Chapter 03

Fred spent the first week of classes looking for an opportunity to speak with Daphne Blake alone. But she was always surrounded by her 'mean girl' sycophants. They were like barnacles attached to her hull.

So, on Friday morning, he charged on in.

"Hi."

She glanced up at him and then immediately back down at her phone. Was she playing hard to get or was she really disinterested?

"I'm Fred Jones. I went to Eastern. And you are?..."

Daphne didn't even look up. "Bored."

The other mean girls giggled.

Fred could play that game. "Good to know." And he walked away without looking back.

xXx

"But my biology teacher in middle school let me use the lab whenever I needed."

Mrs. Rustor, the physics teacher, looked down at Velma. "I'm aware that you have been given a great deal of leeway in such matters in the past…"

"And won the school a lot of science awards."

The teacher was annoyed at the interruption. "But I am hesitant to leave the physics lab open and a fourteen-year-old in charge of it with no teachers present."

"I believe that I have proven myself more than capable in the past in maintaining proper safety protocols in the laboratory environment."

The older woman tried another tack. "Don't you have anything better to be doing on a Friday night? Maybe hanging out with some friends or meeting boys?"

This hit a little close to home on Velma's personal insecurities (which were abundant) and she brought the conversation back into her wheelhouse. "But I don't have what I need at home to analyze polaron formation signatures in halide perovskites after photoexcitation through probing the dipole-allowed electronic transition."

Mrs. Rustor had not started out wanting to be a high school teacher. She had wanted to be a physicist and her main interest was electro-magnetics with a special love for solar energy. She was intrigued. "We don't have the facilities for that here, either."

"Not to do it the way that I would prefer. But you do have a laser digital microscope which I could hook up to three electro-magnets and two lasers to create a crude starting point for what I will need to lay the groundwork for my paper."

The laser digital microscope was the most expensive piece of scientific equipment in the lab but everyone in the school system knew that Velma Dinkley was a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy. Right now, Mrs. Rustor's inner physicist was overruling the high school teacher and trying to come up with a way that she could stay late with Velma and participate in the experiment. But the mother won out over both and she remembered her two little girls at home who were waiting on pizza and movie night.

"Okay, Velma, you can use the lab. But wear all of the appropriate PPE, especially eye protection. And when you are done for the night, do not leave the building until you can see and have confirmed that it is your parent's car outside picking you up."

"Yes ma'am."

And Velma was back in business.

xXx

Daphne was exhausted. A week pretending to like these people was taking its toll. Her free period was 1:00 to 2:00 which was torturous being that close to the end of the school day when she could go home get in her bedroom, close the door, and just be by herself for a couple of hours before the mandatory Blake dinner. And then the glorious weekend where she could go to the country club and hang with her Danforth friends and be herself.

She was forcing herself to smile at Sarah's mocking of the clothing accessories of another student when the phone rang. It was Jeeves, the butler.

"Yes, Jeeves?"

"Apologies, Miss Daphne, but there has been a work emergency which requires your father to leave for France and your mother has decided to accompany him. The preparations are occupying the entire staff. We do not have anyone available to pick you up until at least 7:00."

"7:00 tonight!? Why don't I just take an Uber."

"You know that violates security standards, Miss."

"Then send a driver from Father's company!"

"None of the available drivers have been vetted for driving family members."

"So, you think it's more secure for me to stay alone at the school until late on a Friday night?! This place will be empty."

"That is the direction I was given by the security staff."

"That makes no sense. Can you come and get me?"

"Your father has required my presence on the trip to keep last minute arrangements tidy."

"There has to be somebody available!"

"I would think so, too. But apparently, this is something of a perfect storm. All we can ask is that you be patient and stay inside the building until a driver known to you arrives."

Sarah was urgently whispering off to Daphne's right. Daphne turned as soon as she hung up with Jeeves.

When the phone connection ended, Sarah's voice returned to normal. "Why don't you come home with me? It would be fun!"

"Don't you have a date with what's-his-name? Tommy?"

"Oh, I can cancel that. I can invite Melissa and April and we can have a girls' night!"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. If I went somewhere unplanned, then security would tell my father and I would be grounded for two weeks."

None of this was true. Sarah's house had been vetted as had her family and her friends. But Daphne had had enough of everything to do with Sarah and the girls for the week. A few hours alone would not be the worst thing in the world, even if it wasn't in her own wonderful bedroom.

xXx

At the end of the day, Fred was convinced that Daphne was never alone—not even for a second. There was one last chance. The season opener was next week so the coach had given them Friday off from practice.

This meant that Fred could wait and maybe he could catch her while she was waiting for her ride—or, at least, a quick word while she was walking out to it. It would be tight to try and get some time alone with her and still make the bus. But, if he missed the bus, then he would walk home. It was only a few miles. He would still make it before his dad got home from work. It was a small price to pay if it worked.

Since he had had football practice every day of the week, he didn't know the process for kids getting picked up or making it out to their own cars in the parking lot. That flaming red hair should be easy to spot, but she was nowhere. Did she leave school early?

After several minutes of fruitless searching, the one thing he did notice was his bus pulling away. It was time to give up and start the long walk home. After he had taken just a few steps, a flash of red caught his attention in the school window. It might have been just a reflection of the setting sun but he had nothing better to do. So, he went inside.

The last stragglers were leaving and the school was quiet. The teachers were leaving now—in as much of a hurry to get away as the kids had been. But no sign of Daphne. He went room by room down each hallway off The Mall and checked every classroom. After thirty minutes and with the school now eerily quiet, he was about to give up when he heard something.

He stopped and listened closely. It was her voice. A few steps closer to the sound and he could make out that she was having a conversation. He crept to the door of the Art Room and saw her sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs and talking on her phone.

He could only hear one side of the conversation.

"Please tell me you're going to be at the club tomorrow."

Pause.

"Thank goodness, after only a week in this place, I am already nearly out of my head. It's even worse than last year. These people are so… so… plebeian!"

Fred didn't know what 'plebeian' meant but he felt like he should probably be insulted. But, as hot as Daphne was, if she wanted to insult him a little—no problem.

Now was his chance. All he had to do was wait for the phone call to end and then… And then what? They were probably the last two people in the school. How could he make his approach? I happened to be walking around the empty school on Friday night and heard your voice?

That would come off, like, totally stalker. He played scenario after scenario through his mind and the answer kept coming up the same. Stalker. Stalker. Stalker. Stalker. Stalker.

Holy cow! I'm a stalker!

If he walked in now, then it would be nothing but embarrassing and he would lose any chance. He turned to start walking home before realizing that, if he left, she would be a young woman completely alone in a school after dark. That didn't seem like a good idea. He decided that he would stay until he saw her get safely into her parent's car and then he would walk home. He would wait out of sight and just be available in case a need arose.

But wait…

Wasn't that being a stalker, too?

Probably yes, but at least it was being a stalker for a noble reason. And, who knows? Maybe he would get lucky and someone would attack her and he could save the day.

xXx

It was a school, and at a school people learn things. Shaggy had learned from his new stoner friends that there was a closet at the end of Corridor B which was always left unlocked. No one but the stoners went in there and it had a large ventilation grate in one wall which allowed any smoke or vapors to be released to the outside and reduce the chance of getting tracked down by smell. Bless the architect that designed this place!

But it was Friday afternoon and he wanted to get home to the love of his dog, the disapproving sighs of his mother, and the angry glares and frequent berating by his father. Well, one out of three isn't bad. But it's not good, either. The prospect of being alone for the weekend with his parents began to bring on the anxiety and it became obvious (maybe because he wanted it to become obvious) that he might just need to smoke one before getting on the bus for home.

Making his way to the closet, he found his hiding place amongst all of the hiding places of his peers, pulled out a dooby, and burned it. It worked. He relaxed. Then it worked even better. He fell asleep.

xXx

Scooby Doo could, of course, talk. And he had also been taught to read by Paula-his de facto mother. And he could tell time. So, he was waiting out at the bus stop at exactly 3:00 PM. He was still waiting there at 3:15 when the bus pulled up and the door opened, pouring out several of the kids that lived in the neighborhood. One of which was not Shaggy.

Scooby could also reason. He knew exactly what had happened. After watching the bus pull away, he headed for the school.

xXx

It was after 7:30 PM before Daphne's phone showed an incoming call from one of the family drivers. She finished her call. "My ride is finally here! I've gotta go. Bye." She darted from the room and hurried down the hallway, into The Mall, out the front door and into the back seat of a limousine.

Fred followed in time to see her getting safely to the car and then drive off. His job here was done. It would take him an hour to walk home so he decided that he would open up his piggy bank and pay his dad back for an uber.

xXx

The experiment that Velma was trying to run had looked a lot more straightforward in her head than it was looking on the long black counter in the physics lab. Her plans to elegantly cobble together mismatched pieces of equipment was turning out to be overly optimistic and her frustration level had grown to the point that it was time to give up. She called her father to come pick her up and carefully put the school's equipment away. She was home twenty minutes later. She had no idea that on Monday morning the impossible would happen.

xXx

None of them noticed the Great Dane hiding behind the bushes next to the school as they left. Scooby Doo watched the three strangers pass by without interest. His focus was on 'Shaggy' or 'not Shaggy'. Since all three of them fell into the 'not Shaggy' category, they were unimportant.

It was approaching ten o'clock when Shaggy came stumbling blearily out of the front doors. Scooby padded slowly up to him and spoke softly, "Raggy?"

Shaggy jumped four feet into the air with his legs spinning and hit the ground at a run before recognizing that it was Scooby Doo that had spooked him.

"Sorry Scoob. I fell asleep."

"Roo mean roo got high and passed out."

"Yeah, maybe it was more like that. How long is the walk home?"

"Rith rust two legs? A rong time."

They got home well after eleven o'clock. Shaggy's father was still awake and waiting. Shaggy would not be surprised when, on Monday morning, the very possible happened.