Mike stared into the crowd, hoping someone — anyone — might want to join Oozma Kappa. Finally, the Greek Council president looked at Mike and said, “Yeah, sorry, doesn't look good. We have to move on. Your team doesn't qualify.”

Suddenly, a voice rang out, “Yes, it does!” A large figure stepped through the crowd and climbed on top of the car with Mike. It was Sulley, who had followed Mike and watched the whole display. “The star player has just arrived,” he said.

“You?” Mike said, staring at Sulley. “No way!” He turned back to the crowd. “Someone else, please! Anyone else!”

The Greek Council president was losing patience. “We're shutting down the sign-ups,” she said. “Is he on your team or not?”

Mike threw his little green arms up in surrender and yelled, “Gaah! Fine, yes. He's on my team.”

Dean Hardscrabble smiled coldly at Mike. “Good luck,” she said, and walked off.

Sulley just shrugged¹. “All right, Wazowski, what's the plan?”

That evening, Mike and Sulley headed over to the Oozma Kappa house, carrying their suitcases. Soon, they reached a prim² little house with a covered porch and lace curtains hanging in the windows. “This is a frat house?” Sulley asked.

A balding middle-aged³ monster opened the door and greeted them warmly. “Hey there, team-mateys!” he said, waving a tentacle⁴. “Come on aboard! It is my honor to welcome you to your new home!”

Mike and Sulley exchanged a dubious⁵ look as the fellow ushered⁶ them into a house that looked like it belonged to somebody's grandmother. The place was f illed with knickknacks and needlepoint pillows. “We call this room 'Party Central,'” a little blobby monster said with a grin.

“Technically, we haven't had a party here yet,” one part of the two-headed monster explained.

“But when we do,” the other head added, “we'll be ready!” He f lipped a switch on a remote, and a disco ball dropped from the ceiling — and crashed to the f loor.

The older monster handed Mike a mug. “Whoo! Hot-cocoa train is coming through. Whoa ... next stop ... you!”

Mike tried to get things back on track by addressing his team firmly. “I would like to start us of f f irst by —”

But Sulley interrupted. “So ...,” he said, eyeing the Oozma Kappa crew skeptically, “you guys are in the Scaring Program?”

“We wish!” the balding monster replied. “None of us lasted very long. Guess we just weren't what old Hardscrabble was looking for.” He handed Sulley his business card. “Don Carlton, 'mature' student,” he said with a sigh. “Thirty years in the textile industry and then ol' dandy Don got downsized. Figured I could throw myself a pity party or go back to school and learn the computers.”

Mike and Sulley nodded blankly, then turned to the yellow two-headed monster. “Hi, I'm Terry with a 'Y'!” one of the heads said.

“And I'm Terri with an 'I'!” the shorter but almost-identical head said. “My brother may have gotten the height, but I got —”

“The good looks!” they exclaimed at the same time. The two heads turned to each other and smiled.

Then a big burly monster who was mostly two huge legs and purple fur gruff ly introduced himself. “Hey! I'm Art. New Age philosophy major. Excited to live with you and laugh with you ... and cry with you,” he f inished emotionally, wiping his eyes. He handed Mike and Sulley each a journal with a unicorn⁷ on the cover. Sulley looked at it like it was diseased. “I thought you might like to keep a dream journal,” Art explained.

Suddenly, the little blobby monster popped up behind Sulley. Sulley jumped and yelled.

“My name's Scott Squibbles,” the blob said, blinking his five eyes. “My friends call me Squishy. I'm undeclared, unattached, and pretty much unwelcome anywhere but here.”

Mike tried to take control of the group again. “Well, now that we've been introduced, as captain of our team —” he began, but Sulley interrupted once more.

“So basically, you guys have no scaring experience?” Sulley asked.

All the Oozma Kappas began to laugh. “Not a lot!” Squishy said. “But now we've got you!”

Don nodded enthusiastically. “You're about the scariest feller I've ever seen, even with them pink polka-dots.”

Mike looked at them all in disbelief. “Well, actually,” he said, “I think I bring the whole package.” But no one seemed to be listening. Squishy had already taken Sulley's huge hand and was holding it up to his head.

“Your hand is bigger than my whole face!” Squishy said, starstruck.

“He's like a mountain with fur!” Terri added.

“We thought our dreams were over, but Mike said if we win, they're letting us in the Scaring Program!” Don called out.

“We're gonna be real Scarers!” Terry yelled excitedly.

“Yeah, right,” Sulley said doubtfully. He shot Mike a nervous, suspicious look. But Mike just smiled and nodded, as if anything was possible.

 

麦克盯着人群，希望能有人愿意加入OK会，不管是谁都行。最终，希腊议会会长看着麦克说道：“哎，抱歉，看来希望不大。那我们只好继续了，你的团队没有资格参赛。”

突然，一个声音响了起来：“不，有资格！”只见一个大个子穿过人群，爬上车顶，和麦克站到了一起。是毛怪！他一直跟在麦克后面，看到了整个过程。“大牌明星才刚到。”他说道。

“你？”麦克盯着毛怪说，“不行！”说完又转向人群喊道：“换一个人，拜托了！除了他谁都行！”

希腊议会会长已经快没有耐心了，她问麦克：“报名要截止了，他到底算不算你们团队的？”

麦克投降了，无奈地举起他的小绿胳膊喊道：“好吧！就算他一个。”

郝刻薄院长对着麦克冷笑道：“祝你好运了。”说完就走开了。

而毛怪只是耸耸肩，说道：“好了，华斯基，有什么计划吗？”

当晚，麦克和毛怪就拉着行李箱前往OK会的会所。没过多久，他们来到了一所整洁的小房子前，房子的门廊种满了植物，窗户上还挂着花边窗帘。“这就是我们的会所？”毛怪问道。

正说着，一位秃顶的中年怪兽打开了门，热情地招呼他们进去：“嘿，同志们，到家啦！”他一边说，一边挥舞着他的触手，“快进来！能欢迎你们来到这个新家，我很荣幸！”

这位怪兽招待他们进屋时，麦克和毛怪交换了一下半信半疑的眼神，因为这里看起来似乎是哪位老祖母的屋子，堆满了小摆设和绣花枕头。“我们管这儿叫‘派对中心’。”一个胖乎乎的小怪兽笑笑说。

“但其实，我们从没在这里开过派对。”双头怪兽的其中一个头解释道。

“但是要办，随时都可以！”另一个头补充道，接着他按了一下遥控开关，一个迪斯科球从天花板上落下，但没想到直接就砸到了地板上。

中年怪兽递给麦克一个杯子说道：“呜呜！热可可火车进站啦！哦……下一站到你这儿！”

麦克试图让他的团队回到正轨，于是坚定地对大家说：“我呢，打算先……”

但毛怪却打断了他：“难道……”他疑惑地看着OK会的全体成员说道：“你们都是惊吓学院的？”

有点秃顶的怪兽回答说：“曾经是，但谁都没撑太久。估计是我们入不了郝刻薄的眼。”说着，他递给毛怪一张名片，“叫我老唐吧，我是工作之后又读的大学。”说着他叹了一口气，“我在纺织业干了30年，突然就被公司裁员了。我想了想，要不然就破罐子破摔，要不然就回学校学学电脑。”

麦克和毛怪茫然地点点头，然后朝两只头的黄色怪兽看去。其中一只头说道：“你们好！我叫泰锐，尖锐的锐！”

另一只长得矮一点但几乎一模一样的头说道：“我叫泰瑞，瑞雪的瑞！我哥哥可能长得比我高一点，但我……”

“长得好看！”两只头几乎同时喊道。然后他们互相看了看，笑了。

接着，一只壮硕的大怪兽开始粗声粗气地介绍自己，他看起来就是紫色皮毛和两个大手臂的结合体。“嗨！我叫阿拱，新时代哲学专业的。很高兴能和你们一同生活，一同欢笑，还有……一同哭泣。”他充满激情地说完，擦了擦眼泪。阿拱递给麦克和毛怪一人一个日记本，封面上都有独角兽的图案。毛怪嫌弃地看着本子，好像它有传染病似的。阿拱解释说：“我觉得也许你们想写写梦想日记吧。”

说话间，那个胖胖的小怪兽突然出现在毛怪身后。毛怪吓了一跳，大叫一声。

“我叫史卡特·史乖宝，”他眨了眨自己那五只眼睛说道，“朋友们都叫我史乖宝。我没有专业，没有学院，所以，除了这儿，没有社团欢迎我。”

麦克试图重新掌控谈话，说道：“好，现在既然大家都互相介绍完了，作为队长，我……”

但毛怪又一次打断了他：“这么说，你们都没有吓过人？”

OK会的成员们哄笑起来。“确实没怎么有过！”史乖宝说道，“可是现在有你了！”

老唐热情地点点头说道：“虽然你身上有这些粉色小圆点，但你是我见过的最吓人的怪兽了。”

麦克难以置信地看着他们，说道：“那个，事实上，我才是你们的主心骨。”但似乎并没有人在听。史乖宝早拿起毛怪的大手举到了自己头顶。

“你的手比我整个脸还大呢！”史乖宝激动地说着，就像追星族似的。

“他就像一座长了毛的山！”泰瑞补充道。

老唐也喊着：“我们以为梦想破灭了，但麦克说，如果我们赢了，他们就让我们回惊吓学院！”

“我们就能当真正的惊吓专员了！”泰锐兴奋地喊道。

毛怪含糊地附和：“是，没错。”他紧张而又怀疑地看着麦克，但麦克只是笑着点点头，仿佛没有什么是不可能的。

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