Sponge: Revised August 2019. Thanks for coming back to this Origins series after my long, long absence. This series is my take on the gang's high school days, and how they got together and started solving mysteries. Please enjoy the revised first chapter for the first story, One for the Money.

Like all my Scooby Doo stories, the pairings are Fraphne and Shelma for this fic, though nothing too explicit. Also, there will be some mature-ish themes in these stories. Unlike what I said back in 2010 when I first uploaded this story, I'm afraid I will have to change the rating to M on these stories, just because there's a lot of swearing, drug/alcohol references, sexual themes, etc. I don't think it'll be necessary for this fic, but in the future, I just want to cover all my bases. I'm going to try REALLY HARD not to trigger anyone, so please let me know if there need to be more explicit trigger warnings in the beginnings of the chapters. Warning: Shaggy's gonna smoke some pot in this chapter. Not much, and not for long, but I just wanted to warn you all. Also, language.

Do you all want to do a contest? If so, when you leave a review, guess the artist of the song with which the chapter title shares its name, and I'll give you an honorable mention in the start of the next chapter. No big deal if you don't want to do it, just thought it might be a fun way to interact with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera.

Chapter 1: Hello, Goodbye

Ohio was an incredibly boring state. Truly. Norville "Shaggy" Rogers thought this to himself as he stared out the window of the van he was riding in. It was the beginning of January and there were remains of snow and ice that had been shoved to the sides of the road by snow plows.

Like, I swear to God we passed that exact same bump in the road twenty minutes ago, he thought to himself bitterly. Absentmindedly, the lanky, scruffy teenager patted the head of his Great Dane, Scooby Doo, who was crowded into the back seat of the van, along with him and the rest of their suitcases. Scooby was also looking out the window.

"Reverything rooks re rame," he commented.

"Like, yeah I know Scoob," Shaggy replied forlornly. "This is like, so different from California."

"Norville, please don't start that again," his mother sighed from the front seat. "I promise you'll like Ohio if you just give it a chance."

"Your mother's right," said his father, who was driving. "I know you'll miss Vista Heights, but I promise that Coolsville will grow on you. I mean…look out the window! There's snow outside! You've never seen snow in your life!"

Shaggy couldn't give a damn about snow. He had liked California, where it was warm and sunny all the time. But now here he was, leaving the place where he'd been raised for fifteen years to live in some frozen tundra. And in the middle of his sophomore year of high school, no less. Besides, the stuff on the side of the road was gray and mushy, so it didn't really constitute as "snow". Shaggy sighed. He was going to hate it here.

He fingered the marble pipe and the tiny baggie of pot that the pocket of his brown pants contained. Part of him wished he could light up, but knew that he couldn't because his parents (and Scooby) were right there in the car with him. He wondered if you could score good weed in Ohio. Probably not, he decided.

He wasn't sure what he'd do if he couldn't find marijuana in Coolsville. It had been pretty easy to come across in California. Shaggy had only started smoking it a couple weeks ago (at the persuasion of one of his old friends), but already he used it as a coping mechanism. Brannen, the friend who'd started him smoking, had given Shaggy the tiny baggie as a goodbye gift, but Shaggy knew full well that he couldn't just ask Brannen to mail marijuana almost three-thousand miles across the country.

Shaggy couldn't worry about that for very long though, because the next thing he knew, the van was turning onto a street, FitzSimmonds Court, and their new house was before his very eyes.

"Welcome home, Norville," his mother said.

This is like, not home, Shaggy thought to himself. It'll like, never be home. But he gave an unrelenting sigh. Hello, Coolsville. Goodbye, Vista Heights.

x.X.x

The next street over, thirteen-year-old Velma Dinkley was hunched over a desk, rapidly finishing her geometry homework. Usually, geometry was a class taken by eleventh graders, but Velma was so bright that not only had she skipped a year of school, she had taken Algebra 2 as a freshman and was now taking geometry as a sophomore. She was used to having a room to herself – ever since her older sister Dottie had gone to college, Velma had had the entire room to herself. But now, Dottie was pregnant and while she and her (brand new) husband searched for a place to live, the two of them were staying in Velma's house and Dottie was living back in their old room. She was taking a nap at the moment. Her belly had swelled slightly with child. It wasn't due for seven more months, but Velma's parents were already excited about the prospect of having a grandchild. It mattered little, it seemed, that Dottie and Bill had conceived the child out of wedlock.

As much as Velma loved her big sister, she did not love sharing a room again. Especially since her other sister Madelyn, was still running around. Madelyn was eleven, two years younger than Velma. So add her, plus a pregnant older sister and her frazzled husband and you had a madhouse. Literally.

There was far too much noise in the house for Velma to be expected to work. She sighed and pushed her glasses further up her face so they wouldn't fall off her nose. If it was nice out, she'd walk to the library a few blocks away, or just do her homework outside in her favorite spot in the woods. But Ohio winters were ridiculously cold, so Velma would have to deal with the noise.

Sighing, she continued working on her proofs and plodded her way through the rest of her homework.

x.X.x

On the ritzier end of town, Daphne Blake stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, singing along to a song that was playing on her radio. The fifteen-year-old had high hopes of being famous one day. Recently, before winter vacation, the drama club had put on a production of the musical Into the Woods. Daphne had landed the role of Cinderella, even though she was only a sophomore, and she'd stolen the show. She loved the drama club. She couldn't wait until she was a junior and she could take drama as an actual class.

Thinking of classes caused Daphne to scowl as the song ended. She couldn't help thinking of this boy who had somehow ended up in her homeroom and three of her classes this year. Fred Jones was the name of the boy. He was cute enough, she supposed, but damn if he wasn't the most egocentric person on earth. He thought he was God's gift to women or something. For some reason, he'd set his sights on Daphne that year and had been asking her out since September. She had relentlessly refused every single time he tried. He was so NOT her type. He played football. She played characters. He read trap articles. She read scripts. They were from two completely different worlds…although not exactly. He lived one street over from her. But still. They were complete opposites. Why in the world would he want to go out with someone that he had nothing in common with?

Probably because of my looks, Daphne thought ruefully. She put a lot of effort into making herself look presentable, but unfortunately it warranted a lot of unwanted attention from boys that she would sooner shamelessly ignore than actually talk to. And Fred Jones was one of those boys.

Daphne was sick of dating boys who only thought she was a pretty face. She wanted a boy who liked the real Daphne. She wanted a boy who saw past her appearance and saw into her soul.

She was beginning to wonder if such a boy even existed. And if he did, he certainly wasn't at Coolsville High.

x.X.x

One street over, Fred Jones lounged on his couch, simultaneously watching football and reading an interesting article in the magazine Traps Illustrated. He wasn't sure how he'd suddenly achieved this interest in traps. Maybe it was the building that excited him. The thinking strategy. It was like memorizing a football play – considering all possible outcomes and trying to see which way worked the best.

It wasn't just traps he tried that with, though. He'd also tried his think-it-through-and-see-what-works strategy as a way to try to win the heart of Daphne Blake.

So far, he hadn't had much luck.

He wasn't sure why this was. Half the girls in school were drooling over him. The only two that were in his grade that he could think of that weren't after him were Velma Dinkley (but then again, Fred wasn't even sure she liked guys) and Daphne Blake.

Daphne was an enigma. She was the most popular girl in school – you'd think that she would want to have the most popular guy in school as her boyfriend. But she showed absolutely no interest in him, and she had no idea why. He was sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, handsome, funny and kind. What more could a girl ask for? Why was she so resistant?

Well, he had another strategy up his sleeve. He would try it tomorrow when he saw her in school. They sat right next to each other in French class. Daphne Blake would not be able to resist his seductive moves for long.

x.X.x

It was already quite dark by the time the moving van arrived and the Rogers' had gotten all of their boxes transferred from the truck to the house. They had set up essentials – like beds – and were planning on unpacking the rest later. For now, Shaggy's parents were exhausted. They'd been driving for days.

"Norville," said his mother as she climbed the stairs to her new room. "You need to get some sleep. You start school in the morning."

School. Ugh. Shaggy didn't even want to think about school. He needed a smoke.

"Like okay Mom. I'll be right up," Shaggy said. He waited until he heard his mother's door shut before he grabbed his jacket and Scooby. "Like, come on Scooby Doo."

"Rare're re roing, Raggy?" Scooby wanted to know.

"Like, just outside. If you have to like, go to the bathroom or anything, now's the time." Shaggy opened the back door and Scooby sprinted out to relieve himself. There was no fence, but there was a vast amount of trees behind the house. Shaggy made his way into the woods and lit up. Truth be told, he was still getting used to smoking. He hadn't quite figured out how to do it so it didn't burn, but the pipe definitely made it a smoother ride.

"Raggy?" Shaggy jumped upon hearing Scooby's voice behind him. The dog looked at him sternly. Scooby did not like it when Shaggy smoked.

Shaggy plummeted inside himself. Having Scooby Doo catch him smoking was worse than having his parents catch him smoking.

"Look, Scooby Doo," he tried to defend himself. "I'm like, really stressed, you know? I have to start all over again at a brand new school in the morning and I'm like, terrified. This is like, a coping mechanism. I'm not getting hooked, I swear."

"Riff roo ray ro," Scooby said, though he didn't look completely convinced. Shaggy sighed and turned away so he could finish smoking the bowl when a sudden wind blew through the trees and something green, rectangular and paper-y his him right in the face.

Shaggy grabbed at it before it could fly away in the breeze again.

"What's this?" he wondered, looking at it. It was dark, so it was a little hard to tell what it was at first. But after a while, Shaggy realized that he was looking a fresh, crisp-looking twenty dollar bill. His eyes widened. "Zoinks!" he exclaimed. Then he paused. Zoinks? Like, where the hell did that come from? What does that even mean? Whatever. It had felt like a natural response to have when a brand-new twenty dollar bill hit you in the face.

"Rut ris rit, Raggy?" asked Scooby.

"Check it out, Scoob," Shaggy said, bending down so the dog could see. "It's like, twenty bucks." Scooby's eyes widened.

"Rare rid rit rome from?" he wondered.

"Like, I have no idea." Suddenly, Shaggy was struck by a terrifying thought that made his stomach twist in fear. What if he and Scooby weren't the only ones in the woods? What if there was someone else lurking in the darkness, hiding in the trees not too far away? Shaggy gulped. He knew he had an extremely over-active imagination – people told him so all the time and it was probably why he was such a good artist – and he knew that he watched way too many horror movies for his own good.

But where had the twenty come from?

"Like it's late Scooby Doo," Shaggy said. "Let's go back inside." Scooby seemed more than willing to comply as he sped ahead of Shaggy towards the safety and warmth of the house. Shaggy pocketed the money and looked behind him once more before he re-entered the house. He couldn't get rid of the chilling sensation that another person was watching from the woods.

But he shook it off and headed upstairs, now scared by another upcoming issue – the prospect of school the next morning. How unfair that he had to be starting over the middle of his sophomore year.

Shaggy lay awake for hours as he worried endlessly about the next day and he didn't fall asleep for a very long time.

Sponge: Thanks for reading. Review if you please!