Sponge: Here comes chapter 2! Warning: some language, mentions of bipolar depression and suicide. Also, this entire fic will obviously be rife with spoilers for Next to Normal, so you have been warned! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. Descriptions of the Next to Normal characters come from the script. Lyrics to the song "Everything Else" belong to Brian Yorkey.

Chapter 2: Everything Else

Daphne explained to the gang the plot of Next to Normal on their way home from school that day.

"It's about a woman, Diana Goodman, who suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. Her husband is Dan, and her teenage daughter is Natalie. She also has a son, who was born before Natalie. His name is Gabe, but he died as a baby. Diana hallucinates him as a teenager, which is why she continually goes to the doctor. Eventually, it gets to the point where her hallucinations cause her to almost kill herself, so she undergoes electroshock therapy, but it erases nineteen years of her memory. Meanwhile, there's a boy at school named Henry who's interested in Natalie but there's so much going on in her home life that she doesn't know how to handle a relationship. And then Dan is just trying to be a good husband and father without quite knowing how."

Velma was perusing her script. She didn't really want to audition – she'd be much more comfortable being behind the scenes as a sound engineer, or maybe the stage manager – but she was intrigued by the character descriptions:

Diana: "Sexy. Sharp. Delusional bipolar depressive. Thirties or forties."

Gabe: "Diana's son. Dashing. Gentle. Bright. Playful. Everything a mother would want. Almost eighteen."

Dan: "Diana's husband. Handsome. Genuine. Constant. Tired. Thirties or forties."

Natalie: "Diana's daughter. Sixteen and trying to be perfect. It's not going well."

Henry: "Musician. Romantic. Stoner. Slacker. Philosopher king. Seventeen."

Doctor Madden: "On the young side of ageless. Assured. A rock star."

It was a small cast. And it hadn't escaped Velma's notice that Shaggy and Fred had been among the only guys at the interest meeting.

Shaggy himself had been rather quiet since Daphne had begun talking about the plot. Velma bumped him gently with her shoulder.

"You all right, Shag?"

Shaggy blinked at her. His mind had been all over the place.

"Like yeah," he assured her. "Just like…thinking about the audition."

"Why don't we listen to the songs from the show?" Fred suggested. "That way we'll have an idea of which parts we might want to go for."

Daphne plugged her phone into the Mystery Machine's auxiliary cable and opened iTunes.

x.X.x

For the next week, it was all Next to Normal all the time for the gang. They listened to the soundtrack before and after school. Daphne was gunning hard for the main role of Diana, so she had chosen to sing a song called, "I Miss The Mountains" and constantly asked the gang how she might improve herself. Fred and Shaggy both had chosen songs that Dan sang – Shaggy was singing the song "I've Been," and Fred would sing a few bars from the song "I Am The One." Velma had to admit – everyone had pretty good singing voices, even Shaggy.

"Are you going to audition, Velm?" Daphne asked the following Tuesday. They had just left homeroom and were heading to APUSH as the boys went to geometry.

Velma shook her head. "I don't think so. You saw how many girls were at that interest meeting – I don't think I could hold a candle to them. Besides, I think I'd feel much more comfortable behind-the-scenes. We can't all be Broadway stars," she teased. Daphne shoved Velma's shoulder playfully.

But that afternoon, when the final bell rang, Velma left the band room and headed for a sound-proof practice room off the music hallway. The scripts they'd been given had come with the musical score, the sheet music. In the play, the character Natalie was a pianist. Velma also played the piano. Just for fun, she pulled out the sheet music for Natalie's song "Everything Else," set it on the piano, and sat down to play.

The opening riff was a little complicated, but Velma had been playing for eight years. She didn't fumble at all.

"Mozart was crazy," she sang, as Natalie would.

"Flat fucking crazy. Batshit, I hear.

But his music's not crazy, it's balanced, it's nimble, it's crystalline clear."

She kept singing through the rest of the first part of the song, until a knocking at the door interrupted her. She checked her phone for the time. It was probably the gang, ready to go home. But when she opened the door, Mr. Atwood's face greeted her.

"Oh. Hi, Mr. Atwood," Velma said, a little self-consciously.

"Hi there. Dinkley, right?" he asked. Velma nodded. "You're one of Daphne Blake's friends. I saw you at the interest meeting last week."

"Oh, yeah," Velma replied. "Daphne's crazy about this musical. She's really excited about auditions."

"Yes, she's a joy to work with," Mr. Atwood said. "You know, Mr. Harrison and I go way back. We both started working here around the same time."

Velma furrowed her brow. Mr. Harrison was her band instructor.

"He tells me you're quite the pianist," Mr. Atwood continued.

Ah. The fog lifted in Velma's mind.

"Did you hear me play just now?" she wanted to know. So much for sound-proof.

"I did," Mr. Atwood admitted. "I wondered if you might be auditioning for the role of Natalie."

"Honestly Mr. Atwood," Velma told him, "I was just messing around on the piano. I think I'd feel a lot more comfortable backstage. You said at the interest meeting you needed a stage manager."

"I do," Mr. Atwood said. "But I need a stage manager who's been with the drama club for a while. Someone who knows how things work backstage. It'll probably go to a senior." Mr. Atwood looked at Velma directly. "You have talent, Dinkley. I'd really like it if our Natalie was authentic, and really played the piano. I think you should audition."

Velma just stared at him blankly. She could think of nothing else to do but nod.

Mr. Atwood's face lit up. "Excellent," he beamed. "Why don't you play that song tomorrow? You'll do great." With that, Mr. Atwood waved and headed out of the practice room.

Velma stared after him. Jinkies, she thought. I wasn't ready for that.

x.X.x

The next day, the whole gang – including Scooby – showed up for auditions.

Fred jerked his head towards Velma's sheet music. "I thought you said you weren't going to audition, Velm?"

Velma looked at the ground and felt her cheeks go a little pink. "Yeah well…" she hedged. "I changed my mind." She'd been practicing at home, but she still felt nervous.

All of them sat together as more and more students arrived. Daphne pointed them out to the gang in turn. Velma tried to follow along, but she was too preoccupied.

"That's Leesa Beamer," Daphne said of a platinum-blonde haired girl who sat a few rows away from them. "She's a senior. She played the witch in Into the Woods last year." This brought Velma out of her reverie.

"So that's the girl who fell off the stairs?" she asked.

Daphne confirmed with a nod. "She's extremely talented. She got a full-ride scholarship to Julliard next year." Daphne frowned. "She's probably my biggest competition for the role of Diana."

Fred squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, babe. You're amazing, and you're going to do a great job."

Tony and Holden arrived then, both slipping into the row behind the gang. They all exchanged hellos and were about to say more when Mr. Atwood arrived.

"All right everybody, shut the hell up," he said.

"Does he like, say that every time?" Shaggy whispered to Daphne.

"Yep," she whispered back.

"Thank you all for coming out to auditions for Next to Normal," Mr. Atwood said. He went on to explain how auditions would work – he would call everyone up alphabetically by last name to sing their song and perform a cold reading. "Scooby," he called. "Could you be the reading partner?"

Scooby stared quizzically at Mr. Atwood.

He shrugged. "Just trying to include you in the process."

"Ruh…rokay," Scooby replied, making his way up the stairs to the stage.

"Now," Mr. Atwood said once Scooby was in place. "When I call your name, please come up to the stage. First up: Leesa Beamer."

The platinum-blonde girl made her way to the stage.

Velma had to admit – Leesa was good. She had an excellent voice, and her cold reading with Scooby was good too, considering how Scooby's speech impediment made it difficult to understand him. Velma wondered if Daphne was feeling nervous.

If she was, she didn't show it. When Daphne's turn came, she blew everyone away with her song. Like all good friends, the gang clapped and cheered when she finished.

"All right, all right," Mr. Atwood muttered. "No commentary from the peanut gallery, please."

Daphne's cold reading with Scooby went well too. After a few more girls, Mr. Atwood called Velma's name. He got up from the piano to let her have a seat, and she set her sheet music down on the music rack.

She took a deep breath, placed her hands on the keyboard, and played the opening notes. She pretended not to notice everyone's eyes on her as she began to sing.

"Mozart was crazy.

Flat fucking crazy. Batshit, I hear.

But his music's not crazy, it's balanced it's nimble, it's crystalline clear."

She dared a glance up. Her friends gazed at her admiringly. Shaggy looked awestruck. Velma had played the piano for them before, but she'd never sung. Even Scooby had a proud gleam in his eye. It fortified her.

"There's harmony, logic, you listen to these.

You don't hear his doubt, or his debts, or disease.

You scan through the score and put fingers on keys,

And you play…

And everything else goes away.

Everything else goes away…"

Velma was really getting into it now. Her fingers flew across the keys and her voice rose as the music grew more frantic.

"And you play till it's perfect

You play till you ache.

You play till the strings or your fingernails break.

So you'll rock that recital and get into Yale

So you won't feel so sick, and you won't look so pale.

Cuz you've got your full ride, and your early admit

So you're done with this school, and with all of this shit

And you graduate early, you're gone as of May

And there's nothing your paranoid parents can say."

Velma took a deep breath and glanced back out at the others. The gang looked as though they might burst with pride for her. In particular, Shaggy's eyes shone with astonishment. Velma tried not to grin too widely, and focused back on the last few bars of music.

"And you know that it's just a sonata away, and you play

And you play

And everything else goes away

Everything else goes away

Everything else goes away..."

"Thank you," Mr. Atwood said as the final notes faded out. Even though he'd just asked them not to applaud, the gang did for Velma anyway. They stopped once Mr. Atwood shot them a glare. Velma read with Scooby, and then sat back down.

"Velm, you've been holding out on us," Daphne teased.

"Seriously Dinks," said Tony from behind them. "Great job."

"That was amazing," Shaggy told her. "Like…really."

Velma felt her face go red from all the praise.

A few more people auditioned. Fred did quite well – he had a nice, deep baritone. Daphne felt her heart flutter a bit when he looked at her while he sang.

Everyone was blown away by how well Tony Moretti did. He sang part of the song "It's Gonna Be Good," and his voice was rich and buttery smooth. The gang gawked at him through his entire song.

"Talk about holding out on us," Velma commented when Tony returned to his seat.

"Like dude," said Shaggy. "You're really good."

Tony shrugged humbly. "My older brother's in a rock band. I guess pipes run in the family, eh?"

Everyone was also pleasantly surprised by Shaggy's talent – including Shaggy himself.

"Maybe instead of solving mysteries, we should have been a band," Fred remarked.

The final person to go was Holden Walsh, and he knocked everyone else's auditions out of the park. He sang the song "I'm Alive," and was so phenomenal that all anyone could do was gape open-mouthed at him through his song.

"Excellent job everyone," Mr. Atwood said at the end. "I'd like to hear a few people read together for the callbacks." He pointed to Mystery Inc, Tony, Holden, and Leesa. "Could you all please hang back for a few minutes? The rest of you, thank you. The cast list will be posted by the end of the week."

Everyone read for everything – Daphne, Velma, and Leesa all read for both Diana and Natalie. Shaggy, Fred, Tony, and Holden took turns reading for Dan, Gabe, Henry, and Dr. Madden. By the time everyone had finished, it was almost five o'clock.

"Thank you everyone," Mr. Atwood told them all. "I'll post the cast list on Friday. Beamer, hang back a sec more, will you?"

The gang headed out of the auditorium, saying goodbye to Tony and Holden as they went. Once they were in the Mystery Machine though, Daphne groaned.

"Daph, what's wrong?" Fred placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Why did Mr. Atwood want Leesa Beamer to stay behind?" she wondered. "Is it another callback?" She frowned. "I'm going to be so disappointed if I'm not Diana."

"You had a much better audition than she did, Daphne," Velma tried to comfort her. "And even if you're not Diana, you might be cast as Natalie."

"You're a shoo-in for that role," Daphne said. She gazed out the window and sighed again. "Ugh, I'm so nervous!"

x.X.x

Thursday was agonizing. Even though Mr. Atwood had said the cast list wouldn't be posted till Friday, every member of the gang found themselves wandering by the bulletin board (the call board, as Daphne said) outside of the auditorium throughout the day, even when it took them far out of the way of their classes.

"I wonder if the list will be posted at the beginning of the day or the end," Fred pondered during lunch. No one answered him.

Friday was worse. The gang checked first thing in the morning, but the cast list still hadn't been posted.

"That's it," Daphne said as they headed to the main office to see Fred off for morning announcement duties. "I am not checking again until the end of the day."

Of course, that didn't pan out. After lunch, Holden Walsh approached them.

"Hey, did you guys see the cast list yet?" he asked them.

"Is it up?" Daphne almost shrieked.

Holden nodded. "Yep, just saw Atwood put it up myself. I'm Gabe," he said with a shrug.

"Congrats, man," Fred told him. "You had a great audition."

"Thanks," Holden replied. "Well, see you later!" He gave them a wave, but the gang had already grabbed their things and raced down the hall.

They arrived at the call board breathless. There was a small crowd around it, but the gang made their way to the front.

NEXT TO NORMAL

Director….Mr. Keith Atwood

CREW

Stage Manager….Leesa Beamer

Assistant Stage Manager….Scooby Doo

Lead Lighting Technician….Travis Brown

Lead Sound Engineer….Adelaide Wong

Lead Costume Designer….Harmony Collins

Lead Props Mistress….Corinne Faulkner

CASTING

Diana….Daphne Blake

Gabe….Holden Walsh

Dan….Fred Jones

Natalie….Velma Dinkley

Henry….Norville Rogers

Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine….Tony Moretti

Daphne squealed and brought her hands to her mouth. Excitement shone through her eyes and she felt ready to burst from relief. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God!" she squeaked.

"I told you, Daph," Velma said. "Congratulations!"

"You guys too!" Daphne cried, hugging the other girl. "Oh my gosh, I can't BELIEVE we all get to act in this play together!" She patted Scooby. "And Scooby, you get to be part of it too, because you're the ASM!"

"Rhe rut?" Scooby didn't understand the acronym.

"Assistant stage manager," Daphne clarified. "Oh, this is amazing!" She threw her arms around Fred's neck and kissed him.

"It looks like rehearsals start on Monday after school" Velma remarked, peering further down the list towards the bottom of the page. There was a line of text that said as much.

Daphne checked the clock on the wall. "There's still a little time before study hall. How about I show you all around backstage?"

Everyone agreed, so they entered the auditorium via a side door. Shaggy gazed up at the suddenly intimidating-looking stage. Has it always been this big? Maybe he just felt this way now because he knew he'd be performing on it soon.

"So," Daphne began. "Here's some important information about the theater." She led them up onto the stage and gestured so the gang was looking out at the empty auditorium seats. "To your right," she gestured with her right hand, "is known as 'stage right.' The other side is 'stage left.' So therefore, if the director tells you to move 'downstage right,'…" she looked pointedly at the gang, and then in the direction she meant.

"We're supposed to move close to the edge of the stage, to the right?" Velma guessed.

Daphne nodded. "Exactly. When the director says 'downstage,' he means go at or towards the front of the stage, or the 'apron'. 'Upstage' means move towards the back of the stage. The audience seating area is known as the 'house,' so 'stage right' and 'house left' are the same."

"Rye red's rinning," Scooby complained under his breath to Shaggy, but Daphne overheard.

"Scooby, as the ASM, you'll have to know some of this," she told him. "Now, look up over the house." They did. There was a sturdy platform with a railing built into the ceiling. "That's known as the catwalk. Any special lighting design is done from up there."

"Why's it called a catwalk?" Shaggy wanted to know.

"Because it's a very thin walkway and you have to tread very lightly," Daphne responded. "As the cat walks."

"How do we get there?" Fred asked.

"Well, we won't actually have to go up there," Daphne said. "Only the techies actually utilize that area. But I can take you up there anyway." They went behind the curtains and to the left (Upstage left, Shaggy thought to himself), and climbed a long staircase up to a room above the off-stage area.

"This is the costume loft," Daphne said, opening the door.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy gasped. The room was bigger than his bedroom, and it was full to the brim with rods and rods of clothing. Colorful costumes exploded from every corner of the room, bins full of hats and belts peeked from underneath tulle and polyester. Three headless mannequins stood off to the side, near an old green couch that had seen better days.

"Ooh! While we're here, let me show you something cool." Daphne led them over to the green couch and pushed it away from the wall. She bent down to the floor and pulled up a latch that the gang hadn't noticed. The panel of wall swung towards them like a door, revealing a small crawl space, filled mostly with shoes.

"Jinkies!" exclaimed Velma. "What's this for?"

"No one knows," Daphne said. "It's where we keep all the shoes, but the seniors think it has something to do with the legend of the Phantom."

"Of course they do," Velma muttered as Daphne closed the wall.

Daphne led them past everything to another door. They walked through and climbed up two steps onto a narrow walkway. About halfway out, Daphne stopped them. "This is the catwalk."

They looked down onto the stage where they'd just been.

"Neat," Fred said.

They were in no danger of falling, unless someone wanted to vault over the railing into the seats below, but Shaggy still felt a little precarious. He was relieved when they made it to the other side where there wasn't just a railing separating him from the vast expanse of space.

"What's on this side?" Velma asked. Daphne led them down two short steps and into another room. This one was similar to the costume room, but a woodshop-ish smell permeated throughout from all the beams and planks that filled the room.

"This is the wood loft," Daphne told them. "This is where all of the lumber that goes to the set design lives."

"Rool." Scooby looked around appreciatively.

Velma checked her phone. "We're going to be late to study hall. We've got to go." The gang cut through the wood loft down another flight of stairs back to the stage, and made their way to seats in the auditorium. The junior class study halls met here, while seniors met in the library, sophomores in the basement, and freshmen in the lecture hall. Other juniors entered from the hallway and sat in surrounding seats.

Before starting in on his geometry homework, Shaggy stole one more glance up at the large, intimidating stage. He hoped he was ready for whatever was to come.

Sponge: Thanks for reading. Review if you please!