Sponge: Here's chapter 11! It's rather long, so buckle up. Warning: language, drug references, and mild peril. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. All dialogue in bold comes from the Next to Normal script. All lyrics to the songs "Wish I Were Here," "Song of Forgetting," and "Hey #1" belong to Brian Yorkey. There's a line near the end of the chapter that comes directly from the first episode of "Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated." You'll probably know it when you see it. Enjoy!


Chapter 11: Song of Forgetting

Fred had taken to reading his script under his desk during his classes. Ever since Daphne's dig in the library, he'd barely put his script down, but it didn't seem to make a difference. It had been a week and a half since their excursion to the library, they had begun Act II, and Fred was still no closer to having his lines memorized. Not only that, but he was getting in trouble for not paying attention during class.

They'd moved forward in rehearsals, but this Thursday they were coming back to the number that opens Act II, "Wish I Were Here." Fred waited silently in the wings, since he didn't enter until the end of the song. During the number, Diana was getting electroshock therapy, and Natalie was at a club with Henry. Shaggy, Tony, and Holden were also onstage, singing in the background. But Fred couldn't keep his eyes off of Daphne. She was beautiful. Stunning. Brighter than the sun as she performed.

Things had been a little awkward between them ever since their fight at the library. They hadn't talked much about it, and they certainly hadn't done any more sleuthing – though this had more to do with the stress of the play than anything else. Of course, Fred and Daphne's argument hadn't helped matters much. Even though Fred was sure that Holden had something to do with the Phantom, he avoided mentioning him to anyone in the gang, especially Daphne.

She and Velma were about midway through the song and were singing in harmony now.

"Plug me in

And turn me on

And flip the switch

I'm good as gone

It slips my skin

And trips my brain

I feel the burn

But I don't feel the pain."

The music picked up into a frenzied rock-and-roll beat as Daphne and Velma melted away and Diana and Natalie took their places. Fred watched in awe from the wings.

"Is my brain reborn or is it wrecked?

In freedom or in fear?

Wish I were here.

Have I blown my mind forever?

Is cloudy my new clear?

Wish I were here

Wish I were here

Wish I were – "

At this, Velma/Natalie collapsed onto the floor. She'd done such a good job that Fred had almost forgotten that she was acting.

"Natalie! Natalie! Damn," Shaggy/Henry rushed to help her up. "This is like the fifth night in a row I've had to come find you at some random club."

This was Fred's cue to enter. He walked to Daphne/Diana, who sat in a chair, looking confused.

He reached out for her. "Diana?" he said. He knew he got that line correctly, at least. It was hard for even him to mess up a one-word line.

Daphne/Diana blinked at him a few times before she said, "Dan."

Fred/Dan nodded encouragingly. "Your three weeks are up – time to go home!"

"Two weeks!" Leesa corrected him from the front of the house.

Everyone onstage grimaced, bringing themselves out of the moment. "Your two weeks are up," Fred said. "Time to go home."

Daphne struggled to get back into character and furrowed her brow in puzzlement. "Home? But –"

"Shh," Fred/Dan comforted her. "Don't talk. Relax." He wrapped a sweater around her shoulders and took her bag. Up on a platform of the set, Shaggy and Velma sat together in what was meant to be Natalie's bedroom. Shaggy had his arm around her.

"Okay," she told him. "You can go. I'm like, seventy percent less messed up now."

Shaggy/Henry didn't budge.

"Seriously," Velma/Natalie said. "My dad's gonna be home any minute. He's bringing my mom from the hospital this morning, and you don't want to be here."

"Will you call me?" Shaggy/Henry murmured.

"Just go!" Velma/Natalie shouted. Shaggy/Henry stood up to leave, but not before planting a soft kiss to Velma/Natalie's temple. The script didn't call for this per se, but there weren't many opportunities that Shaggy could kiss Velma without anyone getting suspicious, and since he would prefer to be kissing her almost all the time, he had to take what he could get.

"Nice touch, Rogers," Mr. Atwood called from the house as Shaggy exited to the wings.

Velma/Natalie, trying to ignore the fluttering of her heart, sighed, and sang the final lines of the song.

"Can I hide my stupid hunger?

Fake some confidence and cheer?

Wish I were here.

Wish I were here."

Shaggy headed down into the house, where Tony and Holden sat together.

"Ten bucks says Jones misses this line," Holden murmured as Shaggy sat down.

"I'm not takin' that bet," Tony muttered back to him.

"Cuz you know I'd win," Holden replied.

Onstage, Fred/Dan and Daphne/Diana entered. She stopped to take in the scene.

Fred/Dan called out, "We're home!"

"We're here," Leesa called back. Mr. Atwood, who was sitting next to her, frowned at Fred.

"Ha!" Holden smacked a fist into his palm gleefully. "Pay up, Moretti."

"I didn't take your stupid bet," Tony reminded him, his New York accent stronger than usual.

Shaggy sighed. He just didn't understand why Fred wasn't getting any better.

Velma/Natalie smoothed her outfit, then ran out to greet the others. She stopped short at the sight of Daphne/Diana.

"Hey," Velma/Natalie murmured. "Wow. Uh. You look…great."

Daphne/Diana seemed perplexed. "Oh, well, thank you," she replied. She peered closer at Velma/Natalie. Then, almost embarrassedly, "And…who are you?"

Velma/Natalie looked as though she'd been slapped. "Who am I?" she whispered in bewilderment.

Fred/Dan stared at Daphne/Diana in concern. "Diana," he said slowly. "This is your daughter."

"No!" Leesa cried from the front row of the audience as Scooby groaned and hid his face in his paws. Everyone onstage was, again, brought out of the moment. "Your line is 'Diana, this is Natalie,' and then Natalie clarifies, 'Your daughter.'"

Velma and Daphne looked at each other worriedly. Fred's constant line flubs were not helping their character work.

Fred gritted his teeth and tried the line again. "Diana. This is Natalie."

"Your daughter?" Velma/Natalie reminded her.

"Oh. Of course," Daphne/Diana said, though she didn't sound convinced. "And this is our house?"

Silence.

"Rit's rour rine, Reddie," Scooby called out.

Fred groaned. "I'm sorry. What's the line?"

Tony sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. Shaggy closed his eyes in exasperation.

"The line is 'Diana, don't you...you don't remember any of this?'" Leesa reminded him shortly. It seemed as though even she was losing her patience.

Fred didn't dare look at Mr. Atwood. "Diana, don't you…you don't remember…any of this?"

Daphne/Diana looked at him. "I should, right?"

"Okay, cut," Mr. Atwood said. Everyone onstage tensed up. "We've got to run that again. Jones, take another look at your script." Abashedly, Fred took out his script and studied it. Across the expanse from the seats to the stage, Shaggy made eye contact with Daphne and Velma, who looked back at him grimly.

They ran through the scene a few more times and once it was starting to look a little better ("Decent," is what Mr. Atwood said), they moved on to the song that followed.

"This house and all these rooms?" Fred/Dan sang.

"Last Christmas, or last year?

Out back the dogwood blooms –"

Daphne/Diana: "Do I really live here?"

Fred/Dan: "The paint, the walls...

All this glass and wood...

You don't recall?"

Daphne/Diana shook her head. "How I wish I could."

Fred/Dan tried again. "Our house on Walton Way –

The house with the red door?

Our trip to Saint-Tropez –

The whole week a downpour?"

Velma/Natalie joined in on the effort. "My first few steps...

And my first lost tooth...

What, nothing yet?"

Daphne/Diana looked pained. "To tell the truth..."

Velma/Natalie stared at her in disbelief. "Jesus," she sighed.

Fred/Dan sang again. "Sing a song of forgetting...

A song of the way things were not

Sing of what's lost to you

Of times that you never knew.

Sing of not remembering when

Of memories that go unremembered and then

Sing a song of forgetting again."

How was it that he knew all the lyrics to his songs, but couldn't remember his lines to save his life? Shaking himself, he gestured towards Velma/Natalie.

"That day our child was born

Our baby girl's first cry?

That gray and drizzly morn

I've never felt so high."

Daphne/Diana, struggling to recall, finally caught a memory.

"The day we met," she sang

And we shared two beers."

"Then?" Fred/Dan was hopeful.

Daphne/Diana shook her head. "I forget."

Fred/Dan looked crestfallen. "But that's nineteen years."

Daphne/Diana shrugged. "That Dr. Mitchell said there might be some memory loss," she said.

"Dr. Madden," Fred/Dan reminded her. It was nice to be the one doing the correcting for a change.

Daphne/Diana chuckled ruefully. "Well, see, there you go."

Fed up, Velma/Natalie threw her arms in the air.

"What a lovely cure,

It's a medical miracle," she sang, her tone biting with sarcasm.

"With a mind so pure

That she doesn't know anything."

Fred/Dan turned to her.

"It's there I'm sure," he sang

"Cuz memories don't die."

Velma/Natalie sang back. "Why?"

As the song reached a crescendo, Daphne moved downstage towards Velma and Fred.

Fred/Dan: "They don't die."

Velma/Natalie: "They die."

Daphne/Diana: "I'll try…"

THUNK. CRASH.

A sudden noise sounded overhead in the fly space, like a rope snapping. A moment later, a sandbag landed violently onto a beam holding up the platform meant to be Natalie's bedroom. There was the brief splintering sound of cracking wood, and then the whole platform crashed to the ground, landing in the exact spot where Daphne had just been standing.

The three onstage whirled around to stare in horror as everyone in the house shot to their feet.

"Ruh-roh!" Scooby exclaimed, rushing into the aisle with the others in the seats.

"What was that?" called someone from the pit.

Mr. Atwood bounded onstage concernedly. "Are you all okay?" he asked Fred, Daphne, and Velma as he guided them towards the apron.

The three had huddled together in fright at the crash, Fred's arms around both of the girls. However Daphne, suddenly remembering she was still annoyed with him for his unfounded suspicions about Holden and his dependency on his script, released herself from his grasp.

"I'm fine," she said, albeit shakily.

"How did that happen?" Leesa started to walk upstage and peered up into the fly space.

"Beamer for Gods' sake, get out of there," Mr. Atwood called, yanking her arm to bring her back to the group.

Shaggy, Scooby, Tony, and Holden had joined the others onstage, though everyone made sure to stay as close to the edge as they could. Several of the techies and stagehands had started to climb onstage as well, but Mr. Atwood waved them all away.

"Everyone go sit in the house for a while," he commanded. "I've got to check the fly space. I'll be right back with the cherry picker." With that, he carefully walked through the wings to go backstage. He returned shortly, wheeling a cherry picker. "Go," he told the company when he saw they still hadn't moved. He climbed into the cherry picker, turned a key, and everyone watched as he rose up into the fly space.

"Rar roo rokay?" Scooby asked Fred, Daphne, and Velma as they all headed back into the audience seats.

"I think so," Velma replied. "It was certainly a shock, though."

"You're lucky you weren't hurt," Tony told them. "Especially you, Blake. If you hadn't moved in time…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

Shaggy shuddered. This was clearly the Phantom's doing, and it appeared as though Daphne was definitely the target. Though Shaggy was relieved that Daphne wasn't hurt, he was even more relieved that the Phantom was not after Velma.

Holden sighed and reached for Daphne's hand. "That could have been a real disaster," he said. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh, quit the act, Holden." Fred, who'd remained quiet this whole time, suddenly whirled around to face the other boy.

Daphne's eyes widened and she let go of Holden's hand. "Fred!" she hissed.

Holden seemed genuinely confused. "What act? What are you talking about?"

"I know that you're not happy that Daphne brought us 'outsiders' in for this play," Fred made finger quotations around the word 'outsiders,' "so stop trying to act like you don't know what's going on."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Holden again.

Fred stepped closer to him. "I know you're pretending to be the Phantom to scare us away," he said, jabbing a finger into Holden's chest. "You weren't around last week when the girls' dressing room was destroyed or whenever the Phantom's been seen, and you're the only one of us who hasn't had props or costume pieces go missing."

"Fred!" Daphne grabbed his arm, aghast. "Cut it out!"

"We've already got you figured out, Holden!" Fred completely ignored Daphne. "We know you're trying to reclaim the legend of the Phantom of the Auditorium for your own family – Harrison Walsh is your father, and you're upset that Christine McCormack is the one who everyone remembers! So you're using the legend to restore your legacy and chase the rest of us away so that you can have Daphne for yourself!"

As soon as he said it all out loud, he realized how absolutely fucking stupid he sounded.

He glanced back and forth at his friends. Shaggy and Scooby looked embarrassed. Velma looked weary. Daphne looked completely livid. Leesa and Tony looked stricken. Everyone else looked at Fred with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.

Holden looked at him like he was an idiot. "In case you've forgotten," he said. "I was here just now when the sandbag broke the set. How could I have done that if I was the Phantom? And I have no idea who Harrison Walsh or Christine McCormack are, but I'm not related to either one of them, to my knowledge. My father's name is Warren." He said this last in a soft tone, but after a brief pause, looked back at Fred resolutely. "And as lovely as Daphne is, I do not 'want her for myself', as you say. I shouldn't have to say this at this point, but I'm gay." He looked pointedly at Fred. "That means that I experience romantic feelings towards men, rather than women." He said this slowly, as though he were explaining it to a very stupid person.

Shaggy felt his stomach clench in embarrassment for Fred.

"And besides," Holden said with a sigh. "I didn't want to say anything about this, but I noticed today that my tuxedo for 'I Dreamed a Dance' is missing. It's not where I left it after homecoming, and I have no idea where it is."

Harmony Collins looked up. "What?" she cried in alarm. "You wore that to homecoming and you didn't tell me?"

"No, I didn't tell you," Holden said to her. "Because I knew you'd react like this." He turned back to Fred. "I don't know who's trying to sabotage the performance, but I promise you it's not me. This is my last musical here, and I want it to go well. I would never try to do anything to ruin it, or to hurt Daphne, or even to scare the rest of you away. So I'd appreciate you backing off."

"Okay, folks," Mr. Atwood descended in the cherry picker, oblivious to the confrontation that had just taken place. "It looks like the pulley system in the fly space got a little wonky, so we're gonna move into the band room while maintenance comes to take a look. I'm going to let them use my keys for the cherry picker so they can fix it. We should be back to business as usual tomorrow, but for now, we'll relocate. Mr. Harrison, the band director, will help as well. Let's go."

x.X.x

The cast headed to the band room in silence, and there was quite a bit of tension between them. Everyone walked on eggshells around Fred and Holden, who refused to look each other in the eye.

Daphne, too, was edgy. She was furious with the way Fred had treated Holden. She stood off to one side of the makeshift "stage" that Mr. Atwood and Mr. Harrison had created in the band room, while Fred sat in the chairs. She avoided eye contact with him – though if she'd been looking at him, she would have seen that he was glaring daggers at her. Of course, that may have been because she was standing next to Holden.

Shaggy and Velma, however, weren't suffering at all. Indeed, they'd had quite a productive practice room meeting (if "productive" meant "full of excellent kissing") and their chemistry was on fire. Now that they were meeting in the practice room again, neither of them had ever been better.

There were three duets they sang that had the same musical theme: "Hey #1," "Hey #2," and "Hey #3." They were running through the first one, where they meet at school several weeks after Daphne/Diana has lost her memory.

Shaggy/Henry: "Hey."

Velma/Natalie: "Hey."

Shaggy/Henry: "I've missed you these days.

I thought you might call.

It's been weeks."

Velma/Natalie shrugged. "I've been crazed."

"Hey," Shaggy/Henry took her hand and pulled her closer to him.

"Hey,

Have you been on the scene?

Cuz you look like a mess."

Velma/Natalie shot him a withering look. "Thanks, I guess."

He looked at her seriously. "Are you clean?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Wow, coming from you…"

Shaggy/Henry: "I don't do what you do."

Velma/Natalie: "Okay, how did it start?"

He gripped her shoulders. "But you took it too far."

Velma/Natalie: "Oh, I took it too far?"

She pulled away from him, but he reached for her again.

"Hey," he sang. "Hey." He pulled her back to him.

"Henry, don't," she replied, shaking her head.

"Are we over?" He kept holding her hands.

"Don't do this to me," Velma/Natalie tried to resist.

"Don't say that we're over," Shaggy/Henry implored her.

She looked at him mournfully. "Don't you want us to be?"

He shook his head firmly. "No, I want who I knew." He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"She's somewhere in you." He so very, very badly wanted to kiss her right now, but he knew it wouldn't be appropriate, even in this context.

Reluctantly, Velma/Natalie moved away from him, but he followed and caught her arm again.

Shaggy/Henry: "Hey

Say.

Will you come to this dance?

It's some spring formal dance.

It's March first.

And it's cheese

But it's fun and it's free."

He reached into his pocket and pretended to hold tickets out to her.

Velma/Natalie shook her head. "I don't do dances," she sang.

Shaggy/Henry: "Do this dance with me."

It was almost a complete role reversal from what had happened in real life, with homecoming. And the irony was not lost on either of them.

"Goodbye, Henry," Velma/Natalie sang, and exited.

"Natalie. Natalie, wait up," Shaggy/Henry called after her, and followed her "offstage."

"Cut! Come back here you two," Mr. Atwood called.

Shaggy and Velma returned.

"It's great so far," said Mr. Atwood. "But remember – you're not in a movie, you're on a stage. I know we're not in the auditorium right now, but you don't have to stand so close to each other all the time. Try it again with some space between you."

Neither Shaggy nor Velma were particularly thrilled with this turn of events, and they rather unenthusiastically reset to run the song again.

Daphne watched from the "wings," ready for her next entrance. Holden stood beside her silently, and Fred and Tony both sat in the chairs, out of earshot. Daphne looked over to Fred and finally noticed his glare. She narrowed her eyes. Where did he get off being annoyed at her?

"What do you think of them?" Daphne whispered to Holden, gesturing towards Shaggy and Velma. She knew it would make Fred crazy to see her talking to Holden, but maybe she wanted to punish him a little, for the way he'd behaved in the auditorium. She wanted Holden to know that she believed his innocence, in any case.

"I gotta say," he replied. "They've improved massively since that first day. They really care about the production."

Daphne couldn't help but glance at Fred out of the corner of her eye. He was still scowling. "Do you think that's Fred's problem? That he doesn't care about this as much as the rest of us?"

Holden shuffled his feet. "I didn't say that," he replied evasively.

"Think about it, Holden," Daphne said. "The gang tried out for this play because I asked them to. We all have different roles to fulfill. Shaggy and Velma are dedicated enough to work overtime in the practice room before and after rehearsal so they're comfortable together onstage. Even Scooby is involved – he's more than pulling his weight as the ASM. But Fred?" Daphne shook her head. "He just isn't moving forward. I don't understand it." Daphne's stomach clenched with the realization. Fred cared more about the mystery than he did about the play. Did that mean...that he cared about the mystery more than he did about her? Was her love for him in vain?

Holden shrugged. "I'm not a couple's counselor, Daph. I don't know what kind of advice to give." He cocked his head towards Velma. "Maybe you could talk to her? You guys are close, right?"

"Of course we are," Daphne told him. "Velma is my best friend in the world. But I don't think she's ever been in love."

Holden raised his eyebrows. "Really? You don't think something's going on there?" He jerked his head back at Velma and Shaggy.

Daphne almost laughed out loud. "Are you serious? There's no way. Velma would have told me."

Holden shrugged. "If you say so. But I think you should still talk to her."

x.X.x

Unfortunately, Daphne had to wait until after rehearsal to talk to Velma. Luckily, they had an APUSH test the following week that they needed to study for, so Velma asked Daphne to come over, which Daphne happily accepted. Fred dropped them both off at Velma's that afternoon.

They'd been going for maybe twenty minutes when Velma realized that Daphne was barely paying attention to their study questions.

"Daph?" she finally said, looking up from her textbook. She was on her bed propped up on her elbows, while Daphne herself was at the desk. "Are you all right?"

"Velma," Daphne replied. "Do you think Fred is as committed to the play at the rest of us?"

Velma sighed and turned to place a bookmark in her textbook before sitting up to look at Daphne. "What are you talking about?"

"We've been rehearsing for weeks," Daphne said, swiveling the desk chair around. "We're almost done blocking Act II. We're going to start full run-throughs soon. The play opens two weeks from Friday, and Fred still doesn't have his lines memorized! Everyone else is off book but him!"

Velma leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands. "I don't think his commitment to the play is the problem, Daph. Do you know how often Mr. Ercolano yells at him in physics because he's reading his script under his lab table?"

Daphne pouted thoughtfully. Truthfully, she'd noticed him doing that in French class as well, but she'd figured it had been a show for her. But if he was reading his script in other classes...

She sighed. "I don't know, Velma. I just don't understand why he's not progressing like the rest of us."

"Have you asked him about it?"

Daphne lifted a shoulder. "We haven't talked much since that day in the library."

Velma rolled her eyes. "Daph, remember last year when you decided you were going to tell Fred how you felt about him and you asked me for my advice? What did I tell you?"

"That I was getting ahead of myself?" Daphne replied.

Velma cracked a smile. She had said that, to calm Daphne's dramatics. "I also said that as long as you guys communicated to each other how you were feeling, everything would be all right. Have you told him you loved him yet?"

"No," Daphne admitted. "I've been too annoyed with him lately."

Velma raised an eyebrow at her friend. "You've got to tell him how you're feeling. He's not a mind-reader, Daph. He's just a boy."

Daphne shook her head and sighed. "You're right. I'll talk to him tomorrow." She leaned forward. "Speaking of boys…you and Shaggy have the best chemistry out of anyone in the cast. Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?"

"No. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why would anything ever be going on between me and Shaggy?" Velma said, a little quickly. Daphne raised her eyebrows at her. Velma took a deep breath and tried again. "I swear, Daphne," she said, sounding slightly calmer. "Shaggy and I are just friends."

Daphne shrugged. "Holden asked me about it at rehearsal today. He seems to think there's something going on there."

Velma rolled her eyes. First Tony, now Holden? Were she and Shaggy being more obvious than they realized? If they were going to keep their physical relationship a secret, they'd have to do better out in public. She made a mental note to talk to him about it the next day.

"I promise, you'll be the first to know if something ever happens," Velma fibbed. She felt her stomach twist in discomfort. Velma didn't usually outright lie her friends, but she knew that deception was the only way to throw Daphne off the scent. "Now come on," she said. "Let's study." She turned back to her textbook resolutely, and was relieved when Daphne dropped the subject.


Sponge: Thanks for reading. Pre-warning: it might get a little steamy next chapter. Review if you please!