Chapter 2: A trip to the nurse's office
After going off the air, Shaggy made his way to his first period class, which was history class.
As he entered his history classroom, one of his classmates turned towards him and said, "Shaggy, it was great listening to The Last Time I Saw Her on the radio network."
"Like, thanks W.W." Shaggy nodded as he shook his friend's offered hand before making his way to his seat.
The teacher Ms. Traue was holding the history textbook with her left hand while writing down notes on the blackboard, explaining the first acts undertook by the Theodore Roosevelt administration following his ascension to the presidency in 1901.
While most of the class were diligently taking notes, there was some whispers and chit chat, and Shaggy's ears soon picked up some rather vicious whispers from two of his classmates seated at the row behind his seat.
"Yeah, she's nothing but a spoiled rich girl who doesn't know how the real world works." The first of the two classmates were heard whispering, prompting Shaggy to turn his head back, in time to see the second classmate chuckling about the first classmate's remark.
"Wonder if her precious daddy felt that she's been shielded in private school for far too long that he decided to send her here instead." The second classmate quipped with a chuckle.
Glancing around the classroom, Shaggy spotted Daphne Blake seated at her usual spot, and through the look on her face, he could tell she was rather preoccupied.
Shaggy wasn't sure if she had heard the vicious remarks from the two classmates earlier, however, something about the tone in their hushed whispers and chuckle did not sit right with him, for he swiftly shot the two offending classmates a glare just as another voice sharply whispered, "Hey! Cut it out!"
The two students, upon hearing the sharp whisper and seeing the sharp glare Shaggy was shooting at them, immediately stopped their joking around and focused back on the lesson being taught by Ms. Traue.
Glancing around, Shaggy spotted the source of the sharp whisper that prompted the two students to put a stop to their joking around.
It came from the familiar-looking blonde-haired boy, who winked at him.
Nodding back at Fred, Shaggy turned back to focus on the class.
The rest of the class went by as usual with the usual note-taking, some discussions on the topics, and some classmates asking Ms. Traue questions. In the volley of those activities, though, Shaggy periodically glanced towards Daphne.
He could tell that Daphne was struggling to fit in with the class, in spite of the brave face she has put in. Adding to the fact that he hardly saw her with a circle of friends, Shaggy could safely deduce that she must've been newly-transferred in time for the new school year.
After history class came his favourite class - Gymnasium.
As soon as the bell rang, Shaggy hurried back to his locker to put his belongings away before proceeding to grab a pair of brown shorts for gym class.
Shaggy has always looked forward to gym class, on account of him enjoying doing gymnastics, and it was aided by the fact that he was one of the gym teacher Mr. Takamoto's most favourite students, on account of his role in helping the school secure the champions in various athletic competitions in the county and state.
Once the whole class, consisting of both boys and girls, have assembled in the gym and warmed up, Mr. Takamoto had the class divided up into two teams for a game of basketball, in which he counts the class in a random order from his right to left and those.
With Shaggy and Fred receiving even and odd numbers respectively, the students with the odd numbers are teamed with Fred while the remainder were teamed with Shaggy.
Watching Mr. Takamoto assigning numbers to the class, Shaggy raised an eyebrow when he saw Daphne receiving the number 24, which placed her on the same team as him.
Once the class was divided up, Shaggy and Fred were selected to draw the ball.
"Be prepared to face the music, Rogers." Fred smirked as he and Shaggy stood at the middle of the basketball court facing each other with Mr. Takamoto standing between them and holding the ball.
"Like, game on!" Shaggy replied evenly before Mr. Takamoto tossed the ball into the air, leading him and Fred to jump up high to try to grab it.
While Shaggy may be able to jump higher than Fred, Fred was able to effortlessly grab the ball away from Shaggy.
With Fred's team mainly playing on their wits and Shaggy's team mainly playing on their ball skills and manoeuvrability, the game was a tight one.
However, shortly after Shaggy's team managed to score on a three-point goal, while Daphne was about to catch a pass from a teammate, a classmate on Fred's team stretched her leg out and tripped Daphne over, gashing her knee and leg.
"Would you look at that! Danger-Prone Daphne strikes again!" The culprit pointed at Daphne as the redhead exclaimed in pain.
Just as the students from both teams began to make fun of Daphne, Shaggy came to her side and upon seeing the gash on her knee, he shouted crossly, "Like, you guys think this is funny?!"
"Time out!" Mr. Takamoto snapped after he blew his whistle and stepped onto the court to check on Daphne.
Turning towards the student that tripped over Daphne, the gym teacher added, "Alice, you get off this basketball court right this instance!"
"She shoved me!" Alice protested.
"No she didn't, Alice." Fred glared at her crossly.
"That's because you didn't see it, Fred." Alice retorted as she turned towards Fred. "Really, I thought that you-"
"Okay, that's enough, Alice!" Mr. Takamoto cut in. "Off you go to the principal's office!"
In response, Alice simply shot Fred, Shaggy, and Daphne a glare before she was escorted out of the gym by one of Mr. Takamoto's teaching assistants.
As Alice was escorted out, Mr. Takamoto turned towards Shaggy and asked, "Shaggy, would you be kind enough to escort Daphne to the nurse's office?"
"Like, certainly Mr. Takamoto." Shaggy nodded as he and Fred reached over to help Daphne up.
Looking at the gash on the redhead's knee, Shaggy winced momentarily and glanced at Fred in concern, who frowned.
"I think it's probably best that I tag along." Fred suggested as Daphne placed her hand on Shaggy's shoulder for support. "I don't-"
"It's okay, I can manage." Daphne waved him off.
"Are you sure?" Shaggy turned towards her.
Daphne only nodded firmly at him, prompting him to turn towards Fred, who suggested, "How about you guys take a few steps forward?"
Shaggy nodded as he and Daphne took a few steps forward, then he frowned at the way she was limping on her left foot.
"I really think Fred should-" Shaggy began to say, only for Daphne to brush him off.
"I'm fine, really." Daphne insisted. "It only looks worse than it actually is."
"You sure?" Shaggy arched his eyebrows.
Daphne only nodded at him firmly before tilting her head towards the front, prompting him to exhale.
Nodding back, Shaggy said to Daphne, "Very well."
"I think you've got things covered, Shag." Fred said.
Turning towards the blonde momentarily, Daphne said, "But thanks, though."
"No problem." Fred replied before Shaggy resumed escorting Daphne out of the gym.
A short while later, Shaggy was escorting Daphne down the hallway to the nurse's office, though Shaggy was still concerned about the way she was limping on her left foot.
"Like, are you sure you're alright walking like this, Daphne?" Shaggy asked. "I don't think it's a good idea if you keep limping like that."
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Daphne insisted as they continued on. "It doesn't hurt as much as it looks."
Shaggy nodded as they continued, then Daphne added, "By the way, thanks for standing up for me, Shag."
"No problem." Shaggy replied. "I just couldn't stand the way those guys, especially Alice, kept making fun of you the way they did."
"Well, I guess that's because they're jealous of my family's successes." Daphne offered. "Plus I am new to Central, so that does make me an easy target."
"Like, even if they are indeed jealous of your family's successes, picking on you the way they did is still inexcusable." Shaggy shook his head. "Besides, take it from me. Alice Carswell's not someone you want to regularly acquaint yourself with, and adding to the fact that her father's a bank president, well, I'm sure you can follow what is wrong with the way she's been picking on you."
Daphne arched her eyebrows before she nodded. "How about that."
A pause went by before the redhead continued, "Guess you'd be interested to know that the private schools I was enrolled in are full of people like Alice, minus the part of them picking on me."
"I take it that's the reason why you transferred to Central?" Shaggy offered.
Daphne nodded. "I wasn't really fitting in, not when the ladies were more interested discussing what their daddy has bought them or the going-ons at some latest high society event, stuff I could hardly care less about."
"Your parents...?" Shaggy trailed off.
"...initially didn't really took much notice about how I was struggling to fit in with my peers there." Daphne continued. "It was Jenkins who eventually convinced them that I could use a change in scenery and pacing, and after some discussions, my Dad agreed to enrol me in public school."
Shaggy nodded. "Like, out of curiosity, whereabouts did you went to school?"
"The Quimby School in Grande Cristal for primary school, while Schlesinger College is where I went for Grades 7 to 9." Daphne explained. "My family and I only moved to Coolsville over the summer."
"Yeah, I noticed." Shaggy remarked, remembering seeing the moving vans at the mansion earlier that summer, which was also the first time he saw her.
There was an awkward silence before Daphne said, "I like your green shirt, by the way. It really matches my purple dress."
"Like, it does?" Shaggy quipped. "In that case, perhaps I should start wearing purple pants, then."
Laughing at Shaggy's last remark, Daphne said, "Ah, no, it's fine. You look great in your usual look, Shag."
Shaggy nodded as he replied, "I must say you sure have a good sense of fashion, Daph."
Daphne stared at him briefly, prompting him to add, "That is, if you don't mind me calling you that."
"Oh no, it's fine." Daphne smiled reassuringly.
By the time he made the remark, they've arrived at the nurses office.
The nurse on duty smiled when she saw Shaggy and Daphne entering the office. "Hello, Mr. Rogers."
"Like, hello Ms. Kasem." Shaggy nodded. "Daphne got tripped over during a basketball game and got a gash on her right knee."
"Alright." Ms. Kasem nodded as she motioned Daphne to take a seat for her to examine the wounds.
Noting that it's a graze wound, Ms. Kasem said, "Norville, can you get the alcohol bottle and the dressing?"
"Right away." Shaggy nodded before proceeding to make his way to the supply cabinet. In addition to the mentioned items, he also grabbed two pairs of gloves.
"Now, I suppose you know how to do this, Norville?" Ms. Kasem asked as Shaggy returned.
"I've cleaned enough similar wounds before to know what exactly to do, Ms. Kasem." Shaggy smiled.
"You've done this before?" Daphne asked.
"Yes. Norville is certified in first aid, and he has helped out at the nurse's office plenty of times before." Ms. Kasem nodded as she and Shaggy snapped on their gloves.
The next five minutes was spent on applying the treatment cloth, soaked with alcohol, on Daphne's wounds, and both Shaggy and the nurse kept in mind to be gentle while cleaning the wound. Once that was done, the wound was dressed.
"There, all done!" Ms. Kasem exclaimed.
"Thanks for taking care of me, Ms. Kasem." Daphne smiled as she got up. Turning to Shaggy, she added, "And thanks for bringing me to the nurse's office, Shag."
"Like, it was nothing, Daph." Shaggy smiled as he and Ms. Kasem took off their gloves and tossed the garbage into the garbage bin.
After Ms. Kasem wrote down the treatment in the daily visitation log, Shaggy and Daphne made their way back to the gym.
When Shaggy and Daphne returned from the nurse's office, Shaggy's team was leading by a dozen points.
"Like, looks like our team is leading fast." Shaggy remarked as he motions Daphne to take a seat on the benches.
"Yeah." Daphne smiled as she sat down before watching Shaggy racing back onto the basketball court.
"Is everything alright, Miss Blake?" Mr. Takamoto asked after exchanging nods with Shaggy.
"Yes, Mr. Takamoto." Daphne nodded. "The nurse and Shaggy both fixed me up."
"Glad to know." The gym teacher smiled. "Shaggy is really excellent in first aid, and he has helped out at the nurse's office plenty of times, as well as helping escorting students to the office when they get injured or fall ill."
Daphne nodded as she watches the game resume.
The class ended with Shaggy's team winning the basketball match, and five minutes prior to the bell, the students made their way back to their gym lockers to change back into their normal clothes.
Daphne was back in her usual attire of a purple dress with a green ascot as Shaggy came up to her. The only change in his outfit was him wearing his usual brown pants instead of a pair of shorts.
"Hey." Daphne smiled as Shaggy came to her.
"How's the knee feeling?" Shaggy asked.
"Better." Daphne replied as they made their way to their lockers. "Thanks to you and Miss Kasem."
A brief pause went by before she continued, "So Norville is your real name?"
"That's right, not that I minded being referred to by my nickname 'Shaggy'." Shaggy replied.
"'Shaggy' sounds like a good name based on your hair style." Daphne commented.
Shaggy nodded as they reach their lockers to grab their lunches.
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