attention and I glance to see Claire waving at me.
"Ms. Hardscrabble, she's awake" I nod before walking to the other room.
The frown is replaced with a small smile as I lose my tough demeanour and gently fold my hands in front of my body. Sophia was lying on a white medical bed, gauze was wrapped around her chest and a bandage was tapped to her temple. I noticed her hands moving and soon her eyes fluttered open, she groans at the bright lights and I gently walk over to her bed.
"Ms. Jones, I'm Dean Hardscrabble," I say gently "How are you feeling?" she looks at me and blinks before glancing around the room.
"where am I?" she asks with a scratchy voice, Claire hands her some water.
"you are in the infirmary," I say, she glances at me oddly as she takes a sip "do you not remember?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"Sophia we were standing out on the platform talking about school, you saved me from a football but got knocked out the window," Claire says gently, Sophia blinks a few times.
She shuts her eyes and brings a hand up to her head before hissing in pain, the school nurse comes in and gives her another dose of medication.
"Careful dear, you have three fractured ribs and a concussion," she says, Sophia glances down at her chest before groaning.
"I remember us talking…" She says "I remember the football and pushing you out of the way but the rest is blank." I nod.
"Yes, I'm thankful Mr. Rios was able to catch you." I place my hands together again, wringing them nervously. Clair simply stares at me, her face soft for once "Miss Jones, at Monsters University we take the safety of our students very seriously and I'm not one to throw away good students but Mr. Sandors has been told many times that playing football of school grounds is forbidden. Not only did he break that rule but he hurt you as well. I will be speaking with the school board to determine is actions but the police were wondering if you'd like to press charges?"
"What?" she croaks hoarsely, looking between us like this was a surprise
"Sophia, If Javier hadn't caught you would be dead, do you understand that?" Clair says slowly, taking Sophia's hand.
"I know, but it's not like he did it on purpose right? It was an accident."
"Even still, you almost died."
"Dean hardscrabble, I don't want him to get kicked out of the school because of me."
I stand straighter, putting on a firm face "Gorge Sanderson would be kicked out of the school from his OWN actions and nothing more than that. Do not think for a second this is your fault." I stare her down gently and soften the gaze when she looks at her hands.
"Please dean Hardscrabble. Can't he do stuff instead of expulsion?"
I sigh "I, can try Miss Jones. But I can't guarantee anything."
"That's all I ask."
She leans back, staring out the window quietly. I knew she was thinking about her brother.