Getting back to her tiny dorm felt more like a dream than a reality. Everything felt a little… spacey since she left Frat Row. She hardly registered her surroundings on the walk back. The scream cans had been taken care of in her absence, so thankfully she was allowed to go straight home.
Her roommate hadn't returned yet. It was almost 9:30pm, and there were classes tomorrow. Welp, if she wanted to stay up late at a frat party, that's her problem.
Leasa roughly fell into a chair next to her desk. She ran a hand down her face, but as soon as she felt her glasses, she slapped them against the desks surface in anger.
The hinges between the rim and temple were pretty shaken up, and the glass frames were scratched and cracked. All from the fall. If she ever catches those two freshmen again she would tear them apart.
There was no fixing this. An angry growl escaped Leasa's throat as she threw herself face first into her pillow. After a few minutes of angry sobbing and trying to suffocate herself, she finally pulls herself together.
—Her phone rang. There was only one person who would call her at this time. 'Not now, Celia…'
Leasa couldn't ignore Celia even if she tried, and as much as she'd like to at the moment, she grabs the phone, answering Celia's call.
"Hey- oh my ghoul!" Celia gasped, seeing Leasa's tear stricken face. Even her snake hair looked shocked.
"Yeah, I know. Thanks." Leasa replied dully, her voice dry and cracking.
"What happened?" Celia asked, still in disbelief. She's seen Leasa be overcome by emotion before, but for the last year, Leasa's been like a machine, nothing phasing her enough to bring out tears.
"I yelled at Worthington today." Leasa confessed. She didn't feel bad, not one bit, and she probably never will. But the emotional outburst did a number on her, along with the fact other monsters saw it. Now, she feels completely stumped.
"Oh, yeah? Wait- You did what?"
"…Yup." Leasa felt a weak smile play on her lips. It kinda felt good.
"…And how's he doing?" Celia asked hesitantly. She didn't really know if Leasa would blow up at her for asking such a question, but she's just gotta know.
Leasa lets out a breath. She slowly turns her face into her pillow; and screams.
"Oh, so he's doing alright then?" Celia concluded. It was a bit amusing to see this display over a monster Leasa swore she would loath forever. It reminded her of their freshman year.
Leasa let out a few muffled insults and curses directed at Worthington, before turning towards the camera. Speaking in a voice that sounded like she was trying desperately hard not to cry, she replied; "Yeah, he's fine. Still a prick, but what do you do about it, eh…"
"You could… talk to him like a normal monster." Celia suggests.
"I did!" Leasa snaps. "Do you even know how many times I've-"
"-Gotten flustered because you can't handle looking at his face?" Celia was smiling on the other side of the call and Leasa knew it.
"—Tried, Celia!" Leasa brought them back to the actual point of the conversation. "I've tried to tell him off so many times but everytime, it's like- I'm the bad guy!? Or, something?" Leasa could hardly put it into words.
"I think you're being a tad bit overdramatic." Celia said. It's the last thing Leasa wants to hear right now.
"So I've been told. But- I still don't think it's fair that everyone else has to get dragged into his mess. I mean, you should have seen the look on his stupid face- all cocky and- He didn't even remember my name!"
"See! He doesn't even remember you! Just leave it be, you've got bigger things to worry about."
"I guess." Leasa sighed, pressing her face into her jacket sleeve. "I still hate him."
This just fueled the fire to Celia's amusement.
"Girl, you liked him even with the braces."
Leasa scowled. "You shut up."
Celia laughed behind the other line. "So… how's actually making it to the end of university like." Leasa got off her bed, switching to sit at her desk.
"Some guys knocked me over and broke my glasses." Leasa mentioned. Strangely, her anger went numb, replaced with a sense of carelessness.
"Oh! That's why you look… nevermind." Celia said. "Are you okay?"
"As okay as I can be surrounded by idiots." Leasa replies, fidgeting with her glasses again. "I've probably got some replacement lenses somewhere around here…"
There was an edge is Leasa's voice, sharp and spitefully. To defuse the situation, Celia yelled out.
"S-so! Tell me about your classes again? You sounded pretty excited last time we talked" She asked with a nervous laugh. She's learned enough about switching subjects from her mother.
"Umphff… let me see…" Leasa glanced at her schedule she had pinned to her desk.
There was still a hint of annoyance and frustration in her voice, but at least she was focusing on something else. Leasa started repeating the summarized version of all her classes that she has memorized by now;
SCRM 312: Scream Theory
—Dedicated to the world of innovation and instruction; Scream Theory is all about advancement in the energy that fuels the monster world.
DOOR 395: Portal Connectivity
—The study of the dimension that connects the monster's world and the human world; directly connected with Door Technology, though it's the last and most important of all classes.
COMP 333: Advanced Modeling
—Here, blue prints become your best friend. Seriously, you'll be seeing blue for weeks. This class requires a lot of effort, as you must be able to perfectly illustrate models.
SCAR 431: Advanced Scream Types
—The only actual scare class she's in; she uses the opportunity of being the only non-scaring major in a scaring class to record her classmates' screams and roars, discovering new things to add to her innovation thesis.
DOOR 489: Advanced Wiring
—Technically Door Science, but Leasa's been using this class to learn all sorts of ways she can improve her
MNST 305: Advanced Monstriology
—Many late nights spent studying different monsters, their screams, everything there was to know.
PREP 505: Intro to the Workforce
—Everything future Scarers and Door Workers have got to know before hitting the Scare Floor. Even though Leasa won't be a Door Worker, she has full intention to make the Scare Floors even better.
"-Anyways… mostly continued classes from the previous year." Leasa shrugged. "Would be better if I wasn't sharing Workforce Intro with Worthington- eugh! I'm never escaping him."
"Says the one who willingly walked into his trap-" Celia laughed maliciously again.
"Shut your trap." Leasa snapped. "I worked myself out of that honey trap years ago." She said proudly, cross her arms stubbornly.
"Whatever you say-" there was a loud beeping noise in the background of Celia's apartment. "Oh no, my lasagne! I've gotta go, bye!-"
"Wait-"
Celia hung up, leaving Leasa in a room full of silence. The big monster sighed, leaning back in her chair. She glanced back at those broken glasses of hers. There wasn't any anger left, just disappointment. Since she had the room to herself, she might as well find a solution to the problem.
-
The next morning, Leasa was awoken bright and early by an obnoxious knocking at her door. She fell asleep on her desk, desperately trying to put her glasses back together. She grumbled something not even she herself understood, and pulled herself out of the chair.
She opens the door to see Stacey Filler, in all her glory, standing right outside her dorm.
Leasa blinked, hoping maybe Stacey would fade away once her vision cleared. But, she didn't. "…Can I help you?"
"We need you to give some of the newbies a run down of everything during lunch and all that."
"But that's the Council's job-" The difference between the Council of Engineers and the Engineering Committee, is that the Council deals with students, and the Committee deals with events, and kinda everything else. Technically, they are the same, but the whole point of individuality was to split responsibilities. They do have one thing in common; and that was pestering the President. AKA her.
"The Council's busy." Stacey said, and she began to list off the names of the council and all the small boring tasks that filled their days so much that they couldn't possibly have time to show a bunch of freshmen around campus.
"Why me?" Leasa dared to ask.
"Cause you're not busy." Stacey said bluntly, not even caring if Leasa had anything to do in her life.
"Ah." She closes the door in Stacey's face. This job should have gone to literally anyone else, but they picked her. Not like anyone else was willing to do this. Just in case, Leasa opened the door again, silently peering out into the hallway. Stacey had vanished, and the hallway was just as empty as her family group chat.
Leasa sighed heavily- closing her door, but not before seeing Brooklynn still passed out in her bed; makeup smudged all over her face and party clothes wrinkled- less unflattering than she looked the night before.
She'd wake up soon- right? She'd be fine with only… 40 minutes left till her first class. Leasa hesitated, wondering if waking her up was the best thing to do. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but this was… a little more personal.
But Leasa had to get to her classes; which were mostly morning classes because she spent her entire life waking up at the crack of dawn and it was simply easier- but looks like she gets to scrap her free time off later in the day, no more time to work on her precious baby.
'Ugh.' Leasa mentally complained. As quietly as she could, she rummaged through her side of the dorm. She had a small rectangular mirror she stole- borrowed from one of the clubs. She sat cross crossed not the floor, hair straightener in hand. She removed her glasses, and blinked multiple times to adjust to her old vision.
—Technically, Leasa didn't need glasses. Her species of monsters have almost 360 vision, so it's a bit difficult to properly see, and using glasses helps her focus on one spot.
She had big black round eyes under those glasses of hers. Not many people really know what her eyes look like, as she had gotten her glasses before she even started college- along with the fact she rarely took them off. There were times where she slept with them on.
The hair straightener was really cheap, but surprisingly effective; but it might be due to some technical adjustments she made to it- she mostly did it more funsies, and because it was slowly dying and she couldn't afford a new one.
She's really careful about keeping her hair straight. Weeks were spent before her freshman year to reverse the effects of her parents genes. Her family was more confused than angry, but she didn't care much for their opinion. Now her hair was a bit choppy, due to her cutting it herself.
The rest of her time was spent cleaning herself up. Sure she liked a bit of decorum, but she knew to keep herself together. After a while, she was finally ready.
She sat up, and went straight to exit her dorm. She tried to pull away from the door, but she subconsciously stopped again. FINE.
…just this once.
She crept back into the room with the skill of a professional scarer and slowly approached her roommate's bed. After another fit of hesitation, wanting to just walk out then and there- she gently nudged Brooklyns shoulder, and quickly pulled away. Brooklynn keeps snoring on, without even stilling.
Leasa shook her again, rougher this time. This reminds her of their past years together; Leasa being decent with her time, and dealing with Brooklynn because if she didn't, the other monster would complain about not getting up on time.
"Yo- you have to wake up, like now."
Brooklynn groaned a bit, turning around, pulling the blanket over her body even more, completely ignoring Leasa's attempts to wake her. Fine. Leasa frowned. If you don't wanna wake up early, don't sign up for morning classes…
Leasa quietly scoffs, pulling away, walking out the door without a care. If it doesn't work out once, what's the point of trying again, right?
—Before she leaves, she hears her roommate mumble something; probably insults or random gibberish. It's gonna be a long year.
She's out the door in a second, calming down once she starts walking down the hallway. She just had to remind herself;
'It could be worse.'