Saints-Fan-12: That's a good question! Do you think that he'll get to run into Sulley? The more time that they spend together, the better in my opinion! Thanks for reviewing!
honorstudent97: Fakey endings suck! Nobody likes them. D: I'm glad that I'm not the only one impatient for Finding Dory! Say, are you going to see Planes?
jade4563: Nooooo, don't go back to college - I'm going to miss you! *hugs* But in all seriousness, good luck with that! Are you excited, nervous, or a combination of both for it? And yeah, it is surprising that Randall didn't think of contacts earlier. Maybe he didn't think about them because they're kind of expensive? I would be stressed out too with Funk and Mike pestering me constantly as well. Poor Randall. Thanks for reading!
GhostlyMayhem: Yay, a new reviewer! I absolutely love getting new reviewers, so I can't even tell you how happy I am to receive your review, especially since you're not much of a reviewer (I don't blame you there - I'm the same way, haha). So you read this story all in a few hours, huh? You amaze me! I would've gotten bored after chapter three. :P Personally, I didn't like the way MU portrayed Randall at all. I prefer MI Randall to MU Randall by a long shot. Are you the same? It's great to meet another SulleyxRandall shipper. They're not my OTP, but I adore the pairing. I have no idea how I update so fast. I guess that I've always wanted to become an author and I try to stay on top of my FF page as often as I can. I hate getting behind with stories. It drives me crazy. xP Good luck with the community college! I should probably be going to college this fall, but nah, I'm just going to end up working at a gas station and keep on dreaming about becoming an author probably. Thanks again for your super nice review! I really appreciate it. :)
Villains' Bad Girl: Omg, I love the cutie kappa scene and the charity scene! xD I like that one part, "This guy hates charity!" But anyway, is Sulley still your favorite character? I wanna get the movie when it comes out on DVD!
Remy: Lol, so you didn't used to study much? What changed that? I've never been much of a studier. I'm lazy at heart, I guess. The Dean is actually one of my favorite characters! I admit that I made her a bit nicer in this story than she was in the movie, but I wrote this before seeing the film, so yeah. I agree with you though; she usually did have a point in the film and I thought that Mike and Sulley were quite disrespectful to her. What do you think about that? Hope you like this next chapter!
LuluCalliope: I guess that I could, but last time that I did that, my PM box got flooded and I couldn't keep up with all of the messages and it got kind of stressful tbh. With my new situation, I can barely keep up with updates.
AL19: Hehe, you should definitely re-watch it sometime! I think that I've seen it three times, but now I mostly just watch my favorite parts since I've got close to the whole thing memorized. I'm going to guess that OK was your favorite fraternity then. Am I right? Don't worry, I misheard it the first time too. A friend of mine on Tumblr told me that it was "Mike" not "mate". And aw, thanks! What chapter are you on if you don't mind my asking?
90s Total Drama Pokemon: You're so welcome! I'll make the story as long as I possibly can - I promise! I hope that Funk can get over his jealous, or if he can't, that it doesn't affect Randall and Sulley too much, you know? Those two deserve to be together! Guess what? This fic is actually going to cover what happens after Randall gets banished to the human world! I'm a huge fan of fluff as well. Romance is definitely my thing. I take it that you like it too? *high fives you for being my fellow romance fan* I'll definitely put the frond stroking bit into the story! Thanks for reading!
BloodRedRoses04: I'm so glad to hear that you liked reading about the Dean! Contacts are pretty cool, aren't they? I've worn them for ten years now. Hope you like this chapter!
marioandsonicFTW: Yeah, Randy is definitely going to look more like his MI self now! I actually like his MI look better than his MU look even though he's cuter in MU. How about you? And yeah, Sonic Lost World looks awesome, but I don't have a wii u. D: Do you have one?
Johnny2b: It's fine now, I don't have any problems with them anymore with my new account.
James95: It's awesome to hear that you're still loving the story! It is a surprise that Randy hasn't snapped yet with Fungus and Doom always on his case! Do you think that he's going to snap soon? Thanks for reading this!
Mysterious: Uh oh, weird noises in your room? Did you ever figure out what they were coming from? I hate hearing weird noises in my room. *shudders* Cream is cute! I hate her mother, Vanilla, though. What do you think of her? I hate how Sonic X pairs her with Vector. It's so weird! And I agree - we definitely need more Shadaria fics! Thanks for reading this!
Mickfang27: I guess that the last chapter answers your question about Randall and the contacts then, huh? It was always my theory that he wore contacts in Monsters Inc. That is a good question about who would lead the dance. I think that I can see Sulley leading, but I'm not sure. What do you think? And Randall should totally get back at Wazowski! He deserves that. *nods* Sullivan is a cool name! I like it almost as much as I like Boggivan. I'm still looking for a job. I wasted all afternoon at the piercing place today though. Oops. :P Thanks for commenting!
badberry123: Glad to hear that you liked the chapter and Randall's camouflaging lesson! The more that I think about it, the more that I want to be able to camouflage! It's a pretty epic ability, don't you think? I'm happy to hear that you liked Randall's dream as well. Dreaming is kind of a constant theme in this story now that I think about it. Haha, I think that Chet wanted Javier to kiss Reggie! What do you think? Chet's a little matchmaker apparently. Re-writes are kind of boring, I agree. It would be like reading a movie script (something that I never plan to do)! I felt sorry for Reg when I wrote the bit where he finds out about Jav and Chip. He's heartbroken for a bit and of course he's mad at Javier over the situation. There's always drama going on with those two! I do write a lot! It's always been my dream to become an author and I know that I'll never become an author unless I spend a lot of time writing, you know? Hm...that's a good question about what movie we should see at the cinema! What are your favorite movie genres? Oh my god, I love your idea about looking for shooting stars afterward! If we see one, we need to make a wish! I'm really superstitious, haha. I pair Rouge and Knuckles as well! I love the way they tease each other. :P I pair Shadow with Maria or with Mephiles. Weird pairings, I know. :P I love your ideas for baseball! You totally need to write an epic Monsters baseball game! That would be so fun to read! Thanks for reading. :)
Chapter LIII
The next day, I wake up and remember that I don't have morning class but that I can make one five minute phone call home today. Anxious to speak to my mother again, especially after the conversation I had with her regarding the "little red people", I practically fly out of bed and don't bother to send my homework a look before I turn out of my dorm room and start down the hallway that leads me to my secret elevator. Yup, nobody knows about the elevator yet. Well, nobody except for Funk and me as far as I know.
Speaking of Funk, I haven't seen him for a day and a half. I guess that's not really something to get concerned about, but Fungus is a clingy sort of monster. He usually forces me to see him whether I want to or not within a twenty-four hour time range. Not seeing the little guy is more unusual than usual.
Figuring that I won't get paranoid and will only start worrying about Funk if I don't see him at all today or over the weekend, I find myself at the elevator. I hit the red button next to it before clamoring inside the tightly enclosed space and hitting the button that will lead me to the main floor of the university. From there, I scurry straight toward the tall, heavy doors that lead to the front of Monsters University. It's not all that crowded in the halls today. I've noticed that Fridays tend to be a slower day for most of the students. Like me, a lot of them don't have morning classes.
I reach the heavy doors to the school entrance and heave them open before stepping outside into a bright autumn day. The sun is shining and it feels more like summer than fall if you want my honest opinion. I join the long line of students clustered behind the telephone booth and notice Professor Knight standing next to it as usual to monitor the time that the students spend on the phone and whatnot.
Waiting for my turn to make my phone call seems to take forever even though I haven't been standing here all that long. By the time ten minutes is up, I find myself at the end of the line. When Professor Knight sees me, I get the warm greeting that I was expecting.
"Randy, my boy, how are you?" the Professor booms in his cheerful, happy-go-lucky voice.
"I'm fine," I reply in a mood to skip the niceties so I can get straight to my phone conversation. I edge toward the glass doorway to the telephone booth and ask sheepishly, "Can I use the phone now?"
"Of course you can. I hope that you're able to get connected to whoever you're trying to get connected to. Oh, and I just have to say that I'm itching to see how you did on last week's homework. Not many of my other students seemed to understand the concepts of addition and subtraction, which is really a shame. They aren't that hard of subjects to comprehend, don't you think?" Professor Knight asks me, steering our conversation over to math like he is known to do.
"Yes, sir," I reply succinctly before sliding open the glass door to the phone booth and shutting it behind me to leave Professor Knight alone with his arithmetic-based mind. All alone, I take a deep breath and try and calm the anticipation tingling through my veins as I reach forward excitedly and slam my finger into the digits that make up my mother's phone number. After that, I cram the phone to my ear and wait.
I wait, wait, and wait some more. Starting to get nervous, I chew on my lip and wonder if my mother is going to pick up or not. On the very last beep, my mother finally decides to pick up the phone. I sigh with relief, but wonder why she always has to wait until the very last second to pick up the damn phone!
"Hello, mother," I say before my mother can say anything. "How have you been?"
"Oh, hello Russell. It's nice of you to call. I've been a little lonely lately. There's Susan and Melinda to keep me company, of course, but it's just not the same as having you around. Things have been so different here ever since my son left for college. Now what was his name again? Hm…" my mother trails off into silence, leaving me dumbfounded.
All I can do is stare at the phone for a long minute while I decide what to say next. Mother clearly doesn't know who I am, which is a problem. I could easily solve her little name mismatch, but instead I decide to play along with her game. In all my life, I have never met Russell, Susan, or Melinda. As far as I know, mother has no friends.
"Tell me more about Susan and Melinda," I say, pretending to be the unknown Russell for the time being. "How have the two of them been?"
"Fine, fine," mother says. "They read to me, tell me stories, and they know things."
"Know things?" I repeat, starting to get a bad gut feeling about all of this. Mother seems to be losing her memory at a very fast rate. Well, either her memory or her mind. I hate to think of which one it is. Going on, I add, "What sorts of things do they know? Where did you meet, um, Susan and Melinda?"
"Meet them? Why, you don't meet them someplace! That's silly," my mother laughs a light, tingling laugh that would have been beautiful if she wasn't slowly losing her memory. …Or okay, fine, I admit that she's losing her mind. Mother continues on, "The little red people don't meet you anywhere. They just come to you, of course."
At this point, my mother is making no sense at all and I decide to correct her before I get a detailed account on nonexistent little red people. Frowning to myself, I inform her, "Mother, this isn't Russell. This is Randall Boggs. You know, your son?"
"Ah, Randall! Of course it's you. I should have recognized your voice right away," mother tells me, apparently recognizing me only after I've told her my identity. I try not to feel too hurt about this. After all, I have tough scales. Mother continues on in a chipper voice, "How Is school going for you, Randy? Is there anything new or exciting going on?"
"Eh, not a lot," I reply, trying to search my mind for something interesting to tell mother about. The only interesting/important thing I can think to tell her about are the recent disappearances, but I don't think that worrying mother is such a good idea. I finally come up with something I can tell mother about that is somewhat interesting and say, "I'm learning to camouflage myself at a second's notice. Dean Hardscrabble says that I might end up being the school's best camouflager."
"That's very nice to hear," mother says, her voice sounding proud, but also confused. I can tell that there's something bothering her, so I wait for her sentence that is sure to follow. There are a few seconds before she asks the question that's obviously been on her mind, "Who is this Dean Hardscrabble?"
I flinch at being asked such an obvious question. Keeping my worry about her memory to myself, I inform mother as if I am informing a particularly dumb child about some widely known fact, "Dean Hardscrabble is the headmistress of the school. She owns the university and also teaches our scaring classes. The Dean recommended that I get glasses so I can camouflage without leaving purple glasses floating midair."
I expect mother to smile or laugh, but she doesn't. Instead, she doesn't say anything for a long moment. When mother finally speaks, her voice is etched with worry as she points out, "Contacts are expensive. I'm not sure that we can afford contacts right now. You'll have to let me know how much they are before you decide to get them."
I frown and realize that mother is right. Contacts are expensive, well, at least way more expensive than glasses anyway. I try not to sigh in disappointment as I say, "Yeah, I'll do that. I guess that I'll probably just have to end up taking off my glasses whenever I try to camouflage." Wanting to change the subject to something a little less depressing, I randomly point out, "There's an autumn dance being held at the school here in two weeks."
"A school dance? That's very exciting!" mother bubbles, apparently much more interested in the school dance than in me becoming the school's best camouflager. Oh well, mothers will be mothers. I listen with a small smile of irony dancing on my lips as mother continues on about the dance, "So have you found a partner for this dance yet? Are you planning on doing anything special with her before the event?"
I only hesitate for a moment before telling her the truth, "I'm not going with a girl actually. None of them around here have caught my eye. I'm just going with a friend. Sullivan, actually. I think that I might have told you about him. Did I?"
"Sullivan, Sullivan, Sullivan," my mother murmurs three times to herself in a thoughtful voice. For some reason, I like the way she says Sullivan's name. It drips like honey off of her tongue. "I don't believe that you have mentioned him before, but maybe you have and I just forgot. Tell me more about this Sullivan. What is he like?"
Even if I did tell mother about Sullivan last week, she wouldn't have remembered him. I decide to be patient with her and say, "Well, he's a lot different than me and hangs out with a completely different group of kids. He's popular, the school's top scarer, and a nice guy. I'm a loner, but then again, I've always been a loner, so no surprise there, huh?"
"I've always been a bit of a loner too, dear. There's nothing wrong with that," mother tells me before her voice takes on a mischievous edge and she says, "So you're going with this Sullivan as friends to the dance then?"
"Yeah, pretty much," I reply, not sure where this conversation is headed anymore. "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know why. It just seems like maybe this Sullivan isn't so much of a 'friend' to you after all," mother says, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Well, now you know which side of the family I get my sarcasm from. Mother goes on, "Sullivan just so happens to be the school's top scarer and all that you'll never be. He seems like your idol to put it bluntly. Maybe you're in love with him."
My eyes practically bulge out of their sockets as I stare at the phone in alarm, exclaiming, "Wha…?! No, of course not! I'm not in love with Sullivan for god's sake! He's just my friend. Like I said, he's just a nice guy."
"You seem awfully defensive about the whole thing," mother says, a knowing tone in her voice. "You know, I don't really care who you decide to love. It's completely your choice whether the lucky monster is male or female. Love whoever you want to love. I'll always support you on that."
"Uh, okay," I reply awkwardly, never having talked to my mother about my sexuality before and feeling a little weird about doing it now. Figuring that my five minutes are almost up and that I should probably get talking about the more important matters before I have to hang up, I change the subject and say, "So mom, these little red people…I don't particularly want you talking to them anymore."
"But why not?" mother asks, a bit of hurt and shock in her voice. I chew my lip at just how quickly she comes to her invisible friends' defense. "They're the only ones I have around to keep me company and at least they're nice to me. Why wouldn't you want me talking to them?"
"It's because…um…well…" I start out, unsure how to tell mother that her friends are invisible. After trying and failing to come up with a good lie regarding why I don't want her talking with her so-called friends, I admit, "It's because your friends don't exist, mother."
"Why, that's a horrible thing to say, Randall Boggs!" mother says, using my full name, which is only something that she does when she's really upset with me. I cringe as she continues on, "The little red people are my friends and I don't know what I'd do without them! You leave me here all alone while you go off to college and then you expect me to say goodbye to my friends? I think not!"
Beep! I stare at the phone in horror as I realize that my mother just hung up on me. My god, did I really make her that upset? Worried that she might go and do something stupid, I hurriedly slam my fingers back into the digits and try to ring my mother a second time. Nothing happens. Annoyed, I punch the digits even harder and try again. Still nothing. I'm about to try calling mother for a fourth time when Professor Knight creaks the glass door to the telephone booth open.
"Randall? I'm afraid that your five minutes are up. That's why the call isn't going through," Professor Knight explains. He catches a glimpse of my red-cheeked, frustrated face and adds, "Are you alright, Mr. Boggs?"
"Oh yeah, just fine," I reply, my voice teetering on the sardonic side as I think to myself about how my mother is losing her mind and her memory and how she'd rather have her little red friends than me around to keep me company. Things are definitely just "fine".
"Good to hear," Professor Knight says, obviously not privy to my sarcastic thoughts. "Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you on Monday. Keep up the good work you've been doing so far this year."
"Uh huh, sure," I reply distractedly, my mind on anything but arithmetic as I turn and start away from the telephone booth back to the school. My mother is definitely losing it and I just don't know what to do for her. If I quit the university, we'll never have any hope of a better future together. If I don't quit the university, what's going to happen to my mother though? She clearly needs help and she's not going to get it on her own. I need to find a way to get her to a doctor, but how?
My mind swims with unanswered questions and I absentmindedly bump into several monsters on my way back inside the school. I decide not to quit the university, but I do make one decision. I will find a way to visit my mother on a weekend and get her to the doctor if it's the last thing I do.
Review please! :)
