Summary: It's 1967 and Velma Dinkley is the smartest incoming freshman at Coolsville High School. Stubborn by nature, she falls into a friendship with an unexpected group of students and together they take murder, mystery, and highschool drama by storm. Their free lifestyle flourishes in the heady atmosphere of 60s California, but 1970 brings with it a harsh dose of reality for the gang.

This is an AU story set in the general timeframe of Scooby Doo! Where Are You? in which the characters are more affected by the world around them; e.g. War, politics, high school. I've made it so that Velma is a freshman and the rest of the gang are juniors; I've always pictured her as being younger than the others. It'll also most likely be told primarily from Velma's point of view though we will see plenty of action from all the members.

I myself am a Shelma shipper, but as this is my first story I'm going to try to keep passionate romance to a minimum and any character relationships will be subtle. The T rating is for safety and for any swear words and adult themes that may be necessary to the plot, which will be slow-moving as I bungle through my first ever fic.

Enjoy! Scooby Doo and the gang belong to Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros!

-alpacamysuitcase

"Velma, sweetie! Get up! You'll be late for school!" Mrs. Dinkley called as she gently rapped on her daughter's door. Velma was usually a light sleeper, but after a night of nervous studying and worrying over her first day of high school she had snoozed straight through her alarm.

Now, as she finally woke up, all she felt was panic over the possibility of being late. And on her first day! The thought did not sit well with Velma's straight-A student mentality and shocked her into rushing through her usual routine at double speed. She yelled a quick thank you to her mother, who was already back to puttering in the kitchen, as she combed though her thick bob of auburn hair and began to tug on her clothes, grateful that she had taken the time to lay them out the night before.

After only ten minutes Velma could be seen running down the block towards the bus stop clutching the bagged lunch her mother had packed and an almost comically large satchel of books. Half of them were not even required, but Velma never went anywhere without proper reading material to keep her mind occupied.

Reaching the bus stop with time to spare, the small girl began to tug her mussed clothes back into place. This late into August the weather in the L.A. suburb of Coolsville was scorching—too hot for her favorite chunky orange sweater. Instead Velma was clad in a large dark blue vest over a collared shirt and red pleated miniskirt, complete with dark blue knee socks and chunky white mary-janes. She could have been considered mod if not for her thick-framed glasses.

—

Velma gulped and slid a little further down her seat on the bus. Now that she no longer had to worry about being late she finally remembered what had kept he up so late and caused her to oversleep in the first place! From what she could gather from rumors floating around town, freshmen were forced through all sorts of hazing rituals by the upperclassmen. Silently she listened to the whispers of the other students on the bus.

"Last year they forced the freshmen to walk around with bananas in their shoes!" Gross.

"…and they'll make you drink milk in the cafeteria until you're sick…" Good thing she brought a bagged lunch.

"Harvey Stone from the baseball team said we could hide in the equipment room, no-one ever goes in there…" Velma rolled her eyes, that one was obviously a trap!

"I heard the junior girls are particularly vicious this year—," Uh-oh, Velma was taking a few junior level courses that year, "—apparently Daphne Blake is their new leader!" Blake? Velma knew that name. She had gone to summer camp with a Daphne Blake and they had actually gotten along fairly well. Despite her glamorous appearance Daphne was a rather intelligent girl and Velma was confused as to why she would be leading an allegedly "vicious" pack of girls.

She didn't ponder long because soon the clunky yellow bus was pulling into the school parking lot. Velma steeled her resolve as she gazed out at the mass of students congregating on the front lawn. Many upperclassmen had already arrived to stake out spots from which to scope out the new students, those who hadn't were pulling up in cars and vans packed with kids who looked a little to eager for the first day of school. While other students found their friends and hung in protective groups to catch up summers flings and the latest gossip, Velma walked through the chaos alone. Having attended a catholic all girls school until 8th grade, she knew almost no-one at Coolsville High, a fact that did not bother her much. Velma was entirely too stubborn to let a silly thing like being friendless keep her down, and while she got to know her classmates she always had her books to keep her company.

—

After a school-wide assembly to welcome the incoming "Class of '71!", the student body flooded the halls in a wave of colorful linen and California tans. Velma found herself overwhelmed as she struggled through the throng towards the principal's office. She was supposed to meet with Principal Weathers to discuss her advanced schedule before class, but the auburn haired girl was instead growing incredibly frustrated by the group of mammoth football players standing in her way. Somehow she had gotten boxed in by the large teens as they joked and horsed around in the hall and failed to notice her attempts to move past them. Desperate, Velma rose as high on her tip-toes as she could and tried to make eye-contact with the leader of the group, Fred Jones, but was unable to catch his gaze to her satisfaction. Oh well, she thought, he was probably as doltish as his cronies anyway

"Come on idiots, we're going to be late to Dodson's class and I don't fancy being lectured this early in the morning." Or maybe not.

Though it had been in a roundabout way, Velma was convinced that Fred got the boys to move for her. She shot a thankful look to the blonde boy as she walked briskly through the now-clear path but he had already turned his back, not willing to further acknowledge a puny freshman like her. Running late, Velma was able to find the principal's office in minutes and was soon ushered through Principal Weathers' door with a stern look from the secretary.

"Ah! There you are Miss Dinkley! We were wondering what could have kept you so long," exclaimed Principal Weathers. At least Velma thought it was Principal Weathers who spoke. The amount of shiny silver and gold statues and plaques in the office was blinding, and the stunned girl blinked a few times before she could make out the other two figures in the room.

The speaker had indeed been Principal Weathers who was quick to motion her into a hard-backed chair in front of his large oak desk. To her left was an older looking girl wearing a sheer white blouse and flared purple trousers with a green scarf tied into familiar bright red hair.

"Since you are in so many advanced classes this year Miss. Dinkley, I thought it would be prudent to assign an upperclassmen with a similar schedule to help you adjust to our lovely campus and the demanding course load that high school requires," began Principal Weathers with a smile so wide Velma thought it might engulf his entire face, "Miss Velma Dinkley, may I introduce you to your guide this coming year, Coolsville High junior Miss Daphne Blake."

Ah, that's why her hair was so familiar. Velma turned to shake Daphne's hand in greeting and was taken aback at the unamused look in her blue-violet eyes. The up-and-coming queen of Coolsville High apparently did not appreciate playing "mentor" to a nerdy little freshman.

Velma smiled nervously as Daphne led her out of the office, the older girl's long legs unforgiving as Velma adopted a little skip-run to keep up with the fast pace. Well, she supposed, there was always the library.

Well there you go! I'll try to update this as often as I can, maybe once a week, as long as I keep getting ideas. Reviews and suggestions are always appreciated, and thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1,194