Chapter 4
The next few weeks had been filled with some of the best moments Thomas had had since arriving at Monsters University. Randall and him were friends. Not just the kind of friends that greeted one another in the halls or hung out every now and then. They were the kind of friends that walked together after classes, went to parties together and studied together.
What Thomas had been apprehensive about, had led to all sorts of new possibilities which he hadn't known he'd been pining for. He finally had a real friend. Someone he could hang out with whenever he wanted, talk to naturally and look out for. He hadn't seen the value in befriending Randall at first, but it quickly became apparent to him after doing so.
Not only did his grades in theory go up, but he had someone he could talk to without holding back. Something he hadn't had in years. That was more important than anything else Randall offered him.
Even the batch of cupcakes the lizard now held in front of him at his door.
"This is… a very pleasant surprise." Thomas stated dumbly as he let Randall into his room.
The lizard snaked in quickly, keeping the tray packed with cupcakes level the entire way.
"It was meant to be," he dropped the tray onto Thomas' desk, before turning back to the red monster with his hands on his hips, "its celebratory food."
Thomas shut the door.
"Oh? What are we celebrating?"
"Your B+!"
"What?"
"You haven't checked the results?"
"It's up already?"
"You got a B+."
"I did?"
"Yeah!"
Thomas ears shot up and he threw his arms in the air.
"What!"
Randall laughed at the red monsters excitement. He'd been working hard with him for weeks in private tutoring to get his marks above C, and it'd finally happened.
Thomas was swiftly calmed when his tail knocked over a chair. His ecstatic smile remained on his face though.
"Wait till my dad hears this." He flopped onto his bed, grabbing a cupcake and stuffing the whole thing into his mouth. When Thomas had told Randall he didn't have a sweet tooth, the lizard had tried his best to make some cupcakes with the least amount of icing sugar in them. Randall felt the result was too bitter, but Thomas liked it just fine. Since then he'd been baking with significantly less icing sugar. He didn't complain either, it was easier on his wallet.
"So what did you get?"
"A," Randall replied quickly, "just short of the plus."
"Nice."
"If we keep this up, the exam won't be a problem at all." Randall crawled onto a chair and pushed off the floor, spinning it a couple of times.
The big exam was less than a week away, looming over the heads of students. Thomas was glad one of them was confident about the exams, because he certainly wasn't. The words of Dean Hardscrabble had been etched into his head and repeated like a broken record for the past month.
'Fail that exam, and you are out of the scaring program.'
He knew it wasn't likely- especially with Randall's help- that he'd fail, but the possibility was nerve wrecking. His father had been pleased with his progress in theory and seemed more invested in the conversations about Thomas becoming a scarer.
"I hope so." Was all Thomas said.
They both sat in silence. It wasn't the silence filled with a mounting need to say something- anything in order to break it. More like the comfortable kind that is shared between two people who don't feel the need to fill it with anything. It came naturally.
It was one of the ways that Thomas knew for sure that Randall would be a good friend.
It was eventually broken by Randall.
"Hey, Thomas."
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you have a girlfriend?"
Thomas chuckled.
"What? You want to third wheel?"
"As if! No, I'm just curious, since- y'know, whenever you're at a party it's not like you never get an opportunity."
"An opportunity?" Thomas frowned, "you make it sound like a girlfriend is something I just need to go out and grab. Nah, picking up chicks is a fine art," Thomas emphasized the word with his fingers, "the better question is: where's your girlfriend?"
"You're hilarious," Randall drawled, "maybe I'm just waiting for the right moment to ask them out."
"So you've found someone?" Thomas' face broke into a sly grin as he watched the flustered look on Randall's face worsen.
"Well…"
"Is she hot?"
"Well?"
"…Yeah."
"Is she nice?"
"Yeah."
"Does she know you exist?"
"Yeah."
"Does she have a name?"
"Yeah."
"Are you gonna tell me?"
"No."
Thomas shrugged, he got more out of the lizard than he bargained for. He couldn't help teasing though.
"You embarrassed by her? I won't judge."
Randall didn't answer.
"Be like that then," Thomas scoffed, "sure sounds like quite a catch. How come you haven't reeled her in yet?"
Randall hesitated for a moment.
"I… I'm not sure. Uncertainty?"
"That she's not into you?"
"I guess."
Thomas straightened up, providing Randall with a contemplative look. He appeared a little lost and unsure. He wondered how long he'd been thinking about this.
"Well- from what I've heard she sounds like the perfect girl, which means that she won't stay single for long. You'd better make a move soon otherwise you'll be competing with another guy," Thomas laughed, "if that's the case already I could always change the others guy's mind." He punched his palm a couple of times.
Randall snorted.
"Thanks but I'd rather not see you get beaten up."
Thomas' smile disappeared and he huffed. Randall laughed. "But you're right," the lizard continued, "won't know until I've asked."
"If you wanna make a deadline, there's gonna be a party in frat row after the big exam. Good chance your girl's gonna be there."
Randall nodded pensively.
"Yeah, I- yeah. That'll work."
Thomas smiled. He hoped Randall would find someone that treated him right. God knew he deserved it.
Fear chilled the maroon monster as he took each step up the staircase to the scare building. Its entrance seemed menacing in light of the sunny day out. From the moment he woke up till the moment he arrived, Thomas had been a nervous wreck. Over the span of he last few days, Randall and Thomas -joined by Mike during four of them- had been binge studying, preparing themselves for the exam. Randall was confident but Thomas was completely terrified, a vulnerability he didn't feel very often.
The stakes had never been this high before. This was literally his future on the line. If he screwed up there would be no second chances, no rewrites and no pity.
Students filtered in slowly from the surrounding quad, all desperately paging through textbooks, downing coffee or walking like zombies. Everyone was a mess.
Except Randall Boggs and Michael Wazowski.
The duo climbed up the steps, both asking one another questions enthusiastically. They passed right by Thomas, not registering his existence. Thomas would have found it amusing if he wasn't so stressed.
Then he saw Sullivan walk by with a JOX member, Percy Boleslaw- a deep purple cyclops with two huge horns. They were snickering about something. The blue monster often hung out with at least one member of the JOX most of the time, predominantly Percy and a yellow monster named Dirk Pratt, who was in their class. He seemed in fit in with the fraternity quite well.
Percy must have caught Thomas' gaze because he bumped Sullivan and nodded in the red monster's direction. Sullivan smiled when he saw Thomas, a gesture Thomas didn't quite understand. The duo approached him.
"Thomas, how's it going?" Sullivan's voice was friendly and carefree. He didn't seem as perturbed about the exam like everyone else was.
"Good as it can be with the exam and all." Thomas replied, putting on a polite smile himself.
"Oh yeah, it's pretty heavy, right? We fail then we get kicked out...
Oh yeah, this is Percy." He indicated to the monster beside him, who threw in a 'hey'.
Thomas acknowledged Percy and turned back to Sullivan.
"Enjoying the frat life?"
"You don't know what you're missing. Its great!"
Thomas released a hollow laugh.
"You're right. I don't."
Sullivan frowned.
"Hey, I didn't mean it like that."
"Course not, I'm sure you meant well." Thomas let his words taper off, hanging in the air.
There was a silence afterward and Thomas suddenly felt very misplaced. Sullivan was a douchebag but it wasn't alright to start something like this in front of his fraternity brother.
"Did I do something to piss you off, Thomas?" Sullivan asked, his expression showing confusion. It made the red monster even uneasier. His ears drooped.
"Nah… I'm sorry, Sullivan," Thomas dragged a hand across his face, "I'm being an asshole."
The blue monster snorted.
"Yeah... anyways, good luck for the test," he begun walking off, "put that Ghola name to good use." He called over his shoulder.
"Sure." Thomas muttered back. His nervousness had died down somewhat, replaced instead by a disturbed confusion. Sullivan wasn't the bad guy, with the way Thomas was going on he was the bad guy. He had to make more of an effort to be nicer next time they spoke.
Then he caught sight of red in his peripheral. He turned to see a mob of ROR members on their way through the quad, approaching the building. Thomas frowned. None of their members were doing an exam today, why would they come? A bad feeling regarding Randall entered his head. They hadn't seen much of the fraternity since Thomas defended Randall outside the café. He couldn't help but wonder if they came to pay their dues.
Thomas eventually shook it off, labeling the idea as ridiculous and entered the hall, soon finding Mike and Randall in the front row whispering to one another. Professor Knight had begun setting the simulator up at this point.
"Randy. Mike." Thomas greeted the two as he took a seat.
"Hey, Thomas, where have you been?"
'Making a fool of myself.'
"Just got here now, what did I miss?"
"Not much. I think he's about to give us a run down now."
Mike shushed them both as the curtains were drawn across the room, leaving it dim. Professor Knight explained the simulator's difficulty had been increased and revealed that the Dean would be watching. Thomas immediately felt his nerves prickle at that.
Then it begun.
Monsters went up one by one into the simulator, getting a run down of the child they were supposed to be scaring, including where they were from and what their fears were. The scarer would then be required to state the type of scare they would use before demonstrating. Mike didn't peel his eye away from his book, instead quietly asking himself questions and victoriously celebrating every time he answered correctly.
Randall was also looking at his book but seemed to sense something was off with Thomas.
"Thomas." He whispered.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
The question struck Thomas as strange. He gave Randall an imploring look, which was shot right back at him. He glanced back and saw the RORs had entered and claimed seats in the very back row.
"I'll explain later." Was all that he said.
Randall nodded.
"I'm so nervous."
Thomas chuckled.
"You have no room to say that. You've got this in the bag."
Randall chucked as well.
"Doesn't help my nerves though."
'Me too.' Thomas thought.
They sat in silence, watching as each student went up for their turn. Some of the scares were almost laughable due to poor execution. Others just straight up didn't use the right tactic. Thomas was glad he could point that out- it meant he was somewhat ready. He hoped he'd get a a fairly simple kid to scare.
Just then, Thomas heard a poorly concealed whisper behind him, followed by a snicker. It was Sullivan.
The blue monster walked down to the floor and passed by Thomas with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Thomas already knew whatever he was planning wasn't pleasant. As he passed by Mike, he let his hand knock against the pile of books he had stacked atop the small desk every seat was fitted with. They cluttered to the floor. All three of the seated monster stared after the perpetrator.
"Hey, do you mind?" Mike muttered with a narrowed eye.
Sullivan stopped beside the framework for the seats.
"Don't mind at all." He replied carelessly.
He then proceeded to faux scare, letting out quiet roars as he practiced. And just when Thomas had thought that maybe Sullivan wasn't that bad of a guy. Mike got up and gathered his books angrily.
Randall had gotten up, decisiveness in his voice as he said, "C'mon, let's just move." He walked away, Thomas followed. It was the wisest thing to do. When they reached halfway across the hall, Thomas looked back to see Mike with all his books bundled under his arm, shock on his face.
Now what?
The green monster turned on his heel and marched back to Sullivan and attempted to scare him. It was pitiful.
Sullivan's face grew serious for a moment as he stepped up to Mike, before performing the same type of scare on Mike, who flinched.
"Randall." Thomas poked the lizard's shoulder. They had already taken seats on the other side of the hall and Randall didn't seem to be perturbed about the location of his roommate. Randall looked up at Thomas, who pointed at the two monsters making faces at one another.
"What are they…?" He frowned.
Their mock growls were steadily becoming louder, causing a few students to look their way curiously. Randall looked up to the balcony from which Dean Hardscrabble watched. Her gaze shifted from the scare simulator to the monsters below. This was going to get out of hand quickly if they didn't stop their little testosterone match.
And just as expected, Sullivan took a step back, tripping over one of Mikes books, sending the blue giant sprawling backwards. Randall made a little sound as the monster's back connected with- unbelievably- the Dean's scream canister. Thomas only knew its importance because Randall had told him it was the very can that broke the all time scare record.
That very can tumbled noisily to the floor. Gasps sounded around the room, Thomas and Randall adding to the choir. Then everything significantly worsened. A scream pierced the room, bouncing off the walls and ceiling harshly. Immediately, Thomas was deaf. The only sound that existed then was that shrill shriek that sent needles into his brain. He clapped his hands over his ears as he watched the can fly upwards.
It hit the roof and rebounded across the room, flying through the air dangerously as it barely missed the heads of students. The lights in the room flickered as it passed. After bouncing across the hall once or twice more, it came to a rest at Mike and Sullivan's feet, where it promptly fell apart.
The silence was deafening.
Then Hardscrabble came down from her perch whereupon she picked the remainder of the canister up. Thomas just barely saw the figure of Randall disappear out the corner of his eye.
Mike and Sullivan apologized, resulting in a shockingly calm response from the Dean.
She then proceeded to 'continue' the exams, questioning both Mike and Sullivan much in the same way professor Knight did. She didn't give Mike a chance to perform his scare and told Sullivan he shouldn't continue in the program because of his lack of knowledge. Sullivan gave the green monster one last glare before storming out, Percy following. Hardscrabble then informed Mike that he wasn't scary and that the university couldn't help him. And then, it was over.
Hardscrabble left, everyone took their seats and professor Knight continued with the exam. Randall and Thomas both sat quietly beside one another, contemplating what happened. Thomas detested Sullivan and wasn't fond of Mike, but the manner in which they were kicked from the program was shocking. It was so sudden, matter of fact. Emotionless.
Thomas was stunned, but Randall was comparatively more overwhelmed. It made sense, Mike was his roommate and first friend here at MU. They studied together and hung out often enough. To see him belittled and cast aside like that must have been hard. The maroon monster finally decided they'd been moping for too long. They had an exam to pass after all.
"You ready?" He whispered over to Randall, who merely shrugged.
"I… no. I'm not ready."
"Randy," Thomas sighed, "you got to get your head out of it. There's no point in worrying about it now."
The lizard gave him an annoyed glance and shook his head.
"I know. I'm just caught up on how easy it was for Hardscrabble to kick them out. You don't get that Mike's been working towards this his whole life."
Thomas wanted to point out it was his own fault but decided against it. It wouldn't help to cause an argument.
"If we fail, it'll be just as empty." Randall suddenly said, eyes focused on the simulator.
He was right. The Dean had probably given Mike and Sullivan more of a climatical ending to their studies than any of them would get. If they failed they would get a sheet of paper. That was it. No second chances.
No rewrites.
No pity.
"Hey, where did that come from? You were the confident one a couple of minutes ago."
Randall gave a small smile.
"Yeah, but I'm not only worried about me" he turned to the simulator, "I'm scared for you too."
The furry monster's ears drooped upon hearing this. "Randy, c'mon. I'll be fine. You tutored me so there's no way I can fail."
That wasn't enough. If he let what happened earlier get to him, no amount of tutoring could save him.
"I hope so." Randall replied silently.
Time went on and before they knew it, Thomas was called. He nervously walked up, getting a reassuring comment from Randall. Soon he was up on the stage, looking down at Knight. Now that Hardscrabble was gone, his nerves could ease.
"I'm a five year old boy from Kentucky, afraid of dogs and crocodiles. What scare do you use?" Professor Knight drawled.
Dogs and crocodiles? Two choices for each since Thomas didn't have the appropriate anatomy. Dogs would either be a snarl or a howl. Crocodile could mean a hiss or a snap. Snap seemed like a better option, since it wouldn't contrast with the snarl or howl. The fact that Thomas wasn't a very good hisser also deterred him. But what about the dog? Thomas' brow furrowed as he thought. After a moment he decided to go with his gut. It was usually right, right?
"An extended snarling snap." Thomas answered.
Knight made a note.
"Demonstrate."
Thomas moved to the door, taking a deep breath as he pulled it open, careful to shut it quietly behind him. He had to break this up into parts for himself. Handle a bit at a time.
First he'd need to reach the bed. Simple. There were no obstacles. Next he had to get a good growl going and hold it until the kid was lucid.
After that it was a matter of going louder until he'd break off with a snap of his jaw. The growl shouldn't be too hard, it was just getting the snap at the right moment.
With a small nod to himself, Thomas dropped down on all fours and crawled across the floor, reaching the bedpost in a matter of a second. He let out a silent breath before taking in a deep one. Then he eased himself into a growl, slow and low. The sound was enough to stir the fake child it seemed. Thomas decided to start increasing the volume, growing louder each second. His ears flattened against his head and his fur bristled and puffed up as he pulled himself up and over the end of the bed. A second before the child started screaming, he lunged forward, snapping his jaws out in front of it.
A shrill shriek sounded- nothing compared to a real human scream, he knew now. Thomas turned and left the room hastily. He had no real reason to, since it was just practice, but he felt he had to, like he could leave the nervousness behind. By this point he was panting, eyes wide.
"Thank you." Professor Knight called out.
He was done.
"Thank God." Thomas sighed. He looked up to see the scare meter, before he could think better of it. He blinked in shock. An average so far for the other students had been around a sixty, maybe seventy percent. Thomas had his a little over eighty.
He smiled dumbly all the way over to Randall, who smiled even more so.
"Thomas, that was amazing!" He beamed.
"I'm just as surprised as you are, buddy." Thomas chortled.
"Liar."
"Hah, yeah. I was pretty awesome."
"Indeed." Randall and Thomas turn to the new voice. Both are surprised to find it belonged to none other than Johnny Worthington. Thomas felt his blood chill a bit. He'd forgotten they were here after the canister incident. The rest of the group was nowhere to be seen though.
Randall seemed to literally pale when he set eyes on the ROR president.
"That was impressive. Johnny Worthington." The monster reached out a hand, which Thomas took after a moment.
"Thomas Ghola."
"Good to finally meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you." The demon-like monster's eyes flicked to Randall for a moment.
"All good I hope."
"Mostly. Anyway," Johnny shrugged, "we were wondering if you were interested in joining Roar Omega Roar."
The question was so laid back and offhanded it took a second for Thomas to really grasp what he was asking.
"What?"
"We'd be glad to have you." The burgundy monster repeated, a confident smile on his face.
Thomas could barely fathom it. He was being asked to join the best fraternity on campus. They must have come here scouting the talent. That meant he was their talent. He impressed the president.
Just like that, he'd been asked to join.
Just like that.
"Why?" Thomas suddenly grew suspicious.
"Well," Johnny shrugged, "you were good. We have the best scaring students in our fraternity and you seem like the best freshmen here."
The best? Was he seriously that good. Knight didn't seem so impressed. The look of doubt must have been clear on Thomas' face because Johnny chuckled.
"I'm surprised you're so shocked. Believe me when I say I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think you had what it took."
He meant it.
Thomas' ears perked a bit.
This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He was finally asked to join a frat. And not just anyone either. Roar Omega Roar.
He didn't expect this at all. And that thought alone made Thomas pause. Was this really a good idea? It was the vice president who'd harassed Randall. All the other stories he'd heard about the egotistical maniacs that comprised the team swam around in his head. Thomas hadn't believed them then. They were unfounded and a bit far fetched. After the incident outside United café however made them sound a little believable. Thomas knew Johnny was a bit overconfident and somewhat insensitive, but was that a valid reason to persecute the entire team?
No. It wasn't.
Thomas opened his mouth to answer, but it seemed Johnny had already noticed his hesitance. The demon monster held a hand up.
"If you want to think it over, then go ahead- no rush. I want you to make the right decision because when you join there's no backing out."
No backing out? What did that mean?
"I'd best get going," Johnny's massive lower teeth swayed as he spoke, "hope I'll see you around soon, Ghola." He winked before turning to leave.
Thomas watched him go, his lips taunt. Randall let out a breath beside him.
"Wow."
"Yeah," Thomas said quietly, "wow."
So you can probably tell by now that Johnny didn't acknowledge Sullivan after catching Archie. Instead, Sullivan went with his best choice and that was Big Red and the JOX which felt like a better fit for him compared to the RORs. I tried to make the RORs out to be a little less pompous than they appeared in the movie, giving Johnny some caution so that he didn't invite Sullivan straight off the bat.
Should shake things up for how the rest of the story pans out.
In a good way. I hope.