Sponge: Welcome back! The title of the last chapter, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" is by Frankie Valli! Congratulations to the newest reviewer, grimmwolves, for the correct answer, and also to FredTrap for not only guessing correctly, but also for catching the reason I chose that title – Velma did perform it in a deleted scene from the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo film. Good job, both of you! I hope you all enjoy chapter 8! Warning: language. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera.

Chapter 8: I Really Like You

Velma ran into Marcie that afternoon in the cafeteria line, as both girls waited for the hot lunch to be placed on their trays.

"Hey!" Velma said, grinning at Marcie.

Marcie smiled back. "Hi, V. How's your day been so far?"

"Fine, mostly," Velma replied with a shrug. "Are you feeling ready for our bio quiz on Friday?"

Marcie groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. I'm going to be spending every single study hall for the rest of the week buried in my textbook."

Velma giggled as the two girls moved down the line. "Hey, did Corinne Faulkner or Caleb Walters talk to you this morning?"

"No," Marcie replied, furrowing her brow in confusion. "I don't think they even know I exist. Why?"

Velma glanced around them to make sure Tony wasn't in earshot, then leaned forward to whisper. "They're throwing a surprise birthday party for Tony Moretti next Saturday."

Marcie's brow creased further. "That sounds...nice," she murmured, as though unsure why Velma was telling her this.

"You're invited," Velma said with a smile. "We asked, and they said yes."

Marcie's confused expression shifted into one of worry. "Are you sure they said it was okay?"

"Yeah!" said Velma. "Shaggy vouched for you. It was his idea, actually."

They continued moving down the line and Marcie glanced at Velma, still looking worried. "I don't know, V...I hardly know those guys. You know I don't travel in their circle."

"Well it's not really their circle, is it?" Velma pointed out. "It's Tony's circle. Tony's friends with everyone."

"That's what I mean," Marcie whispered. "He's got so many friends, his circle is enormous. I've never been to a party that big before. I'd feel out of place."

"You won't be out of place," Velma told her firmly, putting a hand on her arm. "You'll be with me."

Marcie turned slightly pink and glanced away from Velma. But she sighed and looked back a moment later. "All right," she relented. "I'll go. Where is it?"

Velma smiled, letting go of Marcie's arm. She wasn't sure why she felt so relieved to hear that Marcie would be there, but she was, nonetheless. "It's at Caleb Walter's house. I think he lives in the Oak Pond neighborhood, kind of near Willow Springs. The gang and I will give you a ride."

Slowly, Marcie grinned at Velma. "All right. That'll be nice."

x.X.x

It seemed as though Velma's secret admirer was doing his best to make up for lost time. There was a note in Velma's locker almost daily now. But as the week went on, she couldn't help but notice a tonal shift. In the beginning of the year, the notes had all been nice, but innocuous. The most emotion the secret admirer had shown had been back in December after Velma had won the science fair. He'd left a note in her locker telling her how amazing he thought she was. But that had been the most flowery language he'd used. Now every day, it was something new.

There was nothing over the weekend, obviously, but on Monday morning, Velma opened her locker to find that another slip of paper had been stuffed inside.

Dear Velma, it read. I can't wait to see you. I'm counting down the hours. Love, your secret admirer.

Velma frowned at the note and glanced around. The rest of the gang had gone ahead to homeroom (or the front office in Fred's case) and the only other kids in the hallway were huddled in groups of their own, chatting and laughing as they made their way towards other classrooms. She looked back at the note. Maybe Tony was right. Maybe it was time for her to try to solve this mystery.

She didn't have a chance to talk to the gang about it until the end of the day. There wasn't enough time in homeroom, and she didn't want to bring up the secret admirer notes at lunch. Velma had seen the way the college students reacted to the revelation that she had a secret admirer, and because Maureen Fischer sat so close to their table, she wasn't really keen to let anyone else know about the notes. Besides, Marcie sat with them too, and while she was becoming much better friends with her, she wasn't sure she was ready for her to know about the secret admirer notes.

Velma finally found time to talk to the gang in the Mystery Machine on the way home.

"Hey gang," she said as soon as Fred started the van. "Can you all come over for a bit? I think we have a mystery to solve."

Fred had begun to back out of the parking space, but immediately slammed on the brakes and turned back to gape at Velma. "Oh my gosh. Seriously? What is it?" His face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

"I think maybe Tony was right a few weeks ago," Velma replied. "I think we need to find out who's sending me these secret admirer notes."

"I thought you like, didn't want to know who the secret admirer was," Shaggy said.

"I never said that," Velma replied, glancing at him. "I just didn't care about finding out before."

"So what changed?" asked Daphne as Fred finally started to drive out of the parking lot.

"The notes have, honestly," Velma told her.

"What do you mean?" Daphne furrowed her brow.

Velma sighed and glanced out the window. "I'll show you when we get to my house."

When they arrived at Velma's, no one else was home yet – Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley were still at work, and Coolsville Middle School, where Madelyn went, got out a little later than the high school – so they went right upstairs to Velma's room uninterrupted. Daphne and Fred leaned against the wall near the bureau. Shaggy sat on Velma's bed as Velma herself opened her closet and began rummaging around. Shaggy glanced over at the bulletin board above the desk, and grinned to himself when he saw the drawing he'd made of her still hanging there.

"Rhat are you roing?" Scooby asked Velma as he sat at Shaggy's feet. He noticed a box on the topmost shelf, but Velma ignored it in favor of a shoebox on the floor.

"Looking for the notes," Velma replied, finally extracting a simple brown manila folder. She brought the folder over to the desk, and sat down at the desk chair as the rest of the gang gathered around her. One by one, she took the notes out of the folder and spread them out on the desk.

"Between September and February," Velma said as she arranged the notes. "I received seventeen notes from him. They were usually put in my locker about two weeks apart, sometimes a little less."

The gang bent over the desk and examined the papers. Other than the Valentine's Day card, the notes were all written on white slips that had been folded several times over.

"Wait...you said seventeen?" Daphne frowned. "There's only sixteen notes here."

Velma counted quickly. "That's weird. I could have sworn I had seventeen. Which one am I missing?" She thought quickly. The most recent one - the one she'd received after Valentine's Day. It wasn't there. She must have left it in her locker. Or in her bag. She shrugged and pulled out four more notes. "Anyway, the point is, I never got more than one per week though. At least, not till now." She smoothed out the other notes and laid them down. "These ones all arrived in the last couple days." She looked up at the others. "What differences do you notice?"

Everyone peered a little closer.

"I don't really notice anything," Fred admitted after a few moments. "Handwriting's the same, paper's the same...except for the Valentine."

"Look at the words," Velma implored, handing Shaggy one of the letters. "Read this note from November 10th."

Shaggy shook it out and cleared his throat. "Dear Velma," he read. "One year ago today, I watched you perform in the school musical and learned that you could sing and play the piano. More proof that you're one of the most amazing people I know. From, your secret admirer." He frowned and felt his blood simmer a little, still annoyed that some anonymous person was sending secret love notes to his girlfriend.

Velma didn't notice Shaggy's grimace, but passed another note to Daphne. "Now read this one from last Friday."

"Dear Velma," Daphne read. "I can't stop thinking about you. You invade my every waking thought, and most of my dreams as well. I never imagined that someone as perfect as you could exist. I'm counting down the days until I can see you again. Love, your secret admirer."

Everyone glanced at each other perplexedly.

"Well he's definitely gotten more brazen," Daphne said, glancing through some of the earlier notes. "Everything from the first semester was pretty harmless. 'I've had a crush on you since freshman year,' 'You're the most brilliant person in our grade,' 'Congrats on winning the science fair...'"

"And then the ones from after Valentine's Day," Fred murmured, looking through the other ones. "Are way more lovey-dovey. Like this one from Thursday." Fred leaned closer to read it. "Dear Velma, I dreamt of kissing you last night. I bet your lips are soft and warm. I want nothing more than for this dream to come true. Love, your secret admirer."

Shaggy felt his hands clench into fists without even noticing it had happened. He unclenched them quickly before anyone else could see, then blinked as he realized something.

"He said, like, 'love,'" he murmured.

Velma glanced at him. "What?"

"The secret admirer," Shaggy said, pointing to two different notes on the desk. "Like before Valentine's Day, they're all signed 'from your secret admirer.' But after Valentine's Day, he starts like, using 'love' when he signs."

Everyone gaped at the letters.

"Jeepers," Daphne breathed. "You're right."

"So something must have happened between Valentine's Day and now that made his feelings for you grow stronger," said Fred. "Can you think of anything that may have prompted this?"

Velma just looked at him.

Scooby suddenly gasped, causing everyone else to jump in surprise.

"Like what's up, Scoob?" asked Shaggy.

"Rony," Scooby said. "Red rold rim."

Everyone stared at him blankly.

"Red rold Rony rabout rhe rotes rafter Ralentine's Ray!" Scooby exclaimed.

"Scoob, buddy, you like, gotta slow down," Shaggy told him. "We can't understand you."

It took Scooby two more tries before Shaggy finally realized what he was saying.

"Like you think that Fred telling Tony about Velma's notes is the reason the notes are different now?" Shaggy was confused. "Like, why would that be?"

Now it was Fred's turn to gasp, and everyone whirled their heads around to glance at him.

"Maybe Tony's your secret admirer!" he exclaimed.

"I'm going to stop you right there," Velma said, staring at him hard. It was bad enough that Shaggy suspected Tony – she didn't need Fred jumping on this bandwagon too. "It's not him. He told me last year that he just wanted to be friends. He knows that the relationship between us didn't work out for a reason, and I agree with him. I believe that he just wants to be friends. It's not him. Trust me."

"Then who could it be?" Fred wondered.

Daphne made a hmm noise as she thoughtfully glanced through the notes. "Well, we can probably eliminate any underclassmen," she said. "A lot of these notes imply that the secret admirer is a senior like us."

"And it's not like the senior class is very big," Fred added. He walked over to Velma's book shelf and dropped to his knees, selecting their eleventh grade yearbook from the bottom shelf and bringing it back over to the desk. "Let's figure out some suspects."

x.X.x

They spent a good portion of the afternoon looking through each of the boys in their class, but they didn't get very far. Apart from Tony, there was no one that they found very likely to be the one leaving the notes. Eventually, the gang gave up and did their homework until it was time to go to their weekly meeting with Heavy Meddle. But the secret admirer notes weren't very far from anyone's mind.

Secretly, Daphne had a suspicion that Shaggy had something to do with the notes. She'd had the feeling that something was going on between him and Velma since he suggested getting tickets to see the Hex Girls. But had something been going on longer? She didn't want to ask him about it, especially here, but Shaggy had seemed reluctant to help look for suspects.

The truth was, Shaggy didn't want to assist in the investigation because he hated thinking about Velma's secret admirer. It bothered him to no end that some guy was leaving notes in her locker and he couldn't do anything about it. Well...there was something he could do. He could admit to the world that he loved her, that he was her boyfriend. If everyone at school knew she was taken, maybe that would dissuade the secret admirer from leaving her notes. But Scooby just wasn't ready to hear it.

Velma was starting to wonder if she was making a mountain out of a molehill. The notes weren't that bad. Just a little weird lately. And okay, it was a little uncomfortable the way the secret admirer suddenly seemed more interested in the physical aspect of Velma, but it wasn't like he'd acted on it or anything. It wasn't as though he was watching her. Stalking her.

As they sat at Tony's kitchen table chatting with Heavy Meddle about song choices and logistics, Fred hardly paid attention to the conversation. His mind was still halfway on the mystery of the secret admirer. How did you trap someone that you'd never actually seen?

"We should put a nanny cam in the locker!" he blurted.

Joey, who was sitting across the kitchen table next to Julie, looked up from the set list and blinked confusedly at Fred.

"What was that?" he asked. It had been relatively quiet – Fred's outburst had come as a surprise. Daphne, who was standing behind Fred's chair, frowned perplexedly at him as well.

Fred pointed at Velma, who leaned against the wall next to Tony. "Nanny cam in the locker!" he said to her.

"Nanny Cam in the Locker is a great band name," Felix said to Julie from her other side.

"That's how we catch your secret admirer!" Fred exclaimed, ignoring everyone else.

"Still getting those, huh?" Leon asked from the other side of the kitchen.

Velma felt her face go a bit red. She didn't want to talk about this in front of the college students.

But Fred turned to Leon and said, "Yeah. She's been getting them a lot – he used to only send them every now and then but recently they've been coming like, every day. It's weird, right, Velm?"

"Fred..." Velma said through clenched teeth.

He rose from his kitchen chair to approach her, oblivious to her discomfort. "Anyway, think about it. If we position it just right, we should be able to get a clear shot of the guy through the vents when he slides in a note. Then we'll be able to figure out who it is once and for all."

Tony glanced at Fred a little perplexedly, then shifted his gaze to Shaggy, who stood by the kitchen island eating pizza with Scooby. "Well," said Tony slowly, as though choosing his words carefully. "Would that work? I mean...those vents are kinda small. Are you sure you'd be able to get a full shot of the guy?"

Fred frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know," he relented.

"It's a good idea," said Daphne kindly, linking an arm through Fred's.

"It's probably just a joke anyway," said Leon offhandedly.

Tony blinked at Leon. "What do you mean?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know. I mean...whoever's leaving the notes could be leaving them just to be funny."

"What's funny about a secret admirer note?" asked Priya, who stood by Leon and looked confused.

Leon waved a hand. "Nothing. Never mind."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room as Leon's meaning became clear. Velma felt her neck grow hot under her orange collar. Why hadn't she seen it before? Clearly this was someone who was playing a senior prank on her. No one would actually ever feel that way about her. No one would seriously say those things to her. She was an unattractive, frumpy know-it-all. Not even her own boyfriend would say the things in these notes.

"I'll be right back. I'm just gonna get some...air," she murmured, exiting through the kitchen towards the foyer. Everyone heard the front door shut softly behind her, and Julie turned to glare at Leon.

"Nice," she snarled once Velma was out of earshot.

Leon raised his arms in confusion. "What? I mean, who leaves notes like that in lockers anymore? This is so obviously a joke."

"Why is it a joke?" Julie challenged him.

Leon scoffed. "Come on, Jules. You've seen her. She just...she doesn't seem like the kind of girl you'd expect to get notes like that."

"Hey!" Daphne exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at Leon across the room. "That's a really rude thing to say."

Leon looked slightly taken aback and held his hands up. "Okay. I'm sorry."

Tony glanced at Shaggy and infinitesimally moved his head in the direction of the front door. His message was clear: Go see if she's okay.

Shaggy felt a little annoyed that Tony of all people was telling him what to do, but he knew that he was right.

"I'll like, go check on her," he said, moving away from the kitchen island.

"Rye'll ro roo," Scooby volunteered.

Before Shaggy could think of a way to dissuade Scooby from joining him, Tony came to the rescue.

"Actually Scooby," he said, moving away from the wall. "Would you mind helping me bring these empty pizza boxes into the garage? The recycling goes out tonight, and that's where our bin is."

"Rokay," Scooby agreed amicably, beginning to gather the boxes into a pile. Shaggy shot Tony a brief glance that he hoped conveyed gratitude and left out the front door. Even though Shaggy was still a little suspicious, he was glad to have Tony on his side.

Shaggy found Velma sitting on the porch, staring stoically into the middle distance.

"Like you okay?" he asked, taking a seat beside her.

Velma exhaled and turned to face him. "Yeah," she replied with a heavy sigh. "I just...I feel kind of stupid."

Shaggy shook his head. "Velm, you're like...the opposite of stupid."

Velma rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

It was Shaggy's turn to sigh now. "Yeah, like I do," he told her.

Velma glanced sideways at Shaggy. "Do you think Leon is right?" she murmured. "Do you think that all the secret admirer notes are just...some elaborate prank?"

"Of course not," Shaggy said immediately.

Velma gave him a dubious look. "He has a point though," she mumbled. "I'm not...you know, the obvious choice for a secret admirer's affections."

"Hey," said Shaggy in a soft voice, tentatively placing one of his hands over hers. "Don't listen to that guy. He like, doesn't know you at all. Not like the gang. Not like me. How should he know how people feel about you? How we feel about you?"

Velma felt her heart flutter as she and Shaggy stared into each others' eyes. "How do you feel about me?" she asked quietly.

Shaggy felt as though his tongue was too large for his mouth. He knew what she needed to hear. He knew what he needed to say to her. I love you, Velma. I'm in love with you. This was as good a time as any.

But he also knew that he was too chicken to actually do it.

Just at that moment the front door burst open, and Scooby Doo stood in the threshold. Shaggy yanked his hand away from Velma's and stood up so fast he almost fell over. Scooby seemed oblivious and trotted over to Velma concernedly.

"Roo rokay?" he asked her, laying his head on her shoulder.

Velma patted him, but glanced up at Shaggy with a vague flicker of hurt in her eyes. "Yeah, Scoob," she sighed. "I'm okay. Thanks."

Scooby gave her cheek an affectionate nudge, then turned to head back inside. Velma stood up and started to follow him.

"Like wait," Shaggy whispered, catching Velma's arm. He needed to make this up to her. Maybe he couldn't tell her how he felt yet, but he could show her. "Come over on Friday night, okay?"

Velma blinked. "What?"

"Please," Shaggy murmured. "It's the night before Tony's party. I like...I wanna spend some time alone. Just the two of us."

Velma looked at him and sighed. She knew it was hard for him to talk about his feelings – hell, it was hard for her to talk about her feelings. But he was trying. And really...she loved him. What else could she do?

"Okay," she replied softly. With that, they both smiled at each other and walked back into the house.

Sponge: Thanks for reading. Review if you please, and don't forget to guess where the chapter title comes from! Also this week, check out my Tumblr (SpongeAddict) for an EXCLUSIVE look at all of the secret admirer letters Velma's received thus far – including ones from before the story began. Leave guesses in reviews about who you think the secret admirer is!