Thank you very much to mentalguru for reviewing the last chapter! Reviews are always encouraging. :)
Chapter I
Bright, blinding sunlight streams into my bedroom, waking me up with a sudden start. I blink the sleepiness out of my eyes and stare blearily around myself at the strange shapes and contours of my bedroom. I can't see a thing. Guess I'm not going to get very far until I find my glasses. Stretching out a hand to my left, I wave it around midair until it makes contact with something hard and wooden. That would be my nightstand. Hoping that my glasses are sitting right on top of it in a place easy to find, I let my webbed fingertips creep along the smooth surface until a sudden thought comes flooding into my head; today is no ordinary day! My life is gonna change dramatically due to what will happen on this mid-August morning.
After many long years of waiting, eight to be exact, I have finally reached the proper age to attend Monsters University. Every teenage monster wants to go to the university. If you don't go to the university, you'll end up flipping burgers for the rest of your life. Besides, Monsters University allows anyone the chance to pursue their dream job. I already know what my dream job is. I want to be a scarer at Monsters Inc.
The job of a scarer is not relatively difficult, but it is the top of the line job, the crème de la crème. Simply put, before we are incorporated, we have to get educated. I'm excited for the chance to start school. I've never gone out of the house much and haven't ever had any real friends before. Monsters University could change all that. It all depends on how my first day goes...meaning today.
Suddenly anxious, I accidentally forget to move my hand slowly along my nightstand and send my fingertips shooting forward. My hand knocks into something that feels a lot like my glasses. I make a wild grab for them, but it's already too late. A distant crash meets my ears as my glasses fall to the floor.
"Shit," I mutter to myself. If my glasses broke, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I can't go to Monsters University half-blind and I can't ask my mother to buy me another pair of glasses. She has it difficult enough as it is just trying to pay the rent for our small, rundown shack on the corner of Monstropolis, the most populated city of the monster world.
I normally hit the snooze button on my alarm clock about ten times before dragging myself out of bed, but today I blindly tug the thick blankets off of my body and crawl from the mattress to the floor. Careful not to land on my glasses or accidentally crush them, I search the floor aimlessly for anything other than smooth wooden floor. Five minutes later, my hands are still empty and I have no idea where my glasses have run off to. Figuring that they could have slipped under my bed, I lower my body to the floor and slither underneath it, a webbed hand stretched out in front of me as I continue to search pell-mell for the glasses that insist on avoiding me.
Knock, knock, knock! The sound of someone rapping at my bedroom door causes me to jerk upward, which in turn causes me to slam my head against the bed. Gritting my teeth together, I blink back a sound of pain and respond to the knock, "Come in."
Despite my blindness, I manage to make out the shape of the door creaking open and the slender pink figure of my mother entering my bedroom. Like me, my mother is a chameleon who has the ability to blend in with her surroundings. Only thirty-one years old, my mother is relatively young for the parent of a university student. She chooses to keep her scales pink most of the time and has eyes the color of sparkling sapphires. My father left my mother before I was born. I never knew him. Mother works hard to keep us fed and sheltered. Although she never went to the university herself, she has encouraged me to follow my dreams. Without her supporting, I wouldn't be going to the university today in hopes of creating a better future for myself.
"Randy? Where are you?" my mother calls in concern, probably expecting me to be on the bed, where I would have been if my glasses hadn't fallen off of my nightstand and hit the floor.
"Under the bed. I can't find my stupid glasses," I complain from where I'm slumped underneath the bed, trying to calm the pulsing in my forehead that comes from smacking my head against the underside of the bed moments earlier.
"Oh! Your glasses are all the way across the room over here, dear," mother informs me, her distant pink blur leaning down and picking something up from across the floor from me.
"How the hell did they get way over there?" I ask in puzzlement before I slither out from under the bed and cautiously get to my feet, careful not to smack my head against the underside of the bed a second time. My mother takes one of my hands, flips it over, and presses my glasses into it. I immediately put them on, which causes my world to suddenly light up with rich, vibrant colors and sharp images.
While I'm busy taking in my messy, unmade bed in one corner of the room, the pile of my university supplies across from the bed, and my jacket sprawled across the floor, my mother clicks her tongue at me and murmurs, "You've grown up so fast, Randy. It seems like only yesterday you could fit in my arms..."
As much as I love my mother, I am not really in the mood to hear baby stories at the moment. Giving her the look, I complain, "Mom, nobody wants to hear about what I looked like when I was two-years-old. The bus hasn't come yet, has it?"
"No, the bus hasn't come yet," mother shakes her head, looking down at me nostalgically.
The Monsters University bus is making its way through Monstropolis on this mid-August morning to pick up university students ready to go to college. If I miss the bus, I'd either have to wait until next year to go to the university or I'd have to walk there. At this point in my life, I'd be willing to walk there if I had to. Nothing - and I mean absolutely nothing - is going to prevent me from going to the university and making something of myself. All of my life I've lived in poverty. Although my mother does her best for the two of us, we live in a dump and I go to bed with an empty stomach a good three-quarters of the time. I'm not complaining about my lifestyle, but living in destitution has only made me more convinced that I can become a scarer. That job the earns you the most amount of money in all of Monstropolis. Once I become a scarer, I'll have enough money to buy myself a place of my own, get my mother a nicer house away from the slums, and provide us both with an adequate amount of food for survival. If I'm lucky, I'll even have a little spare cash left over.
"Are you still sure that you want to be a scarer?" mother asks me as I make my way over to my pile of school supplies and arrange my heavy books, neatly stacked notepads, and cluster of pens, pencils, and erasers in my arms. "I approve of whatever you want to be. Do whatever is going to make you happy, Randy."
"Being a scarer will make me happy," I reply, balancing the precarious pile of school supplies in my arms as I trek back toward the door, pausing to give my mother a light kiss on the cheek as I add, "Having enough money to support you and me will make me happy. Besides, you have to admit that I'm perfectly cut out for the job. How many other monsters do you know who can blend in with their surroundings?"
"Not many," mother admits after a few moments of thought. She follows me to the living room where we both stand by the window badly in need of washing while we wait for the bus. Mother sighs from where she leans against our faded, lopsided sofa and adds, "I just don't want you to feel like you have to be a scarer for my sake if that's not what you want to do."
"I want to be a scarer. I'm not just doing it for you," I reply fervently, glancing at my reflection through the glass of the grimy window. I see the figure of an almost mature light purple chameleon with vivid green eyes staring back at me. I don't particularly like or dislike my appearance although I have to admit that I wouldn't mind a new pair of glasses. I've had these big, circular ones since I was six. They look like a kid's pair of glasses, which is fine for a six-year-old, but looks a little strange on an eighteen-year-old.
"Well, alright then," mother says, finally deciding to believe me as I continue staring at my reflection. "But remember that I don't care what you end up being as long as you're happy."
"Right," I reply, resisting rolling my eyes as a large white bus with bright blue letters spelling out the words "Monsters University" on its side comes rolling around the corner of the street. I immediately dash toward the door, calling over my shoulder, "There's the bus! I'd better go. I don't wanna be late and have to walk to school."
I have my hand on the doorknob when my mother touches my shoulder and turns me around to face her. She gives me an affectionate smile and a quick hug, murmuring quickly, "I know that you've never been to school before, but I have a good feeling about this. Just try not to lose yourself along the way. You don't have to try to fit in with the popular kids or make yourself a part of a clique. You're perfect just the way you are. I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you too, but winter break will be here before you know it. Time flies; you know that," I say, giving my mother an encouraging smile before I twist open the doorknob and step from the confines of our shabby house into the bright sunlight.
With my mother's words of good luck still ringing in my ears, I tilt my face upward to soak in some of the sunlight. It couldn't be a nicer day for starting college. The skies are turquoise blue, the sun is warm and bright, and a slight breeze keeps my scales from getting scorched. Careful not to accidentally drop my school supplies on my way to the bus stop, I enjoy the perfect weather and come to a halt a few minutes later directly in front of the bus.
Screech! The large white vehicle comes to a halt, its large glass doors swinging open to welcome me inside the bus. The bus driver, a female monster who resembles a snake with a forked tongue and armless body calls out, "All university students come this way! Calling all university students! Please make your way into the vehicle now!"
I flinch as the woman's screeches fill my ears. Trying to get away from her before my eardrums burst, I quickly climb up the stairs that lead me to aisle of the bus. Already, the bus is packed full of monsters in their late teens and early twenties chatting excitedly amongst themselves. It seems as if I'm not the only one looking forward to going to college. Unfortunately, the crowded bus means that I'm gonna have to sit next to stranger by the looks of things. I've been a loner my entire life and sitting next to another monster makes me a little jumpy.
I'm busy looking for an empty seat somewhere - anywhere at this point - on the bus when a bright lime green monster about a foot shorter than me and three times my width dashes out into the isle in front of me. The monster is shaped like an eyeball and is wearing a Monsters University hat as well as a matching scarf despite the fact that it's summer and there's no need to wear a scarf this time of year.
Without looking where he's going, the one-eyed monster hurries forward, waving a hand desperately in the air as he calls out to the bus driver, "Mrs. Crawford? I forgot something! Stop the bus! It's really important!"
Oblivious of my presence, the circular-shaped monster crashes into me, sending my books, notepads, pencils, pens, and erasers spilling onto the floor. I bite back a curse as the monster finally spares a quick glance in my direction before saying distractedly, "Oops, sorry." After that, he immediately goes back to calling out, "Mrs. Crawford, did you hear me?"
I watch the green eyeball whiz down the bus aisle, hoping that everyone else here is a bit more civilized. Sighing loudly, I look down at the mess of opened books, crinkled papers, and scattered school supplies littered all over the aisle in front of me. Well, my mess certainly ain't gonna clean itself up. I drop to the ground and start gathering my school supplies up, my cheeks flushing a light shade of pink as my crawling around the floor attracts the attention of a few students sitting next to me.
I've just about gotten my things back together after my encounter with the rude eyeball when I notice a hand holding one of my pencils extended toward me. Glancing up in surprise, I find myself face-to-face with a cream-colored monster with five eyes and a friendly grin on his face. The monster is slightly pudgy and is wearing a green baseball cap and a matching green sweatshirt.
"Hey there," the monster standing in front of me says, the friendly smile still on his lips as I hesitantly take my pencil from him. "I'm Scott Squibbles, but everyone calls me Squishy. It's not a name I like very much, but you get used to it after a while, you know?"
"Um, yeah. Right," I nod as if I know what it's like to have a nickname. Actually, I do know what it is like to have a nickname. Mother calls me Randy instead of my real name, Randall. She says it has a "nicer effect on the ear" whatever that's supposed to mean.
Suddenly, the bus jerks forward and Scott and I practically fall face first, but manage to save ourselves by grabbing the edges of the bus seats on the left side of the aisle. Scott lets out a sigh of relief and says, "Whew, that was a close one. We'd better sit down. Come on!"
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