Sponge: It's chapter 7, folks! Welcome and enjoy. The title of the last chapter, "Tell Her About It," is a song written by the great Billy Joel! Congratulations to iamacliche for guessing correctly! Now, on with the show! Warning: language and mentions of harsh bullying. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera.
Chapter 7: Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
Unsurprisingly, Shaggy did not take Julie's advice. While he noticed that now he was able to admit his true feelings for Velma to himself, thanks to Julie's prescient guess, it didn't make it any easier having to say the words out loud. He spent the entirety of the following morning imagining saying the words: I love you, Velma. I'm in love with you. But even as he thought about it, he couldn't stop imagining a look of hurt and betrayal on Scooby's face. Just last night at Tony's house, the dog had gagged at Joey and Julie showing affection for each other. That was all the proof Shaggy needed that Scooby was not ready to hear about Shaggy's relationship with Velma.
She was quieter than normal on their way to school, which both Shaggy and Daphne picked up on, though the latter was the only one who mentioned it.
"What's up, Velm?"
Velma hesitated. Today was the day that she'd invited Marcie to eat lunch with the gang, but she hadn't yet let them know. Also, she still hadn't told Shaggy that Marcie knew about their relationship. She'd have to do it today, before lunch. But she had to tell the others about the invitation first.
"Um...you know my friend Marcie?" Velma said. "From the science club? We saw her at the Hex Girls concert?"
"Sure, Hot Dog Water," said Fred without thinking.
Velma and Daphne both looked at him, aghast.
"Fred!" Daphne scolded, and Fred turned scarlet.
"Shit!" he cursed. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
"Please don't call her that," Velma murmured, frowning.
Fred shook his head, mortified. "Of course not. I'm so sorry, Velma."
"It's fine," she sighed. "Anyway, I um...I asked her to eat lunch with us today. Is that...cool?"
"Of course," said Fred immediately. He was still reeling from his slip-up with Marcie's old nickname, and thought this was the best way to make it up to Velma.
"Sure," said Daphne, though Velma detected the slight confused raise of her eyebrows.
Shaggy shared a quizzical glance with Scooby, also feeling confused. He knew that Velma and Marcie were friends, but he thought it was strictly in a science club/nerdy experiments way. When had they become close enough that Velma wanted Marcie to eat lunch with the rest of them?
He got an answer later that morning.
In third period Spanish, Sra. Rodriguez split the class into pairs to peer-review each other's homework essays. Since Shaggy and Velma sat next to each other, they passed their papers and studied them while Scooby lay beneath Shaggy's desk and took a little snooze. Shaggy envied him.
"Hey," Velma whispered under her breath when she noticed Scooby was napping. "I have something to tell you."
Shaggy glanced at her over the top of the paper. "Like what's up?"
Velma looked down at Scooby once more before turning her gaze back to Shaggy. "Don't get upset," she started.
Shaggy immediately felt on edge. "Like what is it?"
Velma bit her lip. "Marcie knows about us."
Shaggy frowned. "Marcie...Fleach ? Like your friend from science club?"
"The very same."
"Like how did she find out?"
Velma turned slightly pink. "She may have heard me talking to Tony about Valentine's Day in the hall after bio yesterday."
Shaggy felt his heart drop. "You told Tony about Valentine's Day?"
"He wanted to know what we did. I told him that you cooked for me. And Marcie overheard."
Shaggy groaned under his breath. "Like Velm, what were you thinking? You were in the middle of the hallway!"
"Calm down!" Velma hissed.
"Is that why you asked her to eat with us today?" Shaggy scoffed. "What like, you're gonna buy her silence with lunch?"
"It's not like that," Velma told him hotly. "She's nice. She won't tell anyone."
"Like how do you know?" Shaggy asked. "We don't know her!"
"You don't know her," Velma corrected him. "But I do. She won't say anything. You'll see."
Shaggy found himself in a foul mood through the rest of the morning. He couldn't believe Velma had been so careless. That wasn't like her. Though of course, Shaggy had – on purpose – told Julie St. James just last night that he and Velma were dating...but that was different. Julie was older, and she didn't go to school with them. There wasn't any way it could get back to Scooby through her.
By the time lunch rolled around, Shaggy had worked himself up into quite a lather. None of the gang knew Marcie. Fred still called her by that stupid nickname. Shaggy didn't even know the context.
The lunch period started out a little awkwardly, with everyone solely focused on their food. No one said anything for several minutes until Daphne cleared her throat.
"So Marcie, where are you thinking about going to college next year?" Daphne asked.
Marcie looked slightly taken aback that Daphne was talking to her. "Um..." she stammered. "I applied early decision to CalTech and I got my acceptance back in December. I want to study biological engineering or maybe aerospace science."
"Wow, that's impressive," said Fred. Shaggy silently agreed.
"Marcie's my only real competition for valedictorian," said Velma, grinning teasingly at the other girl.
Marcie smiled back. "In order to be a competition, that would imply that you had a chance to win."
Everyone laughed at the playful banter, and Shaggy relaxed. Marcie did seem nice, and kind of funny. And it certainly didn't seem like she was about to spill his secret. Midway through the period, Velma and Marcie went on a sojourn to the vending machine while Scooby took off to try to beg for food from other students. Maureen Fischer came by the table and commandeered Fred to talk about the prom, so Shaggy and Daphne were left alone.
"Hey like, can I ask you a question?"
Daphne speared a snow pea with her fork and inspected it briefly before popping it in her mouth and glancing at Shaggy. "Of course."
He jerked his head in the direction of Velma and Marcie, who were still perusing the vending machine. "What do you know about her?"
Daphne looked in the direction of the two girls. "Who, Marcie?" She shrugged. "Not much, to be honest. I've gone to school with her for years, but today is the most I've talked to her in all that time."
Shaggy peeked at Marcie surreptitiously once more. "Why does she have that like...that nickname?"
Daphne's face hardened as she put down her fork. "That, unfortunately, I do know." She sighed, leaned closer to Shaggy, and spoke in an undertone.
"So when we were in middle school, I was best friends with..." She broke off and inclined her head towards the table where Fred now sat with Maureen Fischer and a few other girls from the prom committee.
"Maureen?" said Shaggy. "Yeah, like I knew about that." Fred had told him on his first day at Coolsville High.
Daphne shook her head remorsefully. "I'm not proud of it," she told him. "She's always been terrible, but she was especially bad in middle school."
"Like weren't we all?" asked Shaggy, who himself had been a bit of a delinquent as a preteen, for no reason other than trying to maintain control over his life after the death of his baby sister.
"I guess," Daphne replied. "But Maureen...I'm not trying to defend her or anything, but she was really insecure in middle school, and she took it out on other girls in our class."
Shaggy studied Maureen out of the corner of his eye. "Like what did she have to be insecure about?" he asked. Maureen, with her nice figure, wavy chestnut hair, and bright blue eyes, was a pretty girl – despite the fact that she was evil incarnate.
Daphne looked at him as though he was a sweet little child. "All girls are insecure, Shaggy," she told him. "Especially at that age. Just because you're popular and good-looking doesn't mean you don't fall victim to the same self-doubt and anxieties as everyone else."
Shaggy frowned. "So like, what does all this have to do with Marcie?"
Daphne picked her fork back up and stabbed another snow pea. "This is where the insecurity comes in," she said with a sigh. "So...contrary to popular belief, Maureen's not just a vain, vapid demon. She's smart. She's particularly good at science – almost as good as Velma and Marcie. All three of them took honors science in eighth grade, but Maureen and Marcie had the same class period. I don't know the details really because Maureen never explicitly told me, but I got the sense that Maureen was jealous that Marcie was just slightly better. She – that is, Maureen – was always really competitive. It's part of the reason we had a falling out in ninth grade...because she always liked Fred and when it became clear that he liked me, she couldn't handle it."
"That's like, really dumb," Shaggy stated.
"Yeah, well, that's Maureen," Daphne sighed. "She always put her worth in what other people thought of her. If she wasn't the most popular, or the best student, she'd do whatever she could to take down the ones who stood in her way. Anyway, she was annoyed that Marcie was better at science than her and she just made it her life's mission to ruin her the only way she could – through gossip. They had gym class together that year too, and Maureen started making a huge deal about how much the girl's locker room smelled after Marcie walked in. That's where the nickname came from – she compared the smell of Marcie's gym clothes to the smell of water that you cook hot dogs in, and the name stuck. It was so stupid. I was in that gym class too, and the smell wasn't anything like that. And even if it was, everybody sweats after gym class, that's just...biology." Daphne sighed yet again and looked askance, where Marcie and Velma were still debating vending machine wares.
"What else happened?" asked Shaggy. He had a feeling that Daphne was leaving something out.
With another sigh, Daphne turned back to face him. "The worst thing she did, and I don't know how she never got in trouble for this, was one time before gym class, she broke into Marcie's locker and stole her gym uniform. Marcie was like, fully undressed before she realized they were missing. And then Maureen took her regular clothes and hid them, too. Marcie was frantic, running around the locker room in her underwear trying to find her clothes. She'd also come out recently, you know, as a lesbian, so Maureen made a big deal about how Marcie was trying to show off for the other girls and make them fall in love with her. Marcie was in tears, and Maureen just stood there laughing. It was horrible."
Shaggy felt every muscle in his body tighten with rage on Marcie's behalf. He had never hated Maureen more.
Daphne took a deep breath. "I felt awful for not interfering. I still do. And I'm not trying to make excuses, but Maureen was my best friend, and I was terrified of what she'd do to me if I defended Marcie."
"I understand," Shaggy told her, still seething at Maureen's disgusting behavior.
Daphne shrugged. "Come to think of it, that was the first day Velma made an impression on me, actually."
Shaggy furrowed his brow. How was Velma involved with this story? "Like, what do you mean?"
"She was in our gym class in eighth grade too," said Daphne. "She's always been short, because she's so young, but especially then. We were all thirteen or fourteen and she was what...twelve? But she stormed over to Maureen, stuck her chin out, and told her to leave Marcie alone."
Shaggy grinned in spite of himself. He could just picture a very young Velma stomping across a locker room, fire in her eyes and smoke coming out of her ears.
"Unfortunately, that put Velma on Maureen's radar," Daphne continued. "Maureen shifted her obsession from Marcie to Velma. She started the rumor that Velma liked girls, based on the fact that she defended Marcie. She spread it around to anyone who would listen, and it made Velma's life hell. It was the reason she dated Tony Moretti in ninth grade. And it was the reason Velma never stood up to Maureen again whenever she picked on her."
"But she did," Shaggy reminded her. "Remember in tenth grade? When Maureen told you all she like, caught me smoking pot and she went on like a tirade about how much of a loser I was, and then Velma slapped her right in the middle of the gym? She got her like, one and only detention for that."
Daphne laughed out loud. "Jeepers! I'd totally forgotten." She shook her head fondly. "Well, she wasn't defending herself so much as she was defending you. But you returned the favor, remember, when you shielded Velma from retaliation?"
Shaggy did remember. He thought of that interaction often, especially the conversation he'd had with Velma after the fact. He'd told her no one had ever really stood up for him before. And she'd told him no one had stood up for her before either. It was one of the things that had bonded them early on.
He watched Velma and Marcie walking back to the table, laden with snacks, and felt his heart swell with affection for her. He felt bad for getting mad earlier. She always had his back, and it wasn't her fault that Marcie had overheard her talking to Tony.
"Who wants chips?" asked Marcie, dumping an armload in the middle of the table.
"Roh boy!" said Scooby, who had returned. Fred was on his way back from Maureen's table as well, and plopped back into his seat beside Daphne. He put an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Daphne grinned up at him adoringly.
Shaggy glanced up at Velma and found she was looking back at him. She gave him a small grin, which he returned. He knew the chips were a peace offering. A please forgive me for spilling our secret gift. Velma slid a bag across the table to Shaggy, and when he reached forward to retrieve it, their fingers touched. He clandestinely stroked the top of her hand with his thumb, in a way that he hoped relayed the message, All forgiven.
From the way she bit her lip and smiled, he knew she got the message.
x.X.x
The weeks passed, and the weather became warmer. Marcie continued joining them for lunch, but now that Shaggy knew about everything that Marcie endured in middle school, he didn't mind. She and Velma were growing closer and had developed inside jokes quickly. The gang also continued meeting with Heavy Meddle every Monday at Tony's house to discuss prom logistics. They got to know the members of the band pretty well in the coming weeks. Julie was clearly the leader – everyone seemed to delegate group decisions to her. Joey was second in command and Julie often asked for his input, but he usually seemed happy to let her take control. Felix was a bit of a jokester, but took his drumming very seriously. Priya was kind and cheerful and kept the others calm when tensions grew too high – especially when it came to Leon.
Leon was a bit of a puzzle to the gang. He was quiet and surly, and tended to butt heads with others in the band – especially Julie. The pair of them got into spats at least once a meeting, which made everyone uncomfortable. But with Priya there to keep the peace, normally meetings went smoothly. Everyone in the gang could tell that Fred was feeling much better – he was always in an excellent mood after a meeting with the band. However, the following day he always had to meet with Maureen and the prom committee to relay the progress, which he always found a much less desirous task.
Julie, too, asked Shaggy to relay his progress on telling Velma his true feelings, and thus on telling the rest of their friends about them. Shaggy found it very distracting to try to be involved in making decisions with Julie glancing to him, then to Velma, then back to him like she was watching a tennis match. This lack of focus proved slightly problematic when it came to making group decisions about the set list.
"Never thought of you as a Twilight stan, Shag," Fred quipped on the drive to school one Tuesday. It was three weeks after Marcie had first joined them at lunch, and the gang had met with Heavy Meddle the previous evening, where Shaggy had accidentally agreed to add the love song from the final Twilight movie to the band's set list for prom.
Scooby chortled. Shaggy rolled his eyes.
"I like don't care about Twilight," he said. "Like literally, I have no strong feelings about it. I don't hate it, I don't love it, I...like, nothing it."
"Sounds like you 'something' it," said Velma with a grin. "Otherwise you wouldn't keep talking about it."
"I just..." Shaggy sighed. "Like, really? That song for a slow dance at our prom? There are like, so many better choices, right?"
"I like that song," said Daphne stoutly. "I think it's really romantic."
"But it's like, such a cliché!" Shaggy exclaimed. "What about something like 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You?' Or like, 'The Time of My Life?'"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Daphne held up her hands and stared at Shaggy with a kind of manic incredulity. "You think the love song from Twilight is a cliché, but not the final dance number from Dirty Dancing?"
"Dirty Dancing is like a classic film!" Shaggy cried.
"Hold on," Velma turned to gaze at Shaggy, a huge smile on her face. "You like Dirty Dancing?"
"Yes I like Dirty Dancing, and what are you gonna like, say about it?" he challenged, though his eyes glinted with humor.
Velma just shook her head, looking as though it was her birthday all over again.
"It would be a great song for Julie and Joey," said Fred, who had just pulled into the parking lot. "I bet that duet would really suit their voices."
"Ryyyyyyyyy've raaaaad the rime of my riiiiiiiiiiiife," Scooby warbled, terribly off-key.
Daphne giggled and joined in. "No I've neeeeever felt like this before..." Her voice was much better than Scooby's.
Fred and Velma also started singing. "Yes I swear, it's the truuuuuuuth, and I owe it all to yooooou!"
Everyone burst out laughing, including Shaggy.
"If they do that song," Shaggy said as everyone got out of the Mystery Machine. "I will like, do that Patrick Swayze lift with the nearest Jennifer Grey, I am so serious."
"I could do it better," said Fred, squinting in the sunlight. It was the first pleasant day they'd had, a sign that spring was surely on the way even though it was only the second week of March. Everyone was feeling a bit giddy that morning, which is perhaps what prompted Shaggy to say,
"Like all right then. Do it now."
"What?" Fred laughed, glancing at Shaggy.
"Yeah. Like do it right now." Shaggy pointed at Daphne. "Do the Dirty Dancing lift. I'll like hold your bags."
"We're in the middle of the parking lot!" Daphne exclaimed, also laughing.
"No, I can do it," said Fred. He handed his bag to Shaggy. "All right Daph, go stand over by the Mystery Machine. Give Velma your backpack and purse."
Velma collected Daphne's bags and stood by Scooby and Shaggy to give Fred and Daphne a wide berth.
"Rhis'll be rinteresting," Scooby chuckled.
"Do you really think he can do this?" whispered Velma.
"No idea," Shaggy murmured back. "I guess we're like, about to find out."
"All right, ready?" Fred called. "On my count! Three...two...one!"
With a burst of energy, Daphne raced towards him, totally unsure of the outcome. She certainly trusted Fred to catch her, but wasn't sure if he could actually lift her over his head.
She gave an involuntary shriek as she leaped into his arms, and then another gasp of surprise as she felt herself being lifted into the air. She looked out over the parking lot, not very aware of the stares other students were giving. Only the feeling of Fred's strong hands on her waist, and the jubilant shouts of Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby who were now racing towards them.
"ZOINKS!" Shaggy cried. "LIKE YOU DID IT!"
Velma was laughing hysterically as Scooby whooped with delight.
"Cause IIIIIIIII've haaaaaaad the time of my liiiiiiiiiiiiife!" Shaggy sang out.
Velma and Scooby joined in. "And I owe it all to yooooooooooou!"
Fred gently lowered Daphne to the ground, their faces very close together, both out of breath, but smiling all the same.
"Mr. Jones! Ms. Blake!"
At the sound of the adult voice, the whole gang whirled around and found themselves faced with their kind but no-nonsense homeroom teacher, Mr. Aiken. He was glaring at the couple rather sternly and they stared back at him, abashed.
"That's a little dangerous, wouldn't you say?" Mr. Aiken asked them.
"Sorry," they both replied.
Mr. Aiken sighed and shook his head. "Get inside, please. The warning bell will ring soon."
Without another word, all five of them hurried into the building, and only stopped to laugh once they had made it to Velma's locker.
"Like I gotta be honest man," said Shaggy once he'd caught his breath and stopped laughing so hard. "I didn't actually know if you'd be able to do that."
Fred shook his head, still chuckling. "That'll teach you to doubt me."
"Tsk."
The tongue-click came from a group of girls a few lockers down. Maureen Fischer had made the noise and was glaring malevolent daggers at Fred and Daphne.
"God they're obnoxious," she said to her friends, just loud enough that it carried down the row of lockers towards the gang. "It's like, we get it, you're in love, quit rubbing it in our faces."
Maureen's friends laughed, but the gang glared at them.
"Whatever," said Daphne dismissively, turning away. "We all know she's just jealous."
Maureen and her minions walked past them a few moments later, each group staring angrily at the other.
"Hey," said a new voice behind them.
They turned around again, this time faced with their classmates Corinne Faulkner, who had been the props mistress for the musical last year, and Caleb Walters, who was Tony Moretti's best friend.
"We saw that move in the parking lot," said Caleb, grinning. "That was pretty tight."
"You guys are so Relationship Goals," Corinne sighed.
Daphne glanced up at Fred, smiling proudly. He responded by wrapping an arm around her and kissing the top of her head.
"So," said Caleb, to the group at large. "You guys are friends with Tony, right?"
"Isn't everybody friends with Tony?" Velma replied. This was true – Tony had no enemies, he was too nice.
"Good point," Corinne replied with a smile. "Though that does make our job harder. We only want to invite people who won't cause drama – hence why they –" she inclined her head towards the receding backs of Maureen and her minions, "– are not invited."
"Invited to what?" asked Daphne.
Corinne gestured for everyone to lean in closer so she could whisper. "Tony's turning eighteen a week from Saturday. We're throwing a surprise birthday party at Caleb's house."
"Cool!" Fred replied, grinning. "What time is it?"
"Come by no later than eight," Caleb said in an undertone. "Corinne'll bring Tony around at 8:30. My parents will be out of town till Monday, and my older sister Maren said she'd help us get alcohol. She's twenty-one and goes to Coolsville U."
The gang all glanced at each other. They didn't mind going to parties where alcohol was served, but it had been awhile since they'd attended one. The first one they'd gone to together had been in their sophomore year, where Fred and Daphne had kissed for the first time. The most recent party they'd attended had been on Halloween. Both had been thrown by Brandon Michaels, who was notorious for throwing boozy parties. Shaggy and Velma shared a look, remembering how drunk they'd gotten on Halloween...and how they'd hooked up in the guest room, much like Fred and Daphne had once done a long time ago.
"Who else should we invite?" asked Corinne. "We've already got Sadie, Patrick, Rob, and Laura, plus you guys. We're also thinking about Ashley Hoang and Brandon Michaels cuz they can help us get more booze. And we're inviting the track team, the choir, a few people from the drama department, everyone in the SGA, and most of the people in our homeroom. Is there anyone else you can think of?"
This already sounded like a pretty big party, but there was one person Shaggy could think of who hadn't been listed yet. "Maybe like, some science club people?" he suggested. "I know he's friends with Marcie Fleach."
Caleb frowned. "Really? You think we should invite Hot Dog Water?"
"Her name's Marcie," Velma muttered.
"Come on, dude," Shaggy said. "Marcie's cool."
Caleb and Corinne looked at each other and shrugged. "All right," said Corinne. "I'll let her know during homeroom, as long as Tony doesn't see."
"We'll see her at lunch," Velma told them. "We'll let her know if you don't."
"All right," Caleb replied. "See you guys next Saturday. My house, eight o'clock."
The gang waved at Caleb and Corinne as they walked down the hall. At that moment, the warning bell rang.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy gasped. "I like have to stop at my locker."
"Me too," said Daphne.
"I have to make announcements," Fred added. He and Daphne shared a quick kiss and they dashed in opposite directions.
"Like see you in homeroom, Velm!" Shaggy called, waving frantically as he and Scooby headed down the hall for their locker.
Velma waved after them, smiling faintly. It was sweet that Shaggy had offered to invite Marcie to Tony's party. She wasn't sure how Marcie would fare at a party with underage drinking, but Velma would make sure she felt comfortable. And she knew that Tony did like Marcie. It was thoughtful of Shaggy to include her.
As she opened her locker, a white slip of paper fell out.
Velma blinked at it before bending to pick it up. It had been a while since she heard from the secret admirer – the last time he'd left a note in her locker had been just after Valentine's Day. It had been several weeks since then. She'd almost forgotten about him, to be honest.
She leaned against the lockers and opened the note.
"Dear Velma, Every day I get to see you, it feels like I can breathe a little easier. You awaken something new in me. I long for the days that I can sit by you, looking at your perfect profile and the way your glasses perch on the delicate curve of your nose. I love your eyes, your smile, your freckles. Everything about you is perfect. I will write again soon. Love, your secret admirer."
Velma smiled slightly, then frowned. This was a nice note. A lot nicer than usual, actually. Maybe the secret admirer was trying to make up for the weeks of radio silence.
With a shrug, she tucked the note into her bag, and raced off for homeroom.
Sponge: Thanks for reading. More secret admirer stuff next week! Review if you please, and don't forget to guess where the chapter title comes from!