Grave the Last Dance

**Grave the Last Dance** is the sixth episode of the first season and the 6th overall episode of **School Spirits**.

## Short Summary

Amongst the sparkly lights of Split River's Homecoming Dance, Operation Find Maddie's Killer goes into overdrive leading to surprising revelations.

## Full Summary

Simon is horrified that Maddie is going to the Homecoming Dance with a football player. She'd rather talk about her murder and her maybe murderer than that.

Chloe thinks Xavier inviting Claire to the dance is gross, but Claire thinks Chloe's boyfriend wearing the same shoes without socks since seventh grade is gross. Kirsten asks if they're sure he didn't murder his girlfriend and Claire says they're sure. They discuss that as Claire texts Xavier and says she'll go with him.

Xavier tells Simon and Nicole that Claire said yes. Through Simon, Maddie tells Xavier now they crack her at the dance. They need to confirm she took Maddie's phone and smashed it. Xavier has to trap Claire into a confession and record it. Xavier's not sure he can do that. Maddie has Simon tell Nicole to help Xavier. When Xavier and Nicole get up to get ketchup, Simon asks Maddie if she's sure she's okay with this. Maddie says it's a great plan, but if he keeps judging her about it, she'll change her mind.

Maddie sneezes as she and Rhonda look through dresses. She's surprised ghosts can have allergies. Rhonda says even dead, Charley swells up when he eats peanuts. Maddie tries out a dress. Rhonda is surprised she's getting into it and Maddie is surprised Rhonda's going at all. Maddie's surprised any of them are into it. Wally's acting like it's the first time he's heard of a dance. Rhonda reminds Maddie that he's been going to the dance alone for 37 years. She thanks Maddie for helping Wally with his unfinished business. Maddie asks Rhonda if ghosts can have sex. Rhonda says they can. They all have. They've been going through puberty for decades. They all have a past. Rhonda realizes Maddie doesn't. Wally comes in to check that everything is okay. He asks if Maddie's still up for going to do the dance. Maddie says she is.

Claire walks through the boys' locker room. She asks Xavier if they can talk. She asks him why he asked her to the dance. He says he wrote the text a while ago. He felt bad about how he treated her, but it took a while to press send. He misses her. She says she'll pick him up at 7 tomorrow. She wants to drive because her car has a bigger back seat than his.

Charley gives Maddie the letter for Emilio for Simon to copy and give to him. It's 16 pages long. Maddie reads bits of it and tells Charley he needs to write it like it was written when he was alive, because it comes off as creepy when Charley says he's been watching Emilio. He's in his 40s now and married. Charley just wants to make up for the awful things he said. Charley agrees to re-write it. Maddie says once Emilio reads the letter, Charley will have to forgive himself and start living his death.

Maddie follows Xavier, who gets a seductive text from Claire.

Simon and Nicole talk about the video. Nicole wasn't able to find any more information about it. Someone took the video, but Nicole says it doesn't matter who, because Claire clearly thought it was Maddie. Simon gets his bike. His parent took his car away when he got questioned by the cops. Nicole walks away and Xavier comes up to Simon and says he thinks Claire is playing them. He can't believe she said yes to his invitation. Plus she cornered him in the locker room. Xavier feels like he's walking into a trap. Simon says he can't back out now because he owes Maddie.

Nicole helps Xavier try on outfits. Xavier's not into Nicole's selections. Nicole asks if he's really worried about Claire hurting him. Xavier's not sure. He thought he knew Claire, but maybe he doesn't. There's no turning back now.

Sandra shows Simon an essay she found that Maddie wrote for her college application. She doesn't want Maddie to miss any deadlines. Simon says she already turned it in. They both applied early decision, which Sandra didn't know. The plan was that Nicole would apply to art school in Chicago all three of them would be there together. Sandra says that's still the plan and Maddie is coming home. They found her backpack and evidence that someone was sleeping there. She has to believe Maddie's coming back. Sandra asks if Maddie's tried to reach out to him at all. Simon says he would let her know. He excuses himself, saying he has to get ready for the dance. Sandra asks for pictures and says she always thought it would be nice if he and Maddie would go together. He's her best friend and she doesn't know what Maddie would do without him. As Simon walks out, he sees a picture of Maddie on the wall and asks to borrow it.

Maddie meets up with Wally, who is late. He has a corsage with his football number on it for her. She puts it on and they climb into the golf cart to ride to the dance.

Claire gives Sheriff Baxter a donation check. He says it's very generous, but she says it's nothing. Her parents just wanted to show their support for his re-election. Claire's glad the school didn't cancel Homecoming with everything going on. She starts to probe him for answers about Maddie's case. He says there's nothing he can share yet. He tells her to thank her parents for their cooperation. Xavier, who has been listening, comes downstairs. He tells Claire she looks great. Sheriff Baxter tells Xavier to take care of the suit. Xavier's grandfather had one just like that his whole life and ended up being buried in it.

Nicole and Simon look at the picture of Maddie that Simon has set up. He wants to use it to guilt Claire into confessing. Mr. Figueroa comes up and says he likes it. Maddie should be included. As he walks away, Nicole says no one knew Maddie because Maddie would never be at the dance. Simon tells Nicole what Sandra said about him and Maddie. He admits he thought about it once, but he shut it down immediately. Maddie's his best friend. The stakes are too high.

Claire and Xavier drive to the dance. He's only ever been to one dance before, a middle school mixer his band played at. Claire suddenly pulls over and says they need to talk. The cheerleaders might be a little mean to him so she wanted to prepare him. They also have seen him with Nicole a lot. He says she's Maddie's best friend, so they were always around each other. Claire suddenly pulls him in for a kiss.

Maddie enters the dance and goes to Simon. She asks if he's dancing tonight. He says no, unless they miraculously play Roicc, he'll be focusing on Claire. She and Xavier haven't arrived yet. In the meantime, he has transcribed Charley's letter for Mr. Figueroa. Maddie thanks him for doing that. Charley's very grateful. It'll help him more than Simon can imagine. Simon asks Maddie if she's going to cross over once they figure out what happened to her. She doesn't know. She suggests telling Mr. Figueroa he found the letter in an old library book.

Wally pulls Maddie out onto the dance floor. She gets distracted when Claire and Xavier walk in.

As they wait in line to have their pictures taken, Maddie watches Claire and Xavier. She, Nicole, and Simon all spot a hickey on Xavier's neck. Claire looks over at the picture of Maddie and asks if it was Xavier's idea. Xavier says no, it was probably a teacher. He heard they found Maddie's backpack in a house Claire's dad owns. It's weird that they found it there of all places. Claire asks if they're going to spend the whole night talking about Maddie. The step up and pose for their picture.

Sandra watches a movie at home. She sees someone moving around in the backyard and gets up to check on it.

Wally steps out to dance on his own when Steppin' Out comes on.

Claire asks Xavier how he knew about the backpack. He knew because of his dad. She knew as well, because of her stepfather.

Wally holds up a fake microphone to Principal Hartman when he notices Hartman singing along.

Xavier asks Claire if she's been back to the house since they hooked up there. She tells him she doesn't go there alone.

Xavier tells Simon and Nicole that Claire's a good liar. Simon pushes Xavier to ask more questions and probe deeper. He wants Xavier to ask her about the phone, but Xavier doesn't want to spook her. He says to back off and he'll figure it out himself. Sandra calls Simon, but he ignores it. She calls Nicole next and Nicole answers it. Sandra thinks Maddie's in the backyard and wants them to come look. Nicole says she'll go.

Simon goes to Mr. Figueroa and gives him the letter, saying he found it in a library book.

Wally tells Maddie he did win Homecoming King his senior year. And the votes were in before his death. He realizes Maddie's distracted looking at Xavier and Claire.

Xavier says he enjoyed kissing Claire in the car. He leans in to kiss her again and asks if she wants to get out of there.

Wally thinks it was a bad idea for them to come to the dance together. He doesn't think Maddie's really ready to be dead yet. When she asks if anyone is, he says he is. She reminds him she's been dead for two weeks. She notices Claire and Xavier have left and wonders where they went.

Rhonda asks Maddie where her date is, but Maddie can't worry about him right now. She's more worried about Xavier and Claire.

Mr. Figueroa sits alone and reads the letter.

Claire and Xavier make out. Claire says they could go to the parking lot, but he finds this way hotter. Claire gets upset when she sees Xavier is recording.

A deputy shows the sheriff a weapon they found near where Maddie's backpack was.

Claire is upset with Xavier. Xavier asks if she killed Maddie. He knows she swapped the phones. He shows her the video, saying maybe he should show it to his dad. She asks who's seen it. She tells him she figured out what Mr. Anderson was doing and she took the opportunity to get an easy A. She swapped Maddie's phone because they thought she took the video. She just wanted to delete it, but she couldn't unlock Maddie's phone, so she gave it to Mr. Anderson and he got rid of it. Claire told Mr. Anderson to pay Maddie off, but that's all she did. Claire has no room for failure. Everyone thinks Claire has it so easy, but it takes so much work to make it seem easy. She knows they made a mistake. Everything spun out of control so fast. She doesn't know what happened to Maddie, but it wasn't her.

Mr. Figueroa reads the letter. Charley watches him. Maddie watches both of them from a distance.

Maddie watches Claire and Xavier walk back into the dance together.

Principal Hartman names Claire Homecoming Queen.

Xavier tells Simon that Claire didn't do anything to Maddie. He believes her. She was blackmailing Anderson for grades and they paid Maddie off because they thought she took the video. Then they couldn't get into Maddie's phone, so they destroyed it. They were right, but Claire wouldn't hurt Maddie. Xavier believes her.

Sandra tells Nicole that there was somebody out there. Nicole believes her. There's a knock at the door. It's Sheriff Baxter, but they didn't call him.

When Sandra opens the door, Sheriff Baxter tells her he has some news. At the empty house where they found the backpack, they found a possible murder weapon. They traced it to a person of interest who is being brought in for questioning.

The police bring in Mr. South for questioning.

Sheriff Baxter can't tell Sandra who it is, but says it's not Mr. Anderson. He promises to tell her as soon as he has more he can share. She wonders why someone would do that. Sheriff Baxter says they believe Maddie had a lot of money on her and that person wanted it. Sandra starts crying and Nicole and Sheriff Baxter console her.

Maddie and Charley watch Claire and Xavier dance. Charley tells Maddie that being a ghost sucks. They're forced to watch people who have no idea they exist. It sucks most of the time, but today, he watched the love of his life get closure for an old, deep wound thanks to Maddie. Now he feels like he's ready to forgive and live his death. It's good advice. Maybe Maddie should take it. He suggests she focus on the person she came in with.

Wally lies in the grass and sings to himself. Maddie joins him and sings along. Maddie apologizes and says she should have been honest with him. She pulls him in and kisses him. She pulls back and then he pulls her back in.

Simon pops balloons. The DJ puts on a Roicc song for him. Simon goes to find Maddie. He tries to get her attention on the song, but she's more interested in listening to the conversation below. Principal Hartman and Mr. Figueroa are talking about the weapon. Mr. South was the only one who had access to it.

Rhonda searches for something.

Sandra reads Maddie's essay. She pulls out a bottle of alcohol, pours some, and drinks it.

Nicole is out in the rain, digging.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Peyton List as Maddie Nears
* Kristian Flores as Simon Elroy
* Milo Manheim as Wally Clark
* Spencer Macpherson as Xavier Baxter
* Kiara Pichardo as Nicole Herrera
* Sarah Yarkin as Rhonda
* Nick Pugliese as Charley
* Rainbow Wedell as Claire Zomer

### Guest Stars

* Maria Dizzia as Sandra Nears
* Ian Tracey as Sheriff Baxter
* Alex Zahara as Principal Hartman

### Co-Starring

* Peter New as Mr. South
* Alison Thornton as Chloe
* Vanessa Prasad as Kirsten
* Katarina Mueller as Tira
* Andres Soto as Mr. Figueroa
* Dylan Floyde as Sheriff's Deputy
* Zarina Sterling as Crystal

## Music

"Second Chances" - Rocket Collectors"LOVE" - Extreme Music"Dance with Me" - Beabadoobee"Steppin' Out" - Joe Jackson"Am I Dreaming" - Lil Nas X feat Miley Cyrus"Real Good Thing" - 5 Alarm"Teenage Dream" - Stephen Dawes"Bonita" - Roicc
## Notes and Trivia

* This episode's title is most likely a reference to the movie "Save the Last Dance."
* This episode happens two weeks after Maddie's murder.

## See Also

 **#02** | "The Fault of Our Scars"
 **#03** | "Dead and Confused"
 **#04** | "Ghoul Intentions"