I know that there are a lot of other stories on here about how Mystery Inc. began, but I got this idea and felt the need to write it. As I mentioned in the summary, this story has absolutely no relation to anything else I've written. This story will contain Fraphne and Shelma in later chapters, so if you don't like either of these pairings, I suggest you find something else to read. If you have any brilliant suggestions while reading this story, feel free to tell me. I honestly have no idea how this story will end, so I'm open to new ideas.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Scooby-Doo.

Chapter 1 Meeting Mystery Inc.

Daphne Blake, a wealthy girl of sixteen, sat in the backseat of her father's car. Jenkins, the family's butler, was driving Mr. Blake and Daphne to their new home in Coolsville, Ohio. It was a small town, one where everything would be completely boring, or so Daphne thought.

Mrs. Blake had died nearly a year earlier, leaving their old house in California feeling oddly empty. Eventually, the depression brought by living there grew to be too much for Mr. Blake. He found Coolsville, a random town where he was certain they would be able to move on. Daphne, however, didn't agree with this decision. She had no problem moving, but Ohio had not been her idea of an ideal place to start over. Consequently, she was in a terribly bad mood as they pulled up to the small mansion that would now be theirs to live in.

The house was nice, very elegant in appearance. The property around it was immense, nearly two acres of land. To the left, another wealthy person's home was situated, looking just as attractive as the Blake's. To the right, however, was a sight that looked completely out of place. It was a mansion, the same size as Daphne's. It's stone walls, rusted iron gate, and dark, sinister trees casting shadows over the grounds made this place look as if it had been taken directly out of a horror film. It was far away from their house, but the building still gave Daphne chills.

"See, Daph," her father said to her, "this place isn't so bad. We have a nice house; you'll go to a good school; everything will be fine." He looked at his daughter, who seemed to be agonized by all of this. "I know you think this is going to be boring, but I'm sure there are plenty of things to do here."

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll be totally fine," Daphne responded sarcastically. "How could anything possibly be boring when we're living next to a serial killer in a creepy old mansion?"

Mr. Blake glanced over at the eerie house to their right. "Yeah, that place is a bit spooky. But I'm sure it's abandoned so there's nothing to worry about."

Daphne rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to laugh at her father for taking her seriously. She flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and walked into the house. Her footsteps echoed through the empty halls. In Daphne's opinion, this place was far too large for two people to live in, though this hadn't bothered her father. He had assured her that this purchase was necessary, claiming it would establish their rank in town.

Daphne sighed as she found her bedroom, everything already set up. She plopped down on the bed, dreading the following morning where she would have to start at Coolsville High. School had started a few months before, making her feel like an intruder about to enter their territory. She would be exiled, left out of all the cliques. That wasn't really an issue for Daphne, who preferred solitude anyway.

A few moments later, she fell into a troubled sleep, haunted by images of her mother, the dark house next door, and taunting laughs of peers whom she had never met. The next morning, Daphne awoke to a massive headache and deep fear for the day ahead of her.

"You must be Daphne Blake," a friendly woman greeted as Daphne stepped into the school's office. "Wait here for just a moment and I'll get Principal Martin." The squat lady stood from her desk and walked through a door. She emerged a moment later with a kind-looking man and a blonde boy who looked to be about Daphne's age.

"Now, Fred," the Principal said to the boy, "I don't want to hear about you cutting class again for the rest of the year. Do you understand me?" Fred nodded, his eyes glued to the floor. "Alright, instead of detention, you're going to work off this infraction by showing our new student around." He turned his attention to Daphne. "You must be Daphne Blake. I'm Principal Martin and this young man is Fred Jones, your guide for the first few weeks at Coolsville High. If you have any questions, you can ask either Fred or myself, though right now I'm afraid I must run off to a meeting."

Daphne smiled at the man politely as he exited the office. What a load of bull shit, she thought. He doesn't care; nobody does.

Fred looked up at Daphne at that moment and took in how attractive she actually was. Her blue eyes were narrowed into a glare, sparkling with intensity. Her soft orange hair was resting gently on her shoulders. "Hey," he said to her, putting on his flirtatious smile. Fred was the most popular boy in school, and it was easy to see why. His smile was breath-taking, as were his oceanic eyes. He was muscular, captain of the football team and everybody liked him.

Much to his surprise, Daphne rolled her eyes and walked away from him.

"Wait!" he called after her, his ego wounded slightly. "Okay, look, I'm sorry. Just let me see your schedule and I'll show you to your classes." She shoved her schedule at him, waiting as he read through the list. "Wow, we have everything together," Fred responded. He was quite pleased that they would be seeing a lot of each other, providing him with an ample opportunity to get her to fall for him, and he knew this would happen eventually because, when Fred wanted a girl, he got her. "Come on, I'll show you where our homeroom is."

As Daphne entered her homeroom, she was given a seat toward the back, Fred to her right. On the other side of her, a scrawny boy with messy brown hair was doodling in a notebook. Right in front of Daphne, a girl with short, dark hair and glasses had her nose buried in a very large book.

"Like, hi there," said the skinny kid next to her. He had lifted his head and was now staring at her. "I'm Shaggy Rogers."

Daphne smiled politely. "I'm Daphne Blake."

"Like, it's great to meet you," he responded, his voice cracking. Then, not knowing what else to say, Shaggy awkwardly returned to his drawings.

"Jinkies!" the small girl in front of Daphne cried, turning around. "You're the new student, right?" When Daphne nodded the nerd continued. "We don't get many new people here. I'm Velma Dinkley. It's a pleasure to meet you, Daphne."

"Nice to meet you, too, Velma," Daphne replied kindly.

It amazed her how people of the same age could all be so incredibly different. Fred was the popular jock; Shaggy was the friendless beatnik; Velma was the intelligent loner; and Daphne was the rich daddy's girl who wanted nothing more than to leave that place at once. She never would have guessed that these three people around her would become her friends for life.

I know that's a lame end to the chapter, but they can't all be cliff-hangers. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. I promise it will get more interesting later. :)