Mensa on the Table
One of the places where the Mystery Inc. liked to hang out the most was Shakey Joe's Coffee. Although the owner was quite eccentric and the place itself didn't have as much charm as the good old Walt's Malt, it attracted lots of young people from the nearby high school, because it served delicious coffee at a good price. Even after years they were happy to return there as college students.
One November morning Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne and Fred sat at one of the tables by the wall. Sitting in silence, Daphne was staring thoughtfully at a daily newspaper Velma had brought while Fred was browsing websites with offers of flats and houses for rent or sale on his laptop, looking for the best to move in with the Gang. They were waiting for Velma, who reasonably felt that coffee was much more likely to get to their table if she bring it herself instead of Joe.
When Velma returned with their beverages, Daphne suddenly livened up and it was not about coffee. She asked without taking her eyes off the newspaper:
"Hey, Velma... Didn't you mention that your biggest ambition is to get into Mensa?"
Shaggy stopped breaking donuts.
"Like, what's Mensa, Daphne?" he asked.
"It's a society for very intelligent people, Shaggy," Daphne replied.
Velma sat without a word for a moment.
"I think I've talked about it sometime in high school... I was 15, 16... If I'm not mistaken..." she wondered and then she asked Daphne suspiciously: "Why are you asking?"
"Have you seen this ad?" Daphne showed her a newspaper ad. "The Coolsville Mensa is recruiting candidates among people with above-average intelligence! You just have to take the IQ test. They accept people with IQ 130 and higher!" she said enthusiastically and added: "Give it a try, Velms! You'll get into easily!"
"Yeah, I think passing that test would be a piece of cake for me." Velma smiled. "But I will not do that."
Daphne raised her eyebrows in surprise and stared at her friend. Shaggy and Scooby stopped eating ice cream and also gave her weird looks. Even Fred raised his head up from his computer, hearing her words:
"Seriously, Velma? The most talented person I know doesn't want to get into Mensa? What happened?" he asked with astonishment.
Don't you want to hang around with people on your intellectual level?" Daphne asked dubiously. "There are so many geniuses there, people with whom you can have lots of interesting discussions... Who knows, maybe you will even find a handsome catch there?" she winked to her.
Velma's face blushed slightly.
"You know, Daph, geniuses are pretty overrated." Velma said with awkwardness, then stared at some point outside the window and took a sip of coffee.
"Yeah, such as Gibby Norton, for example." Shaggy said.
"He's actually a moron, Shaggy." said Velma, rolling her eyes.
"Of course, some geniuses can be unpleasant, but that doesn't mean anything!" said Fred. "With your potential, you would join elites!"
"But I don't want to join this particular elite!" Velma answered firmly. "Mensa is just a mutual admiration society for some slackers, nothing more. I don't need it. I don't need it, because..." she stopped in the middle of a sentence, as if she realized that she shouldn't say it.
Daphne and Fred looked at each other and turned to Velma with ironic smiles. Her face reddened even more and her eyes started wandering everywhere but away from them. Daphne knew her best friend too well not to notice that she was just trying fearfully to mask her true emotions, which she didn't like to share too effusively with others.
Daphne leaned toward Fred and, trying to stop herself from laughing, whispered to him so that Velma could hear it without difficulty:
"I feel like it's about some guy from Mensa. I know it already..."
"Velma Dace Dinkley," Fred said with a smirk. "Is there something you want to hide from your best friends?"
Velma made a face as if she ate a bucket of lemons and then something broke in her. She looked into their eyes, then hung her head and said:
"I don't need Mensa, because I have you, guys..."
Fred and Daphne didn't expect that. Even Shaggy and Scooby have again stopped eating - apple pies for this time. Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Fred said:
"You know, but we're... ordinary."
Velma got her confidence back:
"So what? When I was in high school science club I met a few people who are in Mensa now. They were outstanding, incredibly talented people, but they were also awkward, alienated geeks, focused only on their things which they mastered to perfection. But their social skills were poor - they didn't have too many friends, they couldn't get them, couldn't understand the others, including me..." she paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts.
"I know I'm generalizing right now, but I was like that as a little girl... Until I met Daphne and then you, guys. It's not like I knew everything from the beginning..." she said sadly, looking into their eyes. Everyone listened to her very carefully, even Shaggy and Scooby, who weren't used to ignore their food for more than 10 seconds like in that moment.
Velma continued.
"Honestly? You have given me more than anyone from Mensa would give me for the rest of my life."
" What have we given you?" Daphne asked.
"You accepted me, you taught me life. With you I learned to understand people and their emotions more... Probably I wouldn't solve so many mysteries without it as I managed to do so far..."
Fred and Daphne understood what their friend was talking about, but they let her go on, because they were curious about what else she wanted to tell them.
"Another thing is that you are really interesting people and I learned from everyone of you such things that would not even come to my mind... I really don't need Mensa, because you provide me all of fun! And to be fair, I think you are intelligent. You all, everyone. Shaggy and Scooby too."
Her friends burst out laughing.
"Really, Velma! We already know your sarcasm!" Shaggy laughed.
"But seriously! Otherwise, we would not have had so many successes as the Mystery Inc." Velma said, raising her hands in a defensive gesture. "I don't know why do you think it's different, Shaggy. You can interpret the clues well, you even have solved a few mysteries before me." and she turned to Scooby: "And you Scoob, you can find lots of clues! Without you mystery solving would be much harder..."
Scooby chuckled.
"It's not me, it's my super-sniffer!" the great dane answered.
"Jinkies, you two saved our lives a few times and thanks to your many skills everything ended well." Velma said. "If it doesn't convince you, I don't know what.
"Let's say you convinced us ..." Shaggy said with a smile.
"What did you learn from Shaggy? Just curious." Daphne asked.
"Easy-going." Velma replied.
Daphne and Fred could not help laughing.
"Hey! What's so funny about that?! Velma asked and looked at Shaggy, who just shrugged cluelessly.
The pair gave her ironic looks.
"Okay, fine..." Velma said with displeasure. "I still have to learn more about that..." and added: "But Shaggy taught me, among other things, to dance, play video games and most importantly - to cook."
"Teaching Velma to cook was harder than solving mysteries and running away from monsters, but we did it!" Shaggy said proudly.
"By the way, Shaggy also helped me and Daphne to learn cooking better than our parents." Fred added.
"Exactly!" Velma said and continued: "And Fred, with the help of Shaggy, taught me to drive a car, take good pictures, not to mention the hours I spent with him discussing about books we read together..."
"There's been a lot of that..." Fred interfered.
"But it wouldn't be possible without Daphne ..." Velma looked at her best friend. - She was the first to teach me the basics of contacts with my peers. This is something that parents are unable to convey. Thanks to her kindness and leniency, I opened up to others, including you guys ..."
Daphne smiled and said:
"Oh, it's nothing special!" and added ironically: "But if you were eager to take my look advices, it would be perfect... - she winked at Velma.
Velma just sighed and shook her head.
"And me, Relma?" Scooby asked, looking cutely at Velma.
"You know? When I was a little girl I was afraid of dogs. But you have been so lovely to me for all these years, so it's long gone." Velma smiled at Scooby.
"Zoinks, Scoob! You are a dog psychologist!" Shaggy said.
Velma decided to end her confessions. She was not accustomed to manifesting herself for so long in front of so many people. It was way too much.
"Anyway, without all of you I would just be a weird nerd, and thanks to you I managed to socialize with people. I just would like to thank you for that..."
"Ooooh, Velms! It's really nice what you said..." Daphne said, rising from her seat and coming to embrace her. The rest of the team did the same, hugging Velma so strong that she couldn't breathe for a few seconds.
Velma was quite embarrassed by the whole situation and her public confessions.
"I'm sorry for that exhibitionism..." - she said when the rest returned to their places.
"Are you kidding? You have nothing to apologize for!" Daphne answered. "It's very valuable what you said."
"We're all friends here, V." Fred said.
"We won't tell your sister!" Shaggy said, and laughed with Scooby.
The rest of the meeting was quite normal - Fred showed the rest of housing offers while Shaggy and Scooby were eating until the edge of unconsciousness. However, Daphne felt that Velma was still troubled. After leaving the cafe, on the way to the van, she decided to talk to her again, but in private:
"I have asked over and over and now I will ask you again: why are you so ashamed of your feelings, Velma?"
"Really? Don't you know me?" said Velma. "I'm no emotional princess, like Madelyn.
"But these very nice words you tell us today, why were you so embarrassed of them?" Daphne didn't give up.
Velma was silent for a moment and then she answered with visible difficulty:
"Because I don't want you to think I'm incompetent, irrational, pathetic little girl. Like when I had a crush on Windsor..."
"How did this come to your mind, girl?!" Daphne laughed.
Maybe Velma was very intelligent, but knowledge about feelings wasn't her strongest point from the beginning of their relationship and she still had to learn a lot about them.
"How many times do I have to tell you that we are all human and feelings are in our nature! Don't be afraid of them!"
They both stopped near the Mystery Machine, with Scooby, Shaggy and Fred waiting inside. Daphne gazed at Velma, who just looked away with embarrassment. She put her hands on both of her friend's shoulders and said:
"We will always accept you for who you really are, Velms. Because we know each other for a long time and we know what's in your heart.
Velma looked straight into her eyes. Daphne could see tears behind Velma's thick glasses.
"Don't be so rough on yourself." Daphne continued. "We will never judge you for what you feel. Trust us!"
Velma smiled through her tears and hugged Daphne again. Then she raised her head and saw Fred, Shaggy and Scooby. Everyone was smiling at her heartily, Fred raised his thumb, making her sure everything is all right.
"See? The guys agree with me." said Daphne and then whispered to Velma's ear: "And as usual: if you don't want to share your stuff with our boys, you know where to find me." and she blinked to her.
Velma wiped her tears, put her glasses back on and smiled at her best friend:
"Thanks, Daph!"
"No problem!" Daphne answered confidently and opened the van's door: "Now let's get in, we have to go to the house that Fred wanted to see..."
A relief appeared on Velma's face. Daphne felt it too. When they were already on their way, she glanced from time to time at her friend with glasses, staring at the window, pensive. Daphne remembered the first day of primary school. It was also the day she met Velma. It was a mere coincidence that they sit together that day. Velma was a very quiet, introverted, bespectacled girl in a white turtleneck. Of course, it was Daphne who first spoke to her. Velma impressed her with her eloquence, unusual at that age. Sure, Daphne's sisters, especially Daisy and Dawn, were also smart, but it was not the same because they were much older than her, and Velma was her peer, so she thought it would be nice to have her as a friend. Especially after breaking the ice, Velma proved to be a really cool girl. A bit strange, but still cool. Daphne learned a lot from her and she still feels that she is getting smarter every time she hangs out with her orange friend.
However, she didn't expect such a behavior from her. Because for Daphne, Velma was like a half-open book - she already knew many facts about her from many intimate conversations she had with her. However, Velma had lots of things that were strongly kept secret. Her fashion choices, for example. Why she always wore those orange knee-high socks and why she avoided contact lenses in favor of those nerdy glasses which she used to lose from time to time...
Sometimes, however, Velma gave signals that revealed her inner life. After her confession, Daphne began to remind herself of various words and gestures on her friend's part indicating her gratitude to the rest of the Mystery Inc. for who she is. However, most of that was lost in the darkness of oblivion.
Velma is a girl full of secrets. But that's why she's such an interesting person...
The End
Author's Note: For curious minds: "mensa" means "table" in latin ;)
As usual, if you liked my fic, please fav & review!
All characters belong to HB/WB