Behind Closet Doors - Chapter LIX

Chapter LIX

  Now that I have my contacts ordered and now that Sullivan is off to the gym, I start winding my way back up to my own dorm so I can get some of my homework done.  I have so much studying to do.  There’s arithmetic and science to study for, history homework to read, a history paper to write, and of course there’s scaring practice.  I need to practice my camouflaging so I can get good at it.  The Dean says that I’ll eventually be able to disappear in the blink of an eye, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet…

  As I think about everything that I have to do and weave my way in and out of the monsters that have recently spilled out into the hallways now that it’s Saturday afternoon, I suddenly notice that a large shadow has fallen over me.  I bring myself to a halt before I can knock into the origin of the shadow.  Glancing upward, I notice the tall figure of one of the members from one-eyed Doom’s gang looming over me.  A lump forms in the back of my throat.  I’m not exactly scared, but the members of Doom’s gang all have a hard look to them.  This monster certainly looks menacing with his large dark purplish form.  The two horns curving out from the sides of his head don’t exactly diminish the menacing look.

  “Hey.  I don’t think that we’ve ever spoken before.  I’m Johnny Worthington, leader of the Roar Omega Roar fraternity.  You’ve heard of me, no doubt,” Johnny Worthington says, an air of conceit in his voice as he goes on about his reputation.  Since I’ve never heard of Johnny before in my life, I stay silent and wait for the monster to go on.  He looks surprised as he questions, “No?  Well, my name is certainly one that you will be hearing a lot more of in the next few weeks.  Why, when school is over for the year and I’ve won the great scare games for my fraternity, everyone will look back on me with respect and a smile on their faces.”

  I understand Johnny’s ambition to be remembered and all that, but the two of us are still on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Johnny wants to be remembered for the great scare games and I want to be remembered as the school’s top scarer.  So far, Johnny hasn’t done much to impress me.

  Johnny waits for me to speak, but when it becomes clear that I’m not going to say anything, he goes on, “Anyway, I’ve been recruiting members for the Roar Omega Roar fraternity.  I’m inviting only the best, scariest, and most skilled monsters to join the fraternity.  It’s an honor to be invited.  I’ve decided to make you the last member of our fraternity.  Your presence on the Roar Omega Roar fraternity team will be appreciated.”

  I blink slowly, finding it odd that Johnny is suddenly so interested in me after not talking to me for the first few weeks of school.  He’s obviously seen me before.  Feeling a little suspicious and not exactly motivated to become part of these great scare games, I reply, “Thanks for the offer, but I have to think on it.”

  Johnny’s facial expression immediately turns sour when I say that I have to think about it.  He shakes his head vigorously and says, “I don’t think that you understand the situation.  It’s an honor to be invited to join the fraternity.  It’s not something that you or anyone should even think about saying no to.”

  Figuring that Johnny isn’t an enemy that I want to have, I choose my words carefully and say, “It’s not that I’ve got anything against your fraternity.  I just don’t think that I’m the best, the most skilled, or the scariest.  If you wanna recruit someone, recruit Sullivan and get him out of the gang of losers he’s going to participate with for the scare games.”

  As much as I do not particularly like Johnny, I realize that Sullivan will have a better chance at winning the great scare games with monsters like Johnny on his side.  At least Johnny actually looks scary.  Scott Squibbles looks less than scary and I don’t even want to try and put a label on Art and the others…

  “Sulivan?  Why would we want Sullivan on our team?” Johnny asks, disdain dripping from his voice.  I blink in surprise.  Out of all my days here at the university, I haven’t met anyone who dislikes Sullivan up to this point.  Apparently, I just found the first Sullivan hater.  Sneer still planted on his face, Johnny continues on, “He’s a good scarer I’ll admit, but his popularity and the group of nobodies he allows to follow him around make me nauseous.  We want someone like you on our team, Randy.  You’ve got the brains and the scaring ability to be on team Roar Omega Roar.”

  “Have you ever seen me in gym?” I ask with a half-smile.  “It ain’t a pretty sight.  Like I said earlier, I don’t work well in groups.  Honestly, I’m debating even joining a fraternity for the scare games.  I’d prefer just to put my full effort into my own future, not a temporary fraternity.”

  Johnny immediately hardens at this remark.  His dark eyes take on an evil gleam and his hands ball up into fists.  For a moment, I think that he’s going to hit me.  Knuckles now the color of light purple in contrast to his dark purple color, Johnny replies through clenched teeth, “You have to participate in the great scare games.  It’s not a choice if you want to be a scarer.  You do want to be a scarer, don’t you?”

  My face falls at this remark.  I had thought that participating in the scare games was an optional matter.  Apparently not.  In this case, I guess that I should accept the offer to be in Johnny’s fraternity.  I mean, it’s not exactly likely that I’ll be invited to join any other fraternity.  Hell, I don’t even know if there are any other fraternities.  I assume that there are, but who knows?  Not me.

  “On a second thought, I guess that I wouldn’t mind being part of Team Omega…what was it again?” I ask Johnny with raised eyebrows since I’ve already forgotten the team name.

  “Team Roar Omega Roar,” Johnny tells me, his fists unclenching and what could be seen as an amiable smile now crossing his face.  “We’ll be glad to have you on our team, Mr. Boggs.  Listen, we’re holding a team meeting tomorrow evening at six in the library.  You’ll meet us there, won’t you?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I reply absentmindedly before asking, “Is there anything else you want me to do?”

  “Not for now, but you’ll have to wear the Team Roar Omega Roar sweatshirt at each meeting once it’s given to you at our first meeting,” Johnny tells me with a serious expression on his face.

  For some reason, the prospect of having to wear a sweatshirt to team meetings doesn’t really sit well with me.  Choosing my words carefully since Johnny has proven himself not to be a monster to mess with, I add, “Isn’t that slightly…um…preppy?”

  “Preppy, maybe, but our rivals will learn that it masks our true nature,” Johnny says with a wink as a twisted smile crosses his face.  “You’ll find out more about our purpose and concepts at the meeting tomorrow.  See you then.”

  With that said, Johnny gives me a wave as he strides away, still smiling knowingly to himself.  I watch the big monster disappear from view, already having second thoughts about joining fraternity Roar Omega Roar.  I don’t know anything about the team other than the fact that Johnny is the team leader.  I don’t know who the other members are, don’t know what their personalities are like, and definitely don’t know whether or not I’m going to get along with them.

  I approach my dorm room minutes later, still worrying about the scare games.  I hadn’t given them much thought before today, but now they’re stuck in my head and I have something else to worry about.  Great.  It wasn’t like I was already stressed out enough as it was, right?

  I smile bitterly at my own sarcasm and let myself into my dorm room.  I immediately plop down at my desk and dig out my notes on Henry J. Waternoose.  Although the paper isn’t due for a few days, I really just want to get it done.  After skimming through my notes, I flick through the book one more time in case I missed an important fact about the influential monster the first time I read through it.  Surprisingly enough, there was something that I missed about Mr. Waternoose.  According to the book spread out in front of me, Monsters Inc. has always been owned by a Waternoose.  The current overseer of the company is Henry J. Waternoose the third.  Interesting.  It must be like a family business of some sort.  I jot this down and then review my notes one more time before finally starting my paper.

  By the time night comes around, I’m completely exhausted.  I have a rough draft done for my paper on Mr. Waternoose, but that’s not what exhausted me.  I’m pretty darn sure that it’s the constant anxiety that stresses and tires me out so much.  All of my energy seems as if it has been drained from my limbs as I force myself to my feet and sag across the room to my bed.  My eyes are darker than usual and my pulse is too slow.  Time seems to slow down as I fall onto my bed and collapse on it.  I don’t even have time to worry about Johnny or the great scare games before falling into a deep sleep.

  The next morning, I wake up to see bright sunlight flooding into my dorm room.  The blinding light makes me groan.  I throw my pillow over my face before realizing that I have things to do.  Yes, it’s Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have work to do.  In fact, I do have a lot of work to do.  I have to edit my paper and come up with a final draft for it, complete all of my homework, and do all of my studying.

  Thinking about this makes me want to go into hibernation here under the sheets and blankets that tuck me comfortingly against the bed, but I ignore my body’s wishes – something that I’m getting used to doing – and drag myself over to my desk.  I’m alone in the room as usual.  Doom never seems to be around.  I don’t have time to worry about him now though.  I need to concentrate on getting my stupid paper written.

  Four hours and three torn up drafts later, I sit in my desk chair twiddling my thumbs and biting my lip nervously as I reread my final draft on Henry Waternoose.  I’m not particularly satisfied with what I wrote.  In fact, there’s a big chunk in the middle that I’m debating about fixing…

  Nah, I don’t need to make a fifth copy of the paper.  That’s starting to get a little crazy.  I’m not that OCD, am I?  I don’t bother answering my own question since anyone who rewrites a paper four times is obviously OCD and so I move on to my next bit of homework.  I have to write the rest of my history chapter because a certain one-eyed cretin was distracting me from reading it on Wednesday like I should have done.

  Keeping thoughts of Wazowski out of my head, I spend the rest of the day reading my homework and studying.  By six pm, I’m exhausted again, but definitely not exhausted enough to call it a night.  I didn’t forget Sullivan’s offer and I’m still planning on dropping by his dorm.  I’ve gotta take advantage of the fact that Wazowski is out for the night.

  Smothering a yawn, I let myself out of my dorm room and practically drag my feet on my way down to the opposite side of the school where Sullivan’s dormitory is located.  On my way there, I keep one eye open for Funk.  I know that it’s only been three days since I last saw him, but three days is a long time.  Where could that little guy be?  If I don’t see him on Monday, I’m gonna intentionally go out and look for him.  Funk’s name is not going to get added to the list of monsters who have disappeared recently.

  As I approach Sullivan’s dormitory, I find Sullivan himself striding down the hallway perpendicular to the one I’m slithering down.  It looks like he’s on his way back to his dorm room with a pile of snacks in his arms.  As he walks along, a female student suddenly steps out in front of him.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen her before in history.  What was her name again?  Nadya maybe?  God, I dunno.  I fail at keeping track of names.

  Nadya (I think), tucks her sleek, shoulder-length purple hair behind her ears and gives Sullivan a winning smile from between dark red lips.  She focuses her kohl-rimmed eyes on her target and greets Sullivan, “Hey Sulley.  How’s it going?  Are you going to a party or something?”

  “Hey Nadya,” Sullivan replies good-naturedly as he comes to a halt in front of the goth girl.  “I’m not going to a party actually.  I’m just going to enjoy a good movie and some munchies on my own for a bit.  Mike’s over at Brittney’s dorm with a bunch of her sorority sisters.  I figured that I’d better celebrate the silence for a while.”

  “Yeah, I don’t blame you there,” Nadya says, her smile widening as she tries to flutter her long lashes at Sullivan.  The funny thing is that Sullivan isn’t picking up on any of her hints at all.  He just looks at her like he would look at any other monster.  Nadya tries her luck in a different method and suddenly sighs dramatically, saying, “It might be nice to get invited to a small party though.  I don’t like Brittney and her girls and they don’t like me.  I hang out with Rosie sometimes, but she’s usually too busy with her studies to just hang out, you know?”

  I continue eaves-dropping in to the conversation from where I’m standing down the hallway.  Holding my breath, I wait to see whether or not Nadya is going to get her way.  She clearly wants Sullivan to invite her to his dorm.  Is she gonna get lucky in more ways than one?

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Nadya.  If I see Rosie sometime soon, I’ll try and drop her a hint, okay?” Sullivan tells Nadya, which is actually pretty ironic considering the fact that he is completely missing the hint that she is giving him.

  “Thanks,” Nadya replies, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she realizes that Sullivan isn’t going to invite her back to his room.  She sends him a half-smile and then waves before saying, “Well, I guess that I’ll just be going then.  See you around.”

  I watch the two part and start down different directions.  A wave of relief washes over me.  If Sullivan had taken up Nadya’s request, I would’ve been in for a very long night.  

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