jenna spent the rest of her evening wandering around the building by herself. she just wanted to be alone after everything that went down at her memorial. it was a lot to process.

it was nice of wally to try and be there for her, but she just needed a little space from everyone.

as she was walking down the halls stuck in her never ending thoughts about luke and bethany, she had overheard a conversation between charley and maddie.

"can mr. martin at least explain to me why simon can see me and no one else can?" maddie questioned.

"i wouldn't bring that up just yet." charley told her.

jenna couldn't believe what she was hearing. maddie could talk to someone that was alive?

"why?" the blonde asked turning her head.

"i just worry that there are others in the group who might get confused, needy, greedy. they might turn you into a messenger service." charley explained.

"you can talk to the living?!" jenna came out yelling behind the two. she was mad. why would you ever want to keep something like that a secret?

"like that." charley waved his hand in the brunette's direction who was charging towards them.

"but-" maddie tried to cut in. she didn't understand what the big deal was.

"stop maddie!" charley interrupted. "just.. keep it to yourself, okay? you too." he turned to jenna who had now caught up with them, "until we figure this all out. just the three of us, okay?"

👻

"there's an old cider mill off route 47, and my parents would toss us in the dodge coronet. we'd each get a bag of warm, greasy donuts. that was my idea of nirvana." mr. martin told the kids a story about his life.

they were having another group meeting in the gym. it was night time this class and most of the lights were dimmed. they handed out donuts for everyone, wally passed her a jelly one.

jenna started down at the donut in her hand in disgust. she couldn't remember the last time she ate one.

wally went to go hand rhonda the donut box, "what's that about?" she questioned staring at what's left.

"is there a problem?" mr. martin intervened.

"he always leaves me with the worst one." rhonda whined glaring at the box. "what do you mean? it's lemon glazed." wally pointed out as if there was nothing wrong with that.

"nobody wants a lemon donut. of course you give her the other jelly one." rhonda scoffed pointing out jenna.

"guys, the subject is nirvana." mr. martin tried to keep the group on track.

"no, the subject is entitlement and pretty privilege." she interrupted. "excuse me?" jenna furrowed her brows.

"oh, ok, i'm entitled because i like anything filled with jelly. yeah that makes sense." wally rolled his eyes.

"you take the last jelly, i will rip off your arm and beat you with the wet end." rhonda threatened him.

"rhonda, i'm the one that boosted these from the faculty lounge in the first place. just be grateful." wally argued.

"guys, we're talking about nirvana." mr. martin shouted this time.

"technically there is no wet end. we don't bleed out." charley corrected the girl.

"you know what? can i be excused please?" wally raised his hand, "i would like to eat my donut in peace."

"and he gets excused for that. more entitlement." rhonda rolled her eyes.

"no, it's not entitlement, rhonda. okay?" wally snapped, "it's about- it's about digestion."

"oh my god, just take the stupid donut. i don't even want it." jenna spoke up getting annoyed with their fighting. she took the donut in hand and threw it across the room only for it to hit the ground. she didn't exactly have great aim.

the room went quiet as everyone watched the donut hit the floor. "great, now you've done it." rhonda whispered intimidatingly staring at the wolf girl.

she slammed the box with the lemon donut inside on the ground in anger as wally ate the jelly one.

"has anyone ever been seen by a living person before?" maddie spoke up changing the subject. charley cleared his throat to indicate that she should shut up while jenna's eyes widened.

"that doesn't happen, hon." rhonda told her.

"has anyone here ever talked to a living person?" maddie asked again.

"oh, you know what? uh, is this a blueberry or a raisin?" charley tried changing the subject as he looked down at his donut.

"dude, how many things could you possibly be allergic to? you know you can't die twice, right?" wally raised a brow.

"too soon." charley shook his head.

"okay, i think perhaps you're asking the wrong question, maddie." mr. martin tried to help, "let's rephrase it. how do we say goodbye to the living?"

"that wasn't my question." the blonde dully responded.

"how do we close the proverbial book? well, i'll tell you how. before we wrap up today, i'm giving you both an assignment." mr. martin instructed pointing to jenna and maddie.

"you mean like homework?" jenna rolled her eyes, "thanks nears."

"it sounds like you're struggling. write your obituary." mr. martin told them. "uh, no." maddie immediately declined. "i-i'm not struggling." jenna denied.

"really?" wally knowingly glanced over at the girl. she couldn't lie her way out of this one. the brunette sighed, "fine, whatever."

"everybody here has written one." he explained. "it helps us focus on the highlights of our lives, the sweet victories."

maddie still didn't look all too convinced, "i've gotten out of writing papers before because of cramps. i'm pretty sure death counts as a good excuse."

"this isn't busywork, maddie." mr. martin told her.

everyone turned their heads as wally caused a distraction by slurping the jelly out of his donut. "oh my god." jenna whispered in frustration.

"so no one here has ever talked with someone who's not dead?" maddie tried once more resulting in the session ending.

👻

mr. martin gave her a few sample obituaries to start herself off. jenna sat on the couch of the teachers lounge the next morning contemplating what she was going to write while maddie was sound asleep next to her.

she wanted to stay positive and write about all the highlights of her life.. but she couldn't get her mind away from the unfavorable parts.

how could she just ignore her parents messy divorce? or her relationship with luke that was never going to improve? or what about the terms that she was left on with certain people before her death? these were all things that she felt defined her.

it felt almost incomplete to remove them since some of them made her who she is today. but instead of continually stressing herself out to get it over with, jenna gave up for the day. they had an eternity together.. there was no due date on this assignment.

"please tell me the coffee is ready." mr. anderson begged walking into the lounge. "it is." ms. fields responded grabbing the pot from the machine.

"wake up, cherry pop." rhonda got maddie's attention though she was still out of it. "it's the best time of the day."

"what's going on?" maddie groggily asked looking around the room from the couch.

"i was trying to write my obituary.. but now people watching i guess." jenna assumed.

"this is where these underpaid sad sacks let their guards down and we figure out who's boning who." rhonda stated standing up from her seat.

"why do i want to know that? these people are like 40." maddie seemed disgusted.

"i guess you're not nosy like me." jenna shrugged smirking at the nears girl.

"charley thinks i'm insane, but there's no way these aren't plugs." rhonda commented looking down at mr. anderson's hair. "his forehead was three inches higher last year."

"you measured his forehead?" maddie looked at her suspisciously.

rhonda chuckled, "please. i've followed him to the lavatory. i've measured more than that."

"okay, that's too much." jenna shook her head in disgust, looking the other way.

"ugh. we're having black coffee." another teacher announced noticing the milk was sour.

"i meant to pick some up, but i didn't sleep." she told the other teachers. "sleep's overrated." rhonda joked.

"i heard last night they matched the dna, and that is maddie's blood on the wall." ms. fields informed everyone taking a seat at the table. the other teachers glared at each other in disappointment.

"you know i haven't had a nap since 1974." rhonda jokingly commented. "shh!" maddie shushed her.

"i was really hoping you weren't going to say that." mr. anderson sighed.

"are you shushing me?" rhonda scoffed. "i need to hear this!" maddie yelled back at her.

"these kids are gonna be a mess." the man looked down in disappointment.

"i wouldn't count on that. aside from simon and nicole, everyone's been caught up in grieving jenna wolf. such a shame what happened to that girl. " ms. fields mentioned.

"well, herman got one thing right. his office hired a grief counselor."

"can this guy also grade maddie's last paper? because honestly, i'm- i've tried, but i-i can't." mr. anderson looked away.

"jenna's last assignment is still sitting on my desk.. and even if i do grade it, what difference would it make?" ms. fields muttered.

mr. anderson sighed, "i always had a feeling there was something bad going on in her relationship with lucas bishop."

"well it was ruled an accident.. but i just don't see why bethany would react that way. it can't just be grief." ms. fields speculated.

"that poor kid."

"lap it up while you can. by next thursday you'll be footnotes." rhonda announced to the two girls who were still listening intently, "two weeks after i was strangled, my grieving teachers were planning a mardi gras potluck. when the police questioned them about mr. manfredo-"

"who?" the brunette furrowed her brows.

"the guidance counselor who killed me. keep up. the police asked the faculty if they'd seen any warning signs of their colleague being a psycho. and not one would say a bad thing about the bastard. my body wasn't even cold, and they'd already moved on to jambalaya." she recalled.

"they're not gonna move on." maddie denied.

"really?" rhonda scoffed, "you see anyone springing up from that table?"

"well i probably would have been forgotten after i graduated anyway.. so i guess i can accept that." jenna shrugged.

"not by everyone." rhonda rolled her eyes though the brunette had no idea what she meant by this.

"no one's turning me into a footnote, okay? simon wouldn't let them." maddie grabbed her things and stormed out.

"who's simon?" rhonda furrowed her brows in confusion. "wait, i thought his name was sid this whole time." jenna groaned walking out of the teachers lounge.

👻

walking through the cafeteria, jenna came across a table with a bunch of football boys she used to hang out with sometimes. her ex boyfriend was talking to them.

"that girl has absolutely lost it." one of the boys eyes widened as he watched bethany scramble talking to one of her friends at another table. she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"bethany james is fucking crazy, man." another one of them started to laugh, "did you see her at the memorial?"

"yeah.. but she's hot." the other boy shrugged. "that bitch needs an exorcism." luke finally spoke up. "you guys didn't hear? the case might re-open now."

jenna felt like she just got smacked in the face with a brick. the case re-opening would mean everything coming to light, especially what really happened..

"nobody's gonna believe her anyway, man. jenna wolf was screwed up. if she didn't trip she probably threw herself off that balcony."

she felt powerless. there was nothing she could do to help bethany or even defend herself. being a ghost majorly sucked at the moment.

even though her death was ruled an accident, it wasn't surprising the police would start looking for evidence and considering foul play.. and she was absolutely terrified about that.

jenna always knew that claire and xavier were hooking up, but she had no idea he was dating maddie at the same time. moving on from the boys, the wolf girl watched claire spiral through the cafeteria, following behind her as her texts to xavier remained on delivered. she must have had something to hide.

just as she was about to try and get more info, jenna was interrupted by overhearing maddie trying to talk to simon on the other side of the room.

"simon! simon! come here!" the girl screamed trying to get his attention away from his conversation with nicole.

from what it looked like, simon made an excuse to get up from his seat and hesitantly followed maddie to an open area, "are you okay?"

"simon, i need your help."

"why did you disappear?" he worriedly asked being that he'd lost sight of her the second he exited the classroom. maddie furrowed her brows, "i didn't disappear, you disappeared."

"i stepped into the hall and you were gone. where do you go when you're not with me?" he questioned further.

"a little early for the edibles, bro." a boy in the human world shouted out to simon who looked like he was talking to himself.

"nears! tell him to take a fake phone call so he doesn't look like he's talking to himself." jenna yelled from the other side of the cafeteria, making her way over to the two.

"take out your phone." maddie quickly instructed him.

"why?" simon asked. "so it looks like you're talking to someone." the nears girl explained fast.

"i am talking to someone." the boy still didn't seem to be grasping maddie's reasoning. "who's alive!" the blonde shouted in frustration.

simon groaned, whipping his phone out of his pocket and pressing it to his ear, "happy?"

"yeah, i'm thrilled." maddie scoffed, "my dna is on a boiler room wall, and my piece of shit boyfriend might have had something to do with that. does it get much happier?"

"this might not be a good time but i'm like 99% sure he was cheating on you with claire." jenna mentioned, deciding to finally break the news to her.

"i know, i found out yesterday." maddie told her lowering her voice. the brunette paused letting out a sigh of relief, "well.. at least i didn't have to be the one to do it."

"oh, so now you come around? how many times did i tell you that dude was sketchy? ..who are you talking to?" simon furrowed his brows noticing that maddie seemed to be talking to another invisible person.

"jenna." maddie quickly answered.

"jenna? ..as in jenna wolf? she's there with you?!" the boy's eyes widened. it sounded absolutely insane.. but this was their new reality.

"yes keep up. and this isn't about him keeping hand lotion in his glove compartment, simon." the blonde shouted. jenna gave the girl a weird look for that last comment, "wow nears, you always know how to make it weird, huh?"

"someone who i trusted might have gotten rid of me, and we need to prove it." maddie got to the point.

"so what do you remember from that day?" simon asked her trying to get this all to make some sense.

"i left homeroom to look for my mom after she showed up, but after that, i don't really remember anything." maddie reminisced as simon walked around her.

"maddie-" he tried to cut her off.

"maybe she knows something."

simon shook his head, "your mom came to school. she talked to the police. she said she never found you. you must've already been-"

maddie sighed, "why can't i remember anything after that hallway?"

"..well, what about when you became this? how did you get out of that boiler room?" simon questioned.

maddie didn't seem to remember much, just the fact that she ditched study hall.

"so basically what you're saying is that this happened between the time you left study hall and eighth period?"

"i guess." maddie worriedly shrugged.

"well, if you were up in the hallway after the last bell, you saw xavier and claire leave." simon remembered.

"wait. you think they both did this to me?" her breath got shaky at the realization.

"i could see it." jenna crossed her arms glaring at the zolinski girl, "claire was super jealous of me. tried to poison me once, i'm sure of it."

"maybe or maybe just him. his way of proving his love." simon theorized. "what?" maddie started to panic.

"to her, not you. xavier skipped bio that day. he wasn't in eighth period." simon hung up the phone. "we need to find evidence."

the plot was starting to thicken, and it was only going to get deeper from here. and maddie nears had no idea what she was getting herself into..