Sponge: Hello everyone! Did you miss me? I hope you didn't miss me too much, cuz I'm back now with the second installment of this story…and the answer to the contest question! The song Hello, Goodbye was written by THE BEATLES of course! (Congratulations to XxLadyStrengthxX for guessing correctly, and for being the first reviewer!) Now for the new chapter and a new round of the contest! Oh also: I understand that Shaggy's apparently got a younger sister, but I really don't feel like writing about her so…in this universe he doesn't have one. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera.


Chapter 2: Be True to Your School

"Like Mom, can't I please take Scoob to school with me?" Shaggy was pleading the next morning.

"Norville, we have been over this – you are not allowed to take him to school with you. If you couldn't take him to school in California, what makes you think you'd be allowed to take him to school with you in Ohio?" Shaggy's mother replied. She understood that her son was nervous, but did he seriously think she'd allow him to bring his dog to school?

"Like, Scooby Doo is smart, Mom!" Shaggy argued. "I could like, put some clothes on him and pretend he's a kid and no one would know!"

"I'm sorry, Norville," his mother said, relentlessly shaking her head. She wished that her husband was at home to back her up, but he was already at his new job. "Scooby will be here when you get home. You'll be fine on your first day without him. I promise."

Shaggy groaned inwardly. Once his mother had made up her mind about something, there was no turning back. Unable to do much else, he walked over to where Scooby sat by the front door and patted his head.

"Like, be good for Mom, Scoob," Shaggy told him.

"Scooby and I will do some unpacking," Mrs. Rogers said. Shaggy and Scooby made faces at each other, indicating that unpacking was the last thing either of them wanted to do. Suddenly, at the end of the cul-de-sac, a bus pulled up.

"Like…here I go, I guess." Shaggy sighed. He patted Scooby one last time and bravely made his way out the door into the chilly morning to catch the bus.

He sat in a seat near the front of the bus and stared out the window until the bus arrived at school. He stood up and was almost trampled by the stampede of kids from the back of the bus.

"Like, sorry," he muttered an apology to a small girl that he bumped into, almost knocking her glasses off her face. He didn't turn around to see if she was okay – he just walked straight for the building, wondering where the main office was.

Luckily, he didn't have to wonder for long. There was a large sign that said "MAIN OFFICE" outside one of the first doors he saw when he walked in.

"Um…like, excuse me?" he said to the lady at the front desk.

"Yes dear, how may I help you?" the lady asked, smiling pleasantly. She was one of those ladies who wore bright red lipstick and false eyelashes.

"Uh…well like, I'm new…" Shaggy stammered.

"Oh, you must be Norville Rogers," the lady said, digging through some papers on her desk. "I've got your schedule in here somewhere…ah, here it is!" She proudly thrust a piece of paper towards him that bore a list of classes, teachers, and room numbers as well as – he noticed with a grimace – his full name. Norville Chastain Rogers.

Suddenly, four other students walked into the main office and headed for the intercom. Shaggy watched them, puzzled.

"Those are the class representatives," the lady explained when she noticed him watching them. "They make the announcements for their respective grades." She called to one of them. "Freddie, could you come here for a second?" A blonde kid who looked like he played a lot of sports approached them. "Fred, after you're done making the sophomore class announcements, would you care to help the new student find his homeroom?"

"Certainly, Mrs. McDougall," the boy, Fred, replied, casting a grin at Shaggy before he hurriedly joined the other students around the intercom. As Shaggy waited, Mrs. McDougall wrote him a tardy pass and he got to listen in on the first part of the morning announcements – the senior class representative started it off with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Moment of Silence, and then moved on to the senior class announcements. Then the junior class representative followed, then Fred. When Fred was done, he, like the senior and junior class representatives, left the room. But instead of heading into the hallway, he headed for Shaggy.

"Hi," he said, extending a hand. "I'm Fred Jones, sophomore class representative."

"Shaggy Rogers," Shaggy replied, shaking Fred's hand. "I'm like…the new kid."

Fred chuckled. "Let me see that schedule of yours." Shaggy handed the schedule over. Fred raised his eyebrows at the boy when he saw what his full name was.

"Like apparently I was named after some great-great relative or something," Shaggy defended himself.

"It's cool," Fred said. "You don't usually see names like 'Norville' or 'Chastain'." He continued reading the schedule and beamed. "Heyyyyyy! You're in my homeroom! Sweet! And hey, we've got P.E, lunch, study hall and English together, too!" Fred looked at Shaggy. "Don't worry, Shaggy. As class representative, it's my job to make you feel at home. So you just come to me if you have any questions, okay?"

Shaggy nodded. He was beginning to like Fred. Even though Fred seemed a bit like the dumb jock type.

"The neat thing about Coolsville High," Fred told Shaggy as they exited the main office and walked down the hall, "is that you stay with the same homeroom teacher with the same kids in the class all four years. So your homeroom class becomes kind of like a family. Well, I think that's kind of neat." Shaggy wondered why Fred thought it was so "neat". He couldn't think of any reasons, except maybe if his friends were all in homeroom with him.

"You play any sports?" Fred asked Shaggy. Shaggy shook his head.

"Like, I run cross country and track," Shaggy replied. "But I'm guessing track season doesn't start until like, the spring?"

"Yeah," Fred told him. "I kind of hit a lull in my life when football season comes to an end, too. I play quarterback for the JV team. Coach Warren – he's also our P.E teacher – thinks that I'll make varsity next year."

"Nice," Shaggy said. Sports weren't exactly his strong suit, but he knew that making varsity anything was always good.

"Okay, here's our homeroom," Fred said, stopping outside of a closed door. "The teacher, Mr. Aiken, will most likely introduce you to the class. People will very likely stare at you, but just ignore them. There's an empty seat next to me that Mr. Aiken will probably make you sit in, so just go right there when he points it out."

"Right." Shaggy was beginning to get nervous again. Fred opened the door and the two boys walked in.

The teacher was a tall, dark-haired man wearing glasses and a brown suit. Shaggy assumed this was Mr. Aiken. His eyes lit up when he noticed the two boys.

"You must be the new student," he said, beaming at Shaggy.

"Uh…like, yep," Shaggy mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Class," Mr. Aiken said, taking a peek at Shaggy's schedule. "This is our new student, Norville Rogers. Please make him feel at home."

Almost the entire class snickered quietly and Shaggy felt his neck go hot. He kept his eyes down as Mr. Aiken gestured to the seat beside Fred, near the back of the room.

"Want me to give you the down low on everyone in our homeroom?" Fred whispered as soon as Shaggy sat down.

"Like, sure," Shaggy replied. It would keep his mind off of how embarrassed he felt.

"All right." The boys continued to talk in hushed whispers as homeroom wore on. Fred pointed to a red-haired girl in a purple dress a few seats in front of them to the right. "That's Daphne Blake. She's the most popular girl in the sophomore class and she's totally hot. She recently starred in the drama club's production of some fairy tale musical…I don't know what it was, but it was really good. She's really talented and really smart and really funny."

Shaggy was beginning to see why Fred thought it was so "neat" that the homeroom classes stayed the same all four years.

Once Fred had finished gushing about the perfection of Daphne, he pointed out another girl not too far away. "That's Velma Dinkley."

"She like, looks kinda small," Shaggy couldn't help commenting.

"Yeah, that's cuz she's technically a year younger than the rest of us."

Shaggy's eyes bugged. "Like, what?"

"She's a super-genius, so she skipped like, first or second grade when she was a kid and has been in our class ever since. She's younger than the rest of us but she has a higher GPA than anyone else in the sophomore class," Fred explained. Shaggy glanced at the girl again. He couldn't quite see her face since he was mostly behind her, but he could see her glasses and a sliver of a freckled cheek. Her hair, though cut in a short pageboy, was auburn in hue and complimented her orange sweater and red skirt nicely.

Shaggy continued to listen to Fred point out people and say their names, although Shaggy soon forgot most of them. This 411 session continued until the bell rang.

"What's your next class?" Fred asked Shaggy as the classroom emptied.

"Uh…" Shaggy glanced at his schedule. "Spanish 2. With Rodriguez."

"What room is it?" Fred asked. Shaggy looked again.

"Like, room 217." Shaggy shuddered inwardly as he remembered that room 217 was the "evil" room in the movie/book The Shining by Stephen King.

"Okay, well you're going to take the stairs to the second floor," Fred told him. They were out of the classroom now and Fred indicated the staircase at the end of the hallway. "When you reach the top of the staircase you take a left and walk down a ways. Room 217 should be on the right side of the hallway."

"Like thanks Fred," Shaggy said.

"No problem! See you in P.E!" With that, the blonde-haired boy smiled at Shaggy and sped off in the opposite direction to his own class. Shaggy headed down the hall, climbed the staircase and found room 217 with no problems. He headed for the teachers' desk to explain that he was new.

Muy bueno!" the teacher, Sra. Rodriguez used the Spanish expression for 'very good'. "Let's see…you're Norville, ¿si?"

"Like, yeah." Shaggy didn't feel like correcting her right then.

"Okay," she replied, handing him a book of Spanish names. "Well you have to pick out a Spanish name – preferably one that starts with the same letter as your first name – and then take a seat right over there, next to Valencia." Shaggy turned to see who Sra. Rodriguez was indicating and saw Velma Dinkley from his homeroom. He could see her entire face now. Her eyes were brown behind her glasses.

"Like, okay. Thank you. Uh…I mean, gracias."

"De nada," Sra. Rodriguez replied with a smile. Shaggy made his way over to the desk beside Velma. She looked up from the book she was reading (it was something with an author whose name Shaggy couldn't even pronounce) and grinned when she saw him approaching.

"You're the new kid in my homeroom, right?" she asked. "Norville?"

Shaggy felt blood rush to his face. "Like, it's Shaggy," he mumbled. Velma grinned wider.

"Yeah, I'd probably go by a nickname if my name was 'Norville', too," she said ruefully. Shaggy grinned back as he took a seat. "I'm Velma," she introduced herself, extending a hand.

Shaggy almost said, "I know," but decided that he shouldn't. Instead, he replied, "Like, nice to meet you," took her small hand in his big one and shook it. His palm was a little sweaty. He blamed it on the nerves of it being his first day.

"So have you picked out a Spanish name yet?" Velma asked, nodding her head towards the book that Shaggy held in his other hand.

"Like I haven't even looked at this yet," Shaggy said, opening the book. "Like, wanna help?"

"I'd be obliged," Velma said, her brown eyes sparkling behind her glasses. Shaggy felt his face go hot again and flipped to the 'S' section.

"Like, not a whole lot of 'S' names," he sighed.

"Why don't you try the 'N' section?" Velma suggested. "Your name does start with one, after all." Shaggy considered this and flipped to the 'N' section.

"Nevada?" he asked incredulously as he saw one of the names. "Like, that always struck me as a girl name."

"Why?" Velma asked. "Because it ends with the feminine 'A'?"

"Well yeah, but like also because look at what it means!" Shaggy pointed to the definition of the name. "It means 'covered in snow.' That's like, an extremely girly name-meaning."

"How about this one," Velma asked, gesturing to another name. "Navarro."

"Like what does it mean?" asked Shaggy. Velma bent over the book and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"It means 'of Navarre,'" she read. Shaggy stared at the definition.

"Well like, that's the most anticlimactic name meaning I've ever heard," he stated. Velma giggled. Shaggy sighed. "But like, it'll have to do."

When class started, Sra. Rodriguez introduced the class to "Navarro," then began a lesson on irregular verbs and set the students to practice in their textbooks.

"So where did you move from?" asked Velma as they began to work.

"Like, California," Shaggy replied.

"Jinkies! California is a long way from here."

Jesus Christ, Shaggy thought to himself. First I say 'zoinks', now she's saying 'jinkies'? Are stupid words like, contagious in Ohio? "Yeah," he said out loud. "My parents were driving for like, two or three days."

"What do you think of Coolsville so far?" asked Velma. Shaggy paused, wondering how to answer.

"Like, I really miss Vista Heights," he hedged, not wanting to come right out and say 'I fucking hate it here.'

"I can see that," Velma sighed. She added a squiggly over the 'n' in the word she had just written down. "But I think the longer you stay, the more it'll grow on you."

Geez, she sounded like his mother. Inwardly, Shaggy rolled his eyes. "Like, I guess." He really didn't want Coolsville to grow on him.

"Have you met anyone?" Velma asked. "I mean, besides me?"

"Like, the class representative helped me out in homeroom," Shaggy told her. Velma's face got hard.

"Oh yeah. Fred Jones," she said. "I saw you walk into homeroom with him."

"…You like, sound like you don't like him much," Shaggy couldn't help noticing.

Velma sighed. "I mean, he's okay I guess…he just annoys me."

"Like, how?"

"I don't know," Velma told him. "I guess I'm just really irritated by guys who are complete bubbleheads. I mean, Fred is perfectly nice, don't get me wrong. But…I just get a huge dumb-jock vibe from him. I'm appalled by his stupidity at times." Velma sighed again. "I don't know. I guess it's just me being snobby in my own way, because I appreciate people who are intellectual and get good grades and enjoy reading…like me."

This statement made Shaggy deflate a little, but he wasn't sure why.

x.X.x

Spanish class was over way too quickly. Next Shaggy had Algebra 2.

"I took that class last year," Velma told him as they walked out of the room. "It wasn't too bad, and Mr. Mackmin is a good teacher." She paused. "Want me to walk you to class?"

Shaggy stood in the hallway and looked at her. He was getting nervous again, but it was a different sort of nervousness than he'd felt earlier that day.

"Uh…like thanks Velma, but I think I'm okay," he said. He thought he saw disappointment flicker across her face, but it was gone in a second.

"Okay," she said. "I'll see you later." She gave him a small smile and walked down the hall. Shaggy watched her leave, but she was already gone before he realized that he had no idea where to go.

He really wished he had a map of the school. Why hadn't Mrs. McDougall given him one? Shaggy groaned. He was going to be late to class on his first day of Coolsville High. That was definitely going to get him off to a bad start with his Algebra teacher.

"You okay?"

Shaggy swiveled his head around at the new voice and found that it belonged to Daphne Blake, also from his homeroom.

"Uh…like, why?"

Daphne gave a small grin. "You look kinda lost."

"Like how could you tell?"

Daphne laughed. "You're from my homeroom, right?"

"Like, yeah," Shaggy replied. "You can call me Shaggy."

"You can call me Daphne," Daphne told him with a grin. "So are you?"

"…Am I what?"

"Lost," Daphne replied.

"Oh. Like, yeah." Shaggy handed her his timetable. "Like, do you know how to get to Mr. Mackmin's room?" Daphne looked at his schedule, then glanced back up at him with a grin.

"Yeah, cuz I'm going there too." She smiled wider. "Let's go together."

Shaggy didn't get to talk to Daphne in Algebra because they wound up sitting on opposite sides of the room, but on the way they got to talk a little.

"So have you met anyone yet?" Daphne asked. "I saw you walk into class with Fred Jones."

Was there hostility in her voice?

"Like yeah," Shaggy replied. "He like, helped me out when I first got here. He seems okay."

"Yeah, he SEEMS that way," Daphne said. "But don't let it fool you. I'm telling you Shaggy, he thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and all of his friends are giant air-headed dimwits."

Good God. Did EVERYONE in this school have a problem with Fred Jones? Or was it just the girls? Shaggy was a bit disheartened to hear that Daphne felt this way about Fred, considering the way he had talked and talked and talked about her all throughout homeroom.

Algebra also flew by and Daphne pointed Shaggy in the direction of his next class, which was World History with a teacher named Ms. English.

Like that is some serious irony, Shaggy thought to himself as he headed down the hallway. Or maybe it's incongruity. I can like, never keep them straight.

Daphne smiled as she watched the new kid head for his next class, glad that she had been able to help. However, she frowned at the thought of her next class.

French 2. With Fred.

She hadn't seen him since last semester, before winter vacation. Surely, since then, he had come up with some sort of line to try to woo her. Maybe several lines. But until he behaved like a human instead of an ape, Daphne was not going to give in. Not in this lifetime.

x.X.x

Fred was sitting in his usual desk (which happened to be next to Daphne's) when she walked in. He opened his mouth to say something.

"No," Daphne said as she took a seat. Fred stared at her.

"No what?"

"No to whatever it is that you were going to say to me," Daphne replied.

"But you don't know what I was going to ask!" Fred protested.

"I have a pretty damn good idea," Daphne retorted under her breath so the teacher, Madame Van de Kamp, wouldn't hear.

"I don't understand why you won't give me a chance," Fred told her. But Daphne simply ignored him as she conjugated French verbs. When the bell rang about an hour later, Fred followed her out the door.

"Would you cut that out?" she muttered. "Stop following me!"

"I can't really help it that I'm following you," Fred explained. "We're going to the same place." Their next class was gym.

Daphne sighed. She knew he was right. She also knew that she was being a bitch. She almost decided to apologize, when two girls – one sophomore and one junior – approached Fred.

"Hi Fred," one of them, a blonde girl named Adrienne Maxim giggled, fluttering her eyelashes. She was a sophomore.

"How was your winter vacation?" asked the junior, a brunette named Rita Reynolds. She put her hand on Fred's shoulder. The girls giggled as he gave his answer and stayed behind to talk to them. Daphne stormed down the hallway.

That was what bugged her about Fred so much. He flirted with every two legged female on the planet. It annoyed Daphne to no end, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just the sheer arrogance of it all – that Fred would expect that all the girls would like it if he flirted and gave them attention.

She grumbled as she opened her gym locker and began pulling out her hideous gym clothes. Coolsville High School's school colors were blue and white and while they were perfectly nice colors, Daphne didn't feel as though they were "her" colors.

"My glasses!" came a cry from the other side of the locker bay. Daphne poked her head around to see that poor Velma Dinkley had lost her glasses. No, that wasn't true. Maureen Fischer had taken them and placed them on top of the locker. She and her friends were cackling at the fact that not only was Velma too short to reach the top of the lockers, but that she was as blind as a bat without her glasses and didn't even know where Maureen had put them.

Daphne, who was already feeling rage about Fred, Adrienne and Rita, could feel more anger bubbling up inside her. Not a day went by when Maureen and her minions tormented Velma. Daphne didn't know the girl too well herself, but she had had enough of Maureen being such a bully. So on a rush of adrenaline, Daphne stormed over to where the other girls were, took the glasses down herself, and handed them back to Velma.

"What the hell, Blake?" Maureen snarled.

"I'm sick of you being so mean," Daphne snarled back. Back in middle school, Daphne and Maureen had been the best of friends, but when Maureen began hanging out with catty girls, Daphne had dropped her. Maureen's friends, Rachael Amora and Phoebe Albion, flanked her as they simultaneously put their hands on their hips as they glared at Daphne. Daphne would have laughed if she wasn't so furious.

"Where do you even get the guts to stand up for a dork like Dinkley in the first place?" Phoebe asked. Velma herself had retreated to the other side of the locker bay and began to eavesdrop on the conversation that the other girls were having.

"Yeah, are you Geek Girl's girlfriend now or something?" Rachael sneered. The other girls laughed and Daphne felt her face grow hot.

"Well, she is in the drama club," Maureen snickered. "We should have figured she'd fall for a lesbian!" Maureen's eyes lit up. "It makes perfect sense! Why ELSE would Daphne not want to go out with Fred Jones?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BITCH!" Daphne screeched, lunging for Maureen. Daphne's face was not only red, but she was now seeing red as well. Maureen and her minions recognized this and retreated from the locker room with Daphne in hot pursuit. After a few moments, Velma ventured out of the locker room to see what would happen.

In the gymnasium, the boys had already dressed and were waiting for the teacher to come in. Fred had found Shaggy in the locker room and walked out with him.

"So, how are you surviving your first day so far?" Fred asked. He was a bit downhearted because after he had stopped to talk to Adrienne and Rita in the hallway, he'd turned to find that Daphne wasn't there. He figured finding out about Shaggy's first day at school would be a good deterrent from how he was feeling.

"Like, it's been okay so far," Shaggy said. This was true – it had been okay. He'd sat next to a kid in World History named Tony Moretti who seemed pretty cool.

"Oh yeah, I know Tony," Fred said when Shaggy mentioned him. "He's in my chemistry class and-" Suddenly, the near-tranquility of the conversation was destroyed when a shriek ripped through the acoustic walls of the gymnasium. Both boys swiveled their heads around to see a girl with wavy chestnut hair being chased from the locker room by none other than Daphne Blake.

Shaggy's eyes widened. Daphne had seemed so sweet when he'd talked to her in the hallway earlier that morning. Except for when she had been talking about Fred.

"…Does this like, happen often?" Shaggy whispered to Fred. But the shell-shocked expression on Fred's face told him that it did not. Daphne finally caught up with the girl and pushed her to the ground.

"What the hell is your problem, Maureen?" Daphne shouted as she clawed at the girl's face and pulled at her hair.

"What the hell is YOUR problem, Blake?" Maureen retorted, pushing and scratching at Daphne.

"What is going on here?" boomed a third voice. From the boy's locker room came the teacher, Coach Warren. He did not look happy. Daphne and Maureen got up immediately, their hair and clothes rumpled.

"Daphne attacked me!" Maureen exclaimed. "She started it!"

"I did not start it!" Daphne retorted. "You were bullying Velma Dinkley. Again!"

Upon hearing this, Shaggy glanced around for the small girl and saw her standing near the door of the girl's locker room, looking completely terrified and angry.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!" Coach Warren roared. Daphne and Maureen clammed up. "I would have expected this sort of behavior from a pair of boys, but never from a pair of young ladies. Especially you two. I have half a mind to suspend you both – you know the penalties about fighting in school." Coach Warren sighed. "However, since this is the first time I've ever seen you two misbehave, I'll go easy on you. Detention after school."

"What?" Maureen spluttered.

"Coach Warren-" Daphne began, but he cut her off.

"You girls have detention with me for an hour after school today. And be happy that I'm not making it more!" He glared at them. "Now I expect good behavior from the two of you for the rest of the period." Grumbling, Daphne and Maureen stalked away from Coach Warren and each other. Shaggy and Fred, as well as the other kids in their gym class, stared at them in complete awe.

"…I always knew she had a temper," Fred said under his breath. "But holy shit! She can pack a punch!"

"Like, I never would have guessed it about her," Shaggy said. "She seemed really nice on the way to Algebra this morning."

"Oh yeah, I noticed on your schedule that you had Algebra with her," Fred muttered. Shaggy stared at him, bewildered. How could Fred have possibly known that Daphne was in his Algebra class?

"Do you like, have her entire schedule memorized or something?" Shaggy asked. He'd been joking, but when Fred's face turned red, Shaggy realized it was true. There was an awkward silence between the two.

Meanwhile, Velma had caught up to Daphne. Daphne was still scowling about the unfairness of having to go to detention, but her face relaxed and she smiled a bit when she saw Velma.

"Hi," she said. "Can you believe Coach Warren? If he only knew how often Maureen tormented you, he would have given her more than just an hour of detention."

"Yeah, it's completely unfair," Velma agreed. "Uh…listen, I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me. And to say that I'm sorry that you have to go to detention. Believe me if I'd had my glasses I'd have been on her in an instant."

"You don't seem like that kind of girl," Daphne remarked.

"Neither do you, but I guess we all have surprises up our sleeves," Velma replied. The two girls grinned wryly at each other. "Um…I also wanted to tell you that Maureen is completely wrong about me. Well…I guess not about the Geek Girl part. But I'm not a lesbian."

Daphne laughed, but it wasn't a laugh of mirth, it was a laugh of compassion. "Don't worry. I know you aren't. Maureen was right about the drama club having gay people, so I know what gay people are like. And you are not one." Daphne lowered her voice. "Plus, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I noticed the way you looked at the new guy when he walked into homeroom this morning."

Velma blushed. "…You did?"

"Yeah," Daphne replied. "But only because usually you have your nose buried so deep in a book that it was such a switch to see you show interest in the world beyond the story."

Velma gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

"So…" Daphne began. "Did you talk to the new kid at all?"

"Yeah," Velma replied. "In Spanish. He told me that he goes by Shaggy."

"Yeah, he's in my Algebra class and asked me to call him Shaggy too," Daphne said. "I think you should ask him out." Velma blinked a couple times behind her glasses.

"…Seriously?"

"Sure!" Daphne replied with a grin. "It would at least dispel the rumors that you're a lesbian." Velma paused. As much as she would love for those rumors to go away, she didn't want to scare Shaggy away. She'd just met the guy, after all. She didn't want to ruin a possible friendship.

"Well...we'll see, I guess," Velma said with a small grin of her own. The two girls walked to where the rest of their gym class was.

x.X.x

Back at Shaggy's house, Scooby and Mrs. Rogers had spent the entire morning unpacking, and the dog was completely bushed. He checked the clock. It wasn't even noon yet. He still had three more hours until Shaggy got home from school. Scooby hoped he was doing okay. He wished there was some way he could check on him.

Suddenly, Scooby perked up. Why not? He thought to himself. He had opposable thumbs. He could open the door. Mrs. Rogers was upstairs at the moment. Quietly, Scooby sneaked over to the front door, opened it, and scampered outside. Freedom! Sweet freedom! Although it was abnormally chilly outside. It was January, after all. Scooby shook off the cold feeling as best he could and followed his nose to the high school.

x.X.x

Shaggy did not like Coach Warren. He was brining them outside to run around the track. Shaggy was actually okay with the running – it was the being outside in the cold that he wasn't fond of. He soon discovered that running helped warm him, though.

He was faster than most of the other kids in his class, but he noticed that Fred was also pretty fast. He did play football, Shaggy reminded himself. He was pretty shocked to see that behind Fred, Daphne and Velma were pretty quick themselves. If the gym class was in any danger at all, he, Fred, Daphne and Velma would get to safety faster than anyone else.

Maybe Scooby would get out of danger pretty quickly, Shaggy thought as a brown blur sped past him. Then, he did a double take. Scooby? What's he doing here?

"Raggy!" the dog cried, turning around once he realized he had passed his master and running back and knocking him off his feet.

"Oof! Like, get off buddy!" Shaggy cried, laughing. He noticed that Fred, Daphne and Velma had stopped running and headed over to where Shaggy was.

"Oh my gosh, I love dogs!" the three of them cried simultaneously, patting Scooby on the head. He turned and smiled at them, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Daphne giggled. "What kind of dog is he?"

"Is he yours?" Velma asked Shaggy, who was still sprawled on the ground.

"What's his name?" asked Fred.

"Great Dane, yes, and Scooby Doo," Shaggy said to each person in turn. They and Scooby all laughed.

"What is going on here?" boomed Coach Warren's voice. He had been on the other end of the track, but now strode over to the kids and Scooby furiously. Shaggy immediately stood up. "Whose dog is this?"

"Like, he's mine Coach Warren," Shaggy said. "He must have like, gotten out of my house somehow. We're new you know, and we're not sure how to work the locks yet." In reality, Shaggy had no idea how Scooby had gotten out, but he hoped this sounded believable.

Coach Warren seemed to buy it. "Okay, kid," he said. "I'll let you off cuz you're new. But the dog cannot follow you to school anymore, understand?"

"Like, yes sir," Shaggy said. Coach Warren sighed, then turned to the rest of the class, who had stopped running when Scooby arrived. "All right class. We start our basketball unit tomorrow, so everyone hit the showers." The class headed inside. Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred dwindled a little as Shaggy introduced Scooby to everyone else.

"Rice ro reet roo!" Scooby barked. The others stared at him.

"…Did he just talk to us?" Daphne asked, a bit concernedly.

"Yep," Shaggy told her. "Like, he's been that way ever since he was a puppy. It makes it pretty easy to communicate with him."

"I'm sure it would," Velma remarked. Daphne glanced at her and sent her a message with her eyebrows. Velma knew what Daphne wanted her to do. "Hey Shaggy? And Scooby too, I guess. Um…you guys wanna eat lunch together?"

"Runch!" Scooby cried, smacking his lips. "Roh boy!" Velma giggled.

"I guess that's a yes," she said. Suddenly, Velma was nervous about the prospect of sitting alone with a boy that she might potentially like and his dog. Before she even knew what was happening, she found herself saying, "Daphne, Fred, you wanna eat lunch with us, too?"

"Sure!" Fred said, beaming. "Whaddaya say, Daph?" He winked at her and her face went red. Out of anger! My face is red from anger! she told herself firmly.

"Oh why the hell not?" she said, grinning at Scooby. With that, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby headed for the boys locker room while Daphne and Velma headed for the girls locker room. Daphne was going to ask Velma why she'd invited her – and Fred, but she would wait till they were alone.

In the meantime, Shaggy's heart lifted. He had people to sit with at lunch today, Scooby was here, and he may have created a series of friendships from a mutual love of dogs.

"Thanks, Scoob," Shaggy murmured to his pet. He dressed quickly, and then he and Scooby headed for the cafeteria with Fred leading the way.


Sponge: I hope you all appreciated chapter two! Just to warn you guys: I may not be updating until next week because I'm going camping (it's my last "real" vacation before I go off to college – eep!) but in the meantime, send reviews and don't forget about the contest! You can cheat if you want…just don't tell me you're cheating. Haha. Review!