BloodRedRoses04: I'm so happy that you liked the last chapter! *hugs* I'm pretty sure that Johnny makes his first appearance in three chapters from now. Hope you like this one!
Nymris: Haha, yeah, Javier can handle the drugs pretty well...for now. :P He gets into deep shit with them later. And yeah, you're right, Johnny does remember Chet. :) Of course, that doesn't mean that he necessarily has feelings for him though. Thanks for reading!
Guest: Omg, I squealed so much when you said that Reggie should be Jav's new hobby! I'm totally with you on that one. Reg and Jav make such a cute couple! Are you a fan of them too? :D Javier's drug-taking is going to get him into some sticky situations later down the road. Thank you so much for the comment!
Remy: Don't worry - it makes complete sense! I agree that MU has things in it that MI didn't have and vice versa. Did you have any favorite Randy lines from the film out of the few that he had? Oops, I think that I worded things the wrong way in my last A/N. What I meant by Randall's back story is what Pixar did to him to have him turn to the dark side. Sorry, I can be so confusing. *hides* I just don't like the way Pixar turned him because he wanted to hang out with the "cool kids". I always thought that Randall would change due to bullying/abuse, but I guess that's just a headcanon of mine. And omg, nothing peeves me more than an unfinished story! I promise not to make you wait years for updates on these fics. :P
ven bracken: I'm glad that you liked the last chapter! Yup, Johnny will make his first appearance in chapter 12 or 13 (I forgot which because I have a horrible memory, haha). And omg, I love Sonic! I had a Sonic fanfic up on my old account. :D Let me know what you think of this chapter!
Chapter X
Curious to find out more about the newcomer, I lean forward excitedly and wait to hear the new monster's name. There's something very scary about his passive nature and sharp fangs. Still smiling that eerie smile of his, the stocky monsters says, "I'm Chip Goff. I've heard of the Jacobs before. They have strong roots in the history of scaring." Chip inclines his head atoward Reggie, who immediately puffs out his chest, looking proud to be the only one Chip has heard of. I don't feel jealous, but Javier looks jealous.
"The Rios family and the Alexander family also have strong roots in scaring, man. Better brush up on your history while you're at the university," Javier points out in his monotone before saying, "Looks like we've got the perfect fraternity for the scare games going here. We've got Reg, Chip, Chet, Johnny, and myself. All we need is one more dude and then we're good to go."
Chip cocks an eyebrow at Javier in mild interest as he asks, "You're already planning out the scare games, hm? Have you been to the school before?"
"Hell no!" Javier replies, shaking his head, which causes his antennae to bounce. Reggie snickers and bats at one of them, earning him an annoyed look from Javier as he continues on, "I've been out living on the streets for the last few years. Dealing was my life back then. Now I'm onto something a little more, ah, legal."
"I'd say that you've gotten yourself on the right track then," Chip smiles at Javier, this time smiling without revealing his teeth. It's funny how calm his smile looks right now. You'd never guess that he's hiding a pair of razor sharp fangs inside his mouth.
"So are we all studying to be scarers then or what?" Reggie asks, apparently feeling neglected and deciding to say something just to get the other guys to remember him.
Chip and Javier nod slightly at the same time while I practically fall off of my bus seat as I whip my head up and down, exclaiming, "Me! I'm training to be a scarer! I'm going to make mommy and daddy proud."
Chip's chestnut brown eyes fall onto me for the first time and he gives me a calm once over before murmuring, "So you're the Alexander then, right?" I nod enthusiastically, thinking that it's good to be known as an Alexander. So far, Reggie and Javier have acted like being an Alexander gives me the right to hang out with their group. Chip is no exception to this rule and smiles at me, pointing out, "My father knew your father before he quit Monsters Inc. I recognize your last name. You should make a good scarer, Chet."
"Thanks!" I reply excitedly, feeling friendly and offering Chip my crab claw to shake. He observes the large claw, seems to think that I mean him no harm, and shakes hands with me. I end up blabbing as I usually do when I'm trying to fit in with a crowd and say, "You're going to be really scary too! There's something scary about your fangs. It's like they're hidden!"
"Wow, Chet, you should get a gold star for figuring that one out," Reggie rolls his eyes at me before going on, "Did it ever occur to you that they're hidden for that very reason? Ya know, to be scary?"
I think about this and shake my head. Reggie looks like he has more to say, but at that moment, the bus comes to a halt and we all fly forward in our seats. Before I can lose my hat again, I reach up and hold it tightly on top of my head. A new group of monsters come pouring into the bus, one monster in particular standing out to me. He has bright purple striped fur and seems to be in the shape of a dome. Mommy once told me that staring isn't polite, but I can't help but stare at the monster I'm seeing now. He looks so unlike any monster I've ever seen before.
Reggie follows my gaze to the light and dark purple monster and snorts as he points out, "Hey guys, look at Mr. Purple up there. What is he supposed to be exactly? A furry dust rag or what?"
"Dust rags come in a square, Reg man, so no, not a dust rag," Javier says before looking rueful and pointing out, "They're the exact same shape as fly swatters. I've been hit by those damn things one time too many."
Reggie forgets about the purple striped monster and looks over at Javier with a surprisingly sympathetic look on his face despite the fact that his gaping jaws never quite close. Patting Javier's hand with a furry one, Reggie says, "Sorry, Jav, I'm sure it was an accident. You were probably at the wrong place at the wrong time, you know?"
"Nah, it wasn't a mistake. I'm the bug man, remember? Bugs get smacked with fly swatters. It's just part of life," Javier says with a shrug of his shoulders as he unzips his black bag and pops another pill into his mouth before handing one to Reggie without even asking if he wants one or not first. Reggie greedily grabs the pill and tosses it into his gaping jaws.
Five minutes later, Reggie and Javier are fast asleep. I want to talk about exciting things like college or Johnny, but with the two fast asleep, I'm going to have to hold these conversations with myself. I think about talking to Chip, but I feel shy around him still. He seems nice, but I don't know him very well yet. Debating whether or not to talk to him, I lean down and look at my picture of Johnny and last year's winning scare team once again. After a moment, I feel someone breathing over my shoulder and look up in surprise to see Chip looking at the photo from next to me.
"Are you looking forward to the scare games?" Chip asks me good-naturedly before putting his bag on his right side and sliding over to the bus seat directly to my right so we can talk easier.
Nodding vehemently, I almost lost my hat again as I reply, "Yes! I don't think that I've ever been this excited for anything before in my entire life! I've never been away from home before. Going to school is going to be so much fun. I just hope that I'm asked to be on one of the scare teams. I feel like nobody is going to want me on their team. Javier says that Johnny will want me on his team, but I don't think that I'm good enough to be on Johnny's team. He's so brave and strong and capable…" I trail off here before realizing that I've said too much. Daddy always warned me about talking too much. It looks like my big mouth has run away with me again. Looking sheepish, I tell Chip, "Sowwy, I said too much, didn't I?"
Unlike Reggie and Javier who give me looks like I'm crazy when I say too much, Chip just smiles contentedly at me and shakes his head, saying, "You're fine. I can imagine that going to college after not leaving your home for so long must be exciting. Javier is right though; you don't have to worry about being accepted onto a scare team or not. Johnny will want you on his team just for being an Alexander. As long as you can keep your grades up, you've got nothing to worry about."
"That's exactly what Javier said actually," I point out brightly before my face falls and I admit, "I don't know if I can keep up my grades though. I've never done any sort of studying before. It sounds hard though. What if I fail all of my classes? Will I get kicked out of the school?"
"Of course not," Chip tells me in his smooth voice. "I went to the university last year and didn't do well enough to graduate. If you fail, just try, try again, you know? It's no biggie. I know Johnny actually. I can introduce him to you and the rest of the gang if you want when we reach the school."
"You would really do that for me?" I ask, my single aqua-colored eye lighting up at the thought of getting to see Johnny as soon as I reach the school. "I would love to meet him! Actually, I've already met him. His daddy came to visit my daddy last summer and Mr. Worthington brought Johnny along for the visit. I don't think that he'll remember me though. Nobody ever remembers me…"
Chip pats my shoulder kindly and says, "You never know, Chet. Johnny's an interesting guy. There are some things that you can be positive he will or won't do and there are other things that he's unpredictable about. I thought that he'd get pissed off at me for not graduating from the university last year, but he had no hard feelings toward me since our team still won the scare games. As a matter of fact, he invited me to come back and be part of his team again this year."
"Wow! Johnny's very nice, isn't he?" I say, my idol now even more god-like in my head.
"Nice?" Chip echoes me, looking amused as he thinks this over for a moment and says, "I guess that Johnny's nice when he wants to be nice. You don't want to be around him when he's in one of his foul moods though. Things can get ugly then."
"Oh. I'm sure that Johnny would never do anything bad though," I assume automatically, unable to even consider the possibility of my Johnny doing anything bad. Hm, I just noticed that I referred to Johnny as "my Johnny". Where did that come from? It isn't as if Johnny belongs to me!
Chip doesn't comment on my last sentence and suddenly grows serious as he says in a hesitant voice, "Like I said earlier, my father knew your father. My father told me a bit about your father. I know what he's turned into, Chet. You must've had a hard life growing up. If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm here for you, alright?"
I look up at Chip in a new light and tilt my head to the side, not sure how to feel about this new bit of information. Chip knows about my daddy and his booze. I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, but I don't think that Chip will tell anyone, will he? He seems like a nice guy. He wouldn't want to embarrass me, right?
"How did your daddy find out about my daddy?" I ask, wondering if daddy brought a bottle of booze to work with him once. He never really did tell mommy, Jacky, and me why he retired so suddenly. Maybe he didn't retire after all. Maybe he got fired! I frown, realizing that maybe daddy hasn't been so truthful with during the eighteen years of my life.
"It's kind of a long story and not all that nice of one either, so I'll just tell you what happened in a nutshell. My mother also worked at Monsters Inc. at the time. I guess that your father was drunk one day because he, um, forced himself on my mother. She told my father about it. Father told Waternoose, the owner of Monsters Inc., about what happened. Waternoose fired your father and that was the end of that."
I think about what Chip just said. It doesn't seem so unrealistic that my daddy would want to breed with a pretty woman he met at the company. Feeling bad for Chip's mother since she was already married and also because I know how daddy is when he's on booze, I hang my head and apologize for something that wasn't my fault, "Sowwy."
"What are you apologizing for?" Chip asks, looking surprised at my words. "None of this was your fault. It happened before you were born probably. Look, I don't know what you've been through, but I know that living with a monster like your father can't have been easy. If you ever find yourself confused about anything or want to talk about what happened, I'll listen, alright?"
I'm very touched by Chip's words and find a tear actually forming in the corner of my eye. He's being very nice to me and isn't holding what my daddy did to his mommy against me. Smiling up at Chip, I reply, "Okay. Thanks. This is really nice of you."
"No problem," Chip says, giving me a smile that reveals his vampire-like fangs.
Shuddering slightly, I speak without thinking and say, "Those are really scary!"
Chip smiles dryly and says, "I'm glad that you think so because they seem to be the only scary thing about me. Hey, look! We've reached the university! I can see it from outside the window."
"Oh my gosh, we're actually here?!" I practically yell in my excitement. I spring to my crab-like legs and scuttle over to the window and forget all about Chip's suitcase lying on the floor in front of the window. As I scurry forward, I trip on the suitcase and crash to the ground. I'm grateful for my hard exoskeleton because it takes some of the pain away. A hand extends itself toward me and hauls me back up to my feet. Flushing slightly, I thank Chip for his help, saying, "Thanks for the help. I dunno why I'm so clumsy lately. I guess that I was just in a big hurry to see the school. Wow! There it is!"
I point excitedly in front of me with a crab claw as I get to my feet and peer out of the window, getting my first look ever at Monsters University. The school is gigantic and is painted white and blue. The lawn around the school is bright green and is swarming with students already gathered in front of the university. Whoa, I've never seen so many monsters before in my life! It looks like there are hundreds – no, wait, thousands! – of students swarming in front of the beautiful school.
Anticipation and just a little bit of fear run down my spine as I watch the students clustered outside of the school. I could easily get lost in a place this gigantic. I hope that Javier, Reggie, and Chip will help me find my way to my classes so I don't get lost. Getting lost is a bad habit of mine. I got lost in the grocery store once when daddy sent me there to pick up booze. I ended up walking in circles before a nice lady felt sorry for me and helped me find the entrance of the store.
As I'm thinking this, I take a closer look at the students standing outside of the school. Some of the monsters are big and burly and look like they're going to be good at gym. Other monsters are decked out in black and are wearing heavy eyeliner and chains. A group of six female monsters who all look relatively the same with only different colored hair and skin tones capture my attention. All six monsters are clustered around a very tall, gray-furred monster with piercing violet eyes. I inhale sharply at seeing Johnny again and suddenly have to get to him!
Forgetting where I am, I start forward excitedly and try to walk through the window. My head smacks into the hard glass, sending black circles up to greet me. I try to blink them away so I can see Johnny's handsome figure, but the black circles insist on drowning out Johnny, the school, and even the bus. Before I can realize what's happened, I'm lying flat on my back with my head in la la land. I guess that walking through a window wasn't such a good idea after all…
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