School Spirits (2023) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Previously on "School Spirits"
Mr. Anderson, can I ask
what you were doing there?
Drive safe, Simon.
Some toddler with a badge said
that you're calling off my search party.
I assure you we're doing everything
to find out what
happened to your daughter.
You don't think it's weird,
Mr. Anderson giving Maddie his number?
I gotta get to class.
Have you seen his car?
It's like he sleeps in it or something.
You broke into his car,
Si. Why'd you do that?
I'll solve my murder on my own.
Holy shit.
I found something.
I shouldn't have given
Maddie that fucking money.
Why does he have a shitload of
cash hidden in his classroom?
I'm guessing it has to
do with why you're dead.
I can't believe it.
It won't recognize his face.
I'm never gonna guess his passcode.
Three minutes.
Oh, my God, unlock your phone.
Check your email. Do something.
Tell him to check his email.
What?
Come on, don't you wanna know
why he's got tons of
money stuffed in his wall
or why he thinks he
gave some of it to me?
Simon.
Eyes on your paper, please.
Sorry.
Maybe it's his birthday.
I'm thinking '81, '82.
Did he have any Dave
Matthews Band in his car?
Little help here.
OK, pens down.
Papers on my desk, please.
Simon?
OK, thank you, Rhonda.
Though maybe we narrow it down a bit.
I'm afraid reciting all of Ginsburg
might have us Howl-ing by the end.
Because
Maddie, hi.
Nice of you to join us.
We're brainstorming fun things
we could all do this weekend.
I'll tell you what I wanna do.
I wanna figure out why
Mr. Anderson was talking
to someone on his phone about
giving me money last night.
OK. I'm
I'm not sure how to board that, but
Wait, who was he talking to?
That's what I'm trying to figure out.
So I need to know if anyone
here has seen anything.
Seriously?
All we do is haunt the
halls of the stupid school,
and none of you have seen anything
suspicious from Anderson?
Oh, well, OK.
Well, one time I saw
Mr. Anderson misspell
the word "fundraiser" on
a Boosters Club poster,
and I he forgot the D.
I feel like that's pretty suspicious
coming from an English teacher.
Wally, I'm pretty sure that was a pun.
So I'm assuming he probably
did that on purpose.
Sorry, sweets, we
don't just stand around
staring at the living all day.
No.
You plan weekend fun like movie nights.
Well, we do what we can to
break up the monotony, Maddie.
- That's all.
- If I may,
to be fair, watching the
same five sports movies
over and over again is kind
of monotonous, Mr. Martin.
I thought you loved "Rudy."
No.
Wow.
Just w I can't even.
OK, so if none of you
have seen anything,
then what about the others?
Maybe one of the other
ghosts has seen something.
Am I allowed to barf on camera?
My media class has to do interviews
on all the homecoming court nominees,
and guess who got Claire?
OK, yeah.
- Barfing might be appropriate.
- I know.
Oh, hey, so I got an update
on Maddie's boot print.
Xavier said the cops canvassed the area
where we were last night
and found more prints
leading to a service road.
Hello? You know what this means, right?
Maddie's alive.
Yeah, and whatever
happened in the boiler room,
she got out and she's OK.
What's going on with you and Xavier?
Yesterday you were ready
to put his head on a stick.
Now you guys are what, texting buddies?
I I don't know, Simon,
maybe it's about you ghosting me
ever since Maddie went missing
instead of helping me find her.
I mean, seriously, where
were you last night?
I texted you, like, ten times.
OK, look.
The reason I
this is gonna sound sort of crazy.
I've been talking to her, Nicole.
Of course you have. So have I.
I mean, not, like, out loud,
because she's not really gone.
I feel her just like you do.
A and I got us tickets to Horror Con
for tonight to prove it.
And if there's a safe
place for us to meet,
Horror Con is it. I mean,
she's never missed it.
Nicole, listen to me.
I know you wanna believe Maddie's alive.
She's not. She is gone,
and not the kind of
gone you come back from.
How do you know that?
I can't tell you how.
I just I do.
But I don't understand.
What would be so bad
about talking to them?
Maddie, they're replaying
their last days on Earth
like they're still living them,
spinning like tops,
and you don't wanna be there
when they finally spiral out.
Why?
Haven't you ever heard
you're not supposed
to wake a sleepwalker?
They can mistake you as part
of their nightmare or worse.
What would be worse than that?
Y you get trapped in
a nightmare of your own,
start looping yourself.
Oh, speaking of looping.
OK, "Bull Durham."
Eh, too much baseball.
OK. Uh "The Natural."
Way too much baseball.
Boom, we got it.
"Rad Racing."
Oh, is that the one where they do
the BMX bike ballet at the school dance?
Yes, it is, and it's freakin' amazing.
Oh, no, it's absolutely not though.
Sorry.
What about her? Dawn.
She basically goes
through people's things
and lives in the halls.
Maybe she knows something.
- Ugh.
- Good luck with that.
The only thing Dawn could
tell you is your horoscope
from 1972.
Yeah, Rhonda's right.
She's a literal dead end.
Mm, more like a cul-de-sac.
Well, you know what? So
are you guys right now.
I mean, I'm not afraid
of the walking dead.
OK? So talk.
I need names.
Oh, hey.
What are you doing after seventh?
Uh, going to biology.
Not anymore.
Let's go.
OK.
I know what people think.
They hear "grief counselor"
and assume it means just one thing.
But you can talk to me whether
you're grieving or angry
or confused.
Sorry, excuse me.
In fact, you might feel one thing
while your friend feels another.
But here's the thing.
Hope is a very powerful emotion,
and I would caution
you not to take it away
- from someone else.
- Yeah.
Remember, my office is always open.
If you're free now
Sorry, thank you.
Actually actually, no thanks.
I I'm I'm late for
Three, two, one.
Action!
Officially in the running
for homecoming queen,
my next guest needs no introduction,
but my partner, Andy, wrote one anyway.
Swim team captain, varsity cheerleader,
honors student, and now local hero,
Claire really does it all.
Oh, you mean that thing at the pool?
I was just at the right
place at the right time.
So Claire, what would being
homecoming queen mean to you?
Well, firstly,
I have to say being
nominated is such an honor.
So thank you, everyone.
But honestly, the only homecoming
that matters this year is Maddie's.
I mean, I I'd give up my crown
in a second if it brought Maddie back.
I keep thinking I wish I
could have seen something
or done something to help her,
like how I saved Ava.
Maddie didn't drown, Claire.
No, I I know.
But you think you could have saved her?
- No, I just I
- It's funny,
I haven't heard you say two words to her
since I've been at this school,
but the second her face is
on more posters than yours,
- you think what?
- Nicole.
You could
No, you're right, Nicole.
Maddie and I, we used to be friends,
but I haven't talked
to her in a long time.
And now I just I
can't believe she's gone.
I really hope she's OK.
Then there's Mina.
And what happened to her?
She was crushed by a stage light in '87.
Hasn't left the theater since.
Our very own Phantom of Split River.
OK, who else?
Uh, Yuri. He hangs out
by the pottery wheel all the time,
but he only speaks Russian.
And of course, there's
the bus crash kids.
Tyler, Rachel, Jacqueline,
Jonah, Erin, Marci, Zach, and Stephanie.
We need to talk.
Bus stop now.
Did he just
she just
Yeah.
They did.
I thought about sneaking it
back into his room, but
it's too risky.
If Mr. Anderson really
did what we think he did,
then it's over.
We don't want you to be next.
Simon, I think that
grief counselor was right.
I think it's time for
you to talk to someone,
like your parents or the police.
My mom's pretty freaked out as is.
With you being gone,
that blood on the wall.
- The other day there was that
- OK, Principal Hartman then.
And say what exactly?
That I broke into Anderson's car?
That I stole his phone?
That you're a ghost,
and I can talk to you?
The second that gets out, no one's gonna
believe anything I say, Nicole included.
We've gotta stick with
the things we can prove.
I mean, Anderson's
got money in his wall,
and he kept that piece of
my phone when he should've
turned it in. Maybe it's enough.
What about his phone?
Uh, leave it for now.
I don't want you in any more
trouble than you already are.
And maybe if we're lucky,
we can find a way back in.
What are you looking at?
Nothing.
Don't worry about it.
Good luck.
Nice chat with your friend?
You know, I told you some
pretty personal shit yesterday.
You didn't think to maybe mention
that you can talk to the living?
OK, not the living, just just Simon.
Oh, just Simon.
That's a big fucking deal, Maddie.
I wanted to tell you.
I tried, but
But what?
- Oh, my God, you knew.
- What the hell, Charley?
- Yes, but
- Does Mr. Martin know?
No, no.
I don't I don't think so.
So what was your plan?
Find some way to use
Maddie's special ability
for yourself and never
tell the rest of us?
- I didn't have a plan.
- Like hell you didn't.
OK, OK, let's just everybody, Rhonda
Let's take a breather.
How are you not pissed right now?
I'm p I am pissed, Rhonda.
I'm just I'm trying
to make sense of this all.
This is very new to me.
- I don't know how I feel
- Trying not to lose it
- in front of your crush?
- OK, you don't have to be
mad at me, Rhonda. I didn't do anything.
- Be mad at him.
- I am mad at you.
- Thanks for the help.
- OK, you said you wouldn't
- bring that up again.
- OK, well, she's gone.
So great. I hope you're happy.
- What, like that's my fault?
- I I actually
- You guys
- I cannot. Are you
- It's OK. It's OK.
- You knew?
- You guys
- I'm sorry.
Mina?
Mina?
You up there?
Hello?
Mina?
You up here?
It's Maddie,
new dead girl.
OK, can you turn that off?
What you've just told me
is very serious, Simon.
And I can tell that
it wasn't easy for you.
So what happens now?
Now I call the authorities,
relay everything you've just told me,
and, uh, make sure they
look into all of it.
Sound good?
Yeah.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Did you take the safety course?
Uh
Let me guess.
Didn't get the part you wanted
and now you're up here boo-hooing to me.
I'm not an actor.
I'm just looking for answers.
Have you seen my teacher, Mr. Anderson?
He's six foot, scruffy beard,
wears a lot of Hawaiian shirts.
He might have come in
here for a Booster meeting
or to hide a dead body.
Look, I'm up here day after day
so that what happened to
me doesn't happen to you.
All right?
And what do I get in return?
No flowers. No thank you.
Not even the common courtesy
of cleaning up after yourselves.
So the next time you
or one of your needy
little castmates wants
something from me,
remember this.
I am the one keeping everyone safe.
Me.
A3 is tightened.
Moving on to B6.
Lana, Hey. Oh, I love that shirt.
Here. Don't forget to vote next week.
- Vote for Claire.
- Vote for Claire.
Hey.
Hey. Ready?
Yeah.
Can we stop at my place on the way?
I need to grab some cash.
Yeah.
So do they wear costumes to this thing?
Some do. Some just wear black.
You'll fit right in, actually.
Nicole. Um, hi.
I'm so glad we got to
talk earlier about Maddie.
Mm.
Here. In case you need it.
Oh, and
Hi.
Jeez.
Dawn.
You scared me.
Sorry.
What are you what are you doing here?
The kids leave the most interesting
things behind in the theater
phones, wallets, sweets.
Oh!
I missed one.
Mmm. Watermelon.
What are you doing in here?
I just came to find out
more about Mr. Anderson.
Have you seen anything?
You mean like him with a murder weapon
or your dead body?
- Yes.
- Nope.
Nothing like that,
though I am pretty easily distracted.
Is it the bad acid?
Charley mentioned something about that.
Well, no, I've never taken drugs.
I just meant from all the new ways
you kids have had to connect.
In my days, someone had to
hand you a note in class.
Oh, how things have changed.
There's Myspace, Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter.
I'm still trying to figure out TikTok,
but from what I can tell,
it's basically the new Vine.
What happened to Vine anyway?
I don't I don't know.
I have to go talk to the bus crash kids.
Oh. Good luck.
Those banjos are a little bongo,
if you know what I mean.
You should let me come with.
I speak bongo.
Charley said their bus crashed
on their way back from a competition.
Yeah. They won Regionals
but didn't get a chance
to compete at State.
They really thought it
was gonna be their year.
So now they just keep practicing
over and over and over.
- You were late.
- Are you kidding?
How many times have we done this today?
Too bad the drum major survived.
He really kept the band together.
- You were late.
- Are you kidding?
- You were early.
- You were late.
- Hi.
- You were early.
Hi.
I'm Maddie. Uh, sorry to interrupt.
Um, I was just looking
for info on Mr. Anderson.
He teaches English, is
part of the Boosters,
which recently raised
money for the school band.
Do you play anything?
No. Um, I'm not a musician.
Then get out of the way.
Let's try this from the bridge.
Follow my lead.
Please tell me you haven't been
staring at him since I left you.
I just don't get it.
Why can he only see her?
They share a bond
that pierces the boundary
between life and death?
Who the hell knows?
OK.
Simon Elroy?
Got a few questions to ask you.
Come with us, please.
What? Why?
Simon?
What did he do?
Si please, wait.
Simon.
What's going on? What's happening?
Wai
damn it, he can't hear me.
Where are they taking him?
Simon.
If anything happens to him,
I will never forgive myself.
I can't believe her.
Who's that?
Claire.
She says she doesn't
care about homecoming,
and then she cries
literally cries on camera about Maddie,
and then she goes full-on
Tracy Flick in the lobby.
It's like that's weird, right?
I don't care that she
and Maddie were friends
in middle school or
whatever. That doesn't matter.
What matters is that she's using Maddie
to win this stupid popularity contest.
And it's like, who does that?
I cannot wait to see
the look on her face
when Maddie comes back and
tells Claire to fuck off.
Xavier?
What?
Look, I'm glad you're
coming with me and all,
but if you're gonna use Simon's ticket
and eat all my snacks,
the least you can do
is try to contribute
to the conversation.
The topic is Claire and that she sucks.
I say something, you say something.
- It's really not that hard.
- Yeah, I'm sorry,
I thought you had both sides covered.
Right. Well, it's Claire, so
yeah, she definitely sucks.
Yeah. She doesn't seem to
like you very much either.
What does that mean?
That she looked right through you
when we were on our way out.
I mean, I know you're still town pariah,
but even so, that was cold.
Claire's good at icing people out.
Like you said, you
never would've thought
she was friends with Maddie.
But she was friends with Maddie.
So what are you saying? She
was something to you too?
Xavier?
Do you wanna walk to Horror
Con or do you wanna tell me
what the hell went down
between you and Claire?
Did you even talk to Mr. Anderson?
Did you look into his wall?
He's got thousands of dollars in there,
money he thinks Maddie knew about,
and that's why he killed her.
And and I think he's
working with someone else too.
I heard him on the
phone talking to someone.
Maybe that's who
destroyed Maddie's phone.
I don't know. Tha that's your job.
That's what you're
supposed to look into.
There's no money in Mr. Anderson's wall.
There's this,
which Mr. Anderson
willingly handed over.
He said you gave it to him.
You think it's a piece
of Maddie's phone.
It is a piece of Maddie's phone.
I found it in the auto shop,
and I gave it to Mr. Anderson.
Why Mr. Anderson?
'Cause at the time we thought
I thought I thought
I could trust him.
- Who's "we"?
- No one.
Me. I thought I could trust him.
Is there even anything in that file?
What are you people even doing here?
You wanna look at Maddie's file?
You can look at it.
We got a pretty good
theory if you wanna hear it.
Maddie wanted to leave Split River,
and she really didn't wanna be found,
so she made it look like there
had been some sort of attack.
But she needed someone's help,
a reliable best friend
to swap her phone,
plant some evidence,
maybe frame a teacher.
When in reality, she simply ran away.
I shouldn't have told you.
If Maddie knew what you did,
maybe that's why she ran away.
Hey, I screwed up.
I get that. But I wanna find Maddie
You cheated on her.
You're literally the last person
I should have brought here
to bring Maddie back home.
I'm I'm sorry.
I I didn't
Stay in the fucking car.
Sorry, have you seen my friend, Maddie?
No?
Have you seen my friend?
She's like 5'8".
She's blonde.
No? Sorry.
Hey, excuse me.
Um, have you seen my friend?
Her name's Maddie.
Excuse me, have you
seen my friend, Maddie?
She has blonde hair.
Uh, have you seen my friend?
Her name's Maddie.
OK, sorry.
What the fuck?
Sorry.
Maddie.
Maddie.
Sorry.
Maddie?
It's me. It's me. It's me.
What the fuck are you doing?
Looking for Maddie.
I'm doing the rounds.
- Are you OK?
- I'm fine.
Are you sure?
'Cause you look a little shook up.
Just go back to the car, Xavier.
Please, let me help you.
Haven't you done enough?
What, you want to
scare her a second time?
You were supposed to take care of her.
You were supposed to look after her.
And now she's not here, Xavier.
I don't know if you've fucking noticed,
but she's not here.
She's nowhere. She's gone.
I know that.
You're right.
I failed her.
And if I could take
back what I did, I
but I can't.
I have to live with that.
So if it makes you
feel better to hit me,
then please, swing away,
'cause I'm just
I'm sorry.
Heard you were out here.
Rhonda and Wally told me about Simon.
Said I should come find you.
Let me guess. They're still too pissed
to come find me themselves.
At me, maybe.
Not at you.
How are you feeling?
My best friend just got carted off
for helping me solve a
murder I can't even remember.
How do you think?
Powerless.
Shitty.
Alone.
You're not the first person here
who's broken something they can't fix.
We all have unfinished business.
Does your unfinished
business have a name?
Emilio.
Only, you know him as Mr. Figueroa.
You're Charley?
Yeah.
I'm Emilio, the new exchange student.
I heard you had room for one more.
Oh, better watch out, new kid.
Oh, shit, Charley finally
found a butt buddy, you guys.
Oh, somebody's pitching a tent tonight.
You can sleep somewhere else.
I actually like being alone, so.
Hey, different countries, same cabrones.
They used to say the same shit about me.
They were right too.
Oh, when you come crash ♪
Wanna hear something incredible?
Sure.
And I come into you ♪
In a boy's dream ♪
In a boy's dream ♪
You like it?
Mm-hmm.
If I've gone overboard,
then I'm begging you ♪
I fell fast after that.
To me, Emilio wasn't just
from another hemisphere.
He was
he was from another world.
And you come crash into me ♪
Emilio was everything I wasn't,
confident, magnetic.
He used to say I got all
the shit for being gay
and none of the joy.
He thought if I just came out,
you know, to everyone,
it'd be different.
And then one day my parents asked me,
in front of him,
why I never dated anyone.
And so, um, he told them about us.
He outed you to your parents?
Ah, he was convinced they already knew.
Maybe they did.
All I know is that I was furious.
Mm.
And I wrote him this
mean, terrible letter.
And I dropped in his locker the next day
and then tried to drown my feelings
in a plate of French fries.
The worst part was, um,
watching Emilio find the letter.
I told him that I never loved him
and I never wanted to see him again.
Just my luck he became a teacher here,
because, um, now all I
do is see him and just
and just wish I could
take back those words.
I'm sorry, Charley.
Thanks.
Look, I swear I'm not telling you this
to bum you out further.
OK?
I'm telling you this
because you need to know
that you are not alone.
We're all Split River Devils.
For better or worse,
we're in this together.
Charley, why am I a
Bandit and not a Devil?
Well, after the bus crash,
people started getting these ideas
that the Devil mascot
was partly to blame
instead of, you know, black ice.
Plus none of the survivors wanted
to wear their uniforms anymore.
So they changed the mascot
and became the Bandits?
Yeah.
Thank you, guys,
for everything.
I'll tell everyone the truth tomorrow.
Mr. Martin, everyone.
Maybe don't.
Really?
I think he's right.
I think we should keep this contained,
you know, for now.
OK.
So what do we do now?
Now we have to find some flowers.
I've never seen her
on ground level before.
I've never seen her
not scream at us before.
I've actually never seen
"Waiting for Godot" before.
These smell stolen.
More like borrowed.
But you know, you deserve
some recognition too,
a thank you for keeping us all safe.
Well, it's not about me.
It's about the work.
But I appreciate it.
You know, we're not that different.
I'm trying to prevent
what happened to me
from happening to someone else too.
I found this on the floor earlier.
Does this mean anything to you?
Yeah. Your Hawaiian shirt guy,
he's always banging around here,
interrupting my work.
Sorry,
banging?
Uh does this mean anything?
What is it?
Did Mr. Anderson even pay this?
We need Simon to call this place.
Mr. Anderson totally played us.
I mean, they're convinced
I helped you run away.
Seriously? That's
I know.
They only let me come back here
'cause I promised I'd
get Anderson's phone
and turn it in.
OK, well, before you do that,
I think I might have found
something that can help,
maybe keep the cops off your back.
Thank you all for meeting on a Friday.
Simon? What are you doing?
Uh, we're in the middle of a
Faculty meeting, I know.
But I have something
you need to see.
This is one of our new band uniforms,
the ones the Boosters all
raised money for last summer.
Mr. Anderson kindly offered
to order them himself.
Only problem is the uniforms
he purchased aren't new.
They were retired and
stowed away for decades.
Simon, I have no idea
what you're talking about.
So you didn't find these,
spruce 'em up, and pay
yourself that money?
What?
No. I a I absolutely did not.
Then how do you explain this receipt?
The company doesn't even exist.
And as for our mascot,
Mr. Anderson used it to cover up
all traces of the old one.
I can't prove he hurt Maddie,
but I can prove this.
I really thought she would be here.
I know.
I think Simon might be right.
What do you think's gonna happen?
He'll be questioned, probably arrested.
But not for murder.
I swear to God, if I died over
some stupid band uniforms
Maybe he'll confess.
Or you'll turn that
phone over to the cops
and we'll never know
who he was working with
or why he said he gave me money.
I'll never know what
really happened to me.
At least for now some of
the heat will be off you.
What are you doing?
I was thinking
I can't hug you,
but my sweater can.
Next best thing.
You ever think we'd be in our
own real life horror movie?
Eh, it could be worse.
Really? How?
You could've turned into a
zombie instead of a ghost.
Or a blob.
You would make a great blob.
Thank you.
You should go.
Get Anderson's phone. Get some sleep.
Good night, Maddie.
Good night.
Hey.
Wasn't sure you'd make it.
Wally finally let me decide.
I know it's a little on the nose,
but can't go wrong with Swayze.
What's this?
Write what you wanna say to Emilio.
I'll make sure he gets it.
You you don't have to.
I want to.
Oh, my God.
This is so much better than "Rudy."
Rhonda.
You usually boycott movie night.
Everything all right?
I've been here for 60 years,
60 graduations.
I've watched class
after class hug and cry
and throw their stupid little
cardboard caps in the air
and go.
I made my peace with it
because nothing changes.
But now
I know I'm not always a joiner,
but I gotta get out of here.
I'm willing to try anything.
So whatever you did to help Janet,
I want in.
I'm glad to hear it.
Psst, wanna take a selfie?
Where'd you get that phone?
Some pimply freshman left it
in the theater last period.
Told you it's a gold mine.
Was it unlocked or
I used her passcode.
How did you know her passcode?
I know everyone's passcodes.
How else would I keep
up with my socials?
Wait, what do you mean everyone's?
Dawn, what do you mean everyone's?
Simon!
Simon!
Simon!
Simon!
Check his call log.
We need to know who
Anderson called that night.
I can't wear this to homecoming.
Whoa, you guys.
Mr. Anderson might get arrested.
What for?
Does this have to do with Maddie?
Oh, my God.
You've reached Claire.
Do me a fave and just text me, OK?