The next day, Mike woke up bright and early. It was the first day of school! As campus bells rang out the hour, the students scurried¹ to their classes. Mike and Randy eagerly approached the School of Scaring, went up the steps, and entered a large round classroom.

Portraits of famous scare professors hung on the walls. In front of each one was a scream can on a pedestal. Mike and Randy took their seats. Much bigger monsters sat on either side of them. One of them looked down on Mike and said, "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I'm so nervous," Randy whispered to Mike.

"Relax, it'll be fine," Mike replied as their teacher, a thick-necked, no-nonsense monster, came into the room.

"Good morning, students," he said gruffly. "Welcome to Scaring 101. My name is Professor Knight². Now, I'm sure all of you were the scariest monster in your town. Well, bad news, kids! You're in my town now, and I do not scare easily." He gazed around the room.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the professor. The students gasped³ as he looked up to a window, where a large dark shape was perched. It flew down and landed with a whoosh⁴. The class watched the monster, a tall dragon woman, flex⁵ her batlike wings and look over them with a stern frown. "Oh, Dean Hardscrabble," Professor Knight said.

Mike was thrilled as he watched Dean Hardscrabble cross the room, her centipede-like legs tapping the floor. "She's a legend," he whispered to Randy. He motioned to a container on one of the pedestals. "She broke the all-time scare record with the scream in that very can."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Dean Hardscrabble said. "I just thought I'd drop by to see the 'terrifying' faces joining my program."

"Well," the professor replied, "I'm sure my students would love to hear a few words of inspiration."

"Inspiration? Very well," she said, turning to the class. "Scariness is the true measure of a monster. If you're not scary, what kind of monster are you? It's my job to make great students greater, not mediocre⁶ students less mediocre."

Dean Hardscrabble gave a chilly⁷ smile. "That is why at the end of the semester, there will be a final exam. Fail that exam, and you are out of the Scaring Program." A number of students shifted nervously⁸. "I hope you are all properly inspired," she concluded, spreading her wings and flying out through the top of the building.

Professor Knight stepped forward and quieted the murmuring class. "All right," he said, returning to the lesson. "Who can tell me the principles of an effective roar?"

A green arm shot into the air. "Yes," Professor Knight said.

Mike stood up. "There are actually five basic principles. Those include the roar's resonance⁹, the duration of the roar, and —"

A huge, genuine ROARRRRRR! suddenly filled the room.

Everyone in the class turned to see where it had come from. A swaggering, eight-foot monster with blue fur and a sleepy smile stumbled into the class ... late. "Whoops¹⁰, sorry," he said. "I heard someone say 'roar,' so I just kinda went for it."

Professor Knight calmly raised an eyebrow¹¹. "Very impressive. Mr ...?"

"Sullivan. Jimmy Sullivan."

The professor thought for a moment. "Hmm, Sullivan? Like Bill Sullivan?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's my dad," the new kid replied. "You can call me Sulley."

"Hmm, I should have known you were a Sullivan. I expect big things from you," the professor said, giving Sulley a nod.

"Well, you won't be disappointed," Sulley said confidently as he took his seat.

Mike stood up again. "I'm sorry, Professor Knight, should I keep going?"

Professor Knight smiled. "No, no," he said. "Mr. Sullivan covered it." Mike sat down, disappointed. He glanced back at Sulley, who wore a smug grin.

Sulley leaned over to the student next to him. "Hey, bub. Could I borrow a pencil? I forgot all my stuff."

The student handed Sulley a pencil, which he promptly¹² used to pick his teeth. "Yeah. There we go. That'll get it," Sulley said, dislodging a piece of something from his mouth.

Mike frowned. That Sullivan guy was so annoying!

 

第二天，麦克一大早就醒了。这可是开学的第一天！校园里的铃声准时响起，同学们都急急忙忙赶往教室。麦克和蓝道迫不及待地来到惊吓学院，上楼进入一间圆形的大教室。

教室墙壁上挂着著名惊吓教授的画像。每幅画像前都有一个底座，上面摆放着一只尖叫收集罐。麦克和蓝道坐下来，他们身旁的其他怪兽，体型都比他们要大得多。其中一只低头看着麦克说道：“你在和我开玩笑吧？！”

“我好紧张啊。”蓝道轻声对麦克说。

“别紧张，没事的。”麦克正说着，老师走了进来，他长着粗粗的脖子，不苟言笑。

“同学们，早上好！”老师粗声粗气地向同学们打招呼道，“欢迎来到惊吓入门课。我是奈特教授。相信大家都是当地最吓人的怪兽，但孩子们，我要告诉你们一个坏消息：现在你们在我的地盘，我可没那么容易被吓到。”说着他环顾了一下整个教室。

突然，一道阴影落在教授身上。同学们顺着教授的目光抬头看去，倒吸一口气，只见窗户上停着一只巨大的黑色怪兽。它飞了下来，“呼”的一声落在地上。全班都注视着这只怪兽，那是一只高大的母龙怪。她把自己那蝙蝠似的翅膀收起来，皱着眉头严厉地扫视着大家。“噢，原来是郝刻薄院长。”奈特教授说。

看着郝院长拖着她那蜈蚣般的腿走过教室，麦克简直激动地浑身颤抖。“她是个传奇人物，”麦克指着其中一个底座上的尖叫收集罐，轻声对蓝道说，“据说她收集到的尖叫，打破了所有惊吓记录。”

“我无意打断你们，”郝院长说道，“只是想顺道来看看有哪些‘骇人’的新面孔加入了我们学院。”

“是啊，”奈特教授回应道，“我想新生们一定想要听一听院长的鼓励。”

“鼓励？非常好，”她转过身对着班级学生说道，“吓不吓人是检验我们怪兽的试金石。如果你不够吓人，那还算什么怪兽呢？我的职责就是让优秀的学生更优秀，而不是帮助平庸的学生，使他们不至于更平庸。”

郝院长冷冷一笑：“所以学期结束会有一个期末考试。考试不及格，就会被惊吓学院开除。”听到这个消息，许多学生紧张地不知所措。“我希望大家都得到鼓励了。”院长说完，张开翅膀从楼顶飞了出去。

奈特教授走上讲台，示意正在窃窃私语的同学们安静，回到课程内容上来：“好了，谁来告诉我有效的咆哮声必须遵循哪几条原则？”

一只绿色的手臂举了起来。“请讲。”奈特教授示意道。

麦克站起身：“有五条基本原则，包括咆哮的共振，咆哮的持续性，还有——”

突然，一声巨大的咆哮响彻了教室。

所有人都转过头，寻找声音的来源。只见一只八脚蓝毛怪神气活现、慢慢悠悠地走进了教室，脸上还带着一丝慵懒的笑容，他分明是迟到了。“哎呀，真不好意思，”他说，“我听到有人在说‘咆哮’，就叫了一声。”

奈特教授冷静地挑了挑眉毛：“叫得很好，你是……？”

“苏利文，吉米·苏利文。”

教授想了想，问道：“嗯，苏利文？比尔·苏利文的‘苏利文’吗？”

“没错，那是我爸，”新来的学生回答道，“您可以叫我毛怪。”

“嗯，我早该看出你是苏利文家的。我很看好你哦。”教授一边说一边朝毛怪点了点头。

“当然，我不会让您失望的。”毛怪自信地说着，找了个位子坐下来。

麦克又一次站了起来，“不好意思，奈特教授，我可以继续说了吗？”

奈特教授微微一笑，“不用了，苏利文先生已经做了很好的示范。”麦克只好失望地坐下来。他回头看了看毛怪，这家伙脸上满是自以为是的笑容。

毛怪俯身对旁边的同学说：“嘿，哥们儿，能借我支铅笔吗？我什么都没带。”

那位同学递过一支铅笔，却马上被毛怪拿来剔牙了。“很好，就是这样。终于可以把它剔出来了。”毛怪说着从嘴里剔出一片什么东西。

麦克皱了皱眉。这个叫苏利文的家伙也太烦人了吧！

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