“Miles, are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked a final time because I knew it wasn’t a good idea.

“Quinn, it’s fine. You’re fine. It’ll be great,” he said as he took the last few steps to the front door and knocked. “Trust me, babe.”

I would like to state that I’ve worked hard not to wince when he calls me babe. It’s tough – that word coming out of his mouth sounds… wrong. I mean, we’ve only been going out for a few months – I’m his “babe” now?

Before I had to sell it too hard, the door was abruptly opened by a short boy I’d seen around but whose name I didn’t know. “Jesus, Miles! We’re waiting on you!” His eyes traveled past Miles and landed on me. “Who’s this?”

“This is my girlfriend, Quinn.”

He looked me over, not in a salacious way, but like he was evaluating me. “She’s a junior, Miles.” He said “junior” like I was a leper.

“Yeah, but she’s cool.”

“Isn’t she on the school paper?”

“Dude, she’s cool.”

The guy eyed Miles hard, which was saying something as Miles was a head taller. “Fine, get in here.”

Miles shot me a smile I think he thought was suave and headed inside. The guy at the door closed it behind us.

“I’m Finn,” he said to me. “This is my house. We’re all in the family room.” As he led us through the hallway I could hear voices growing louder, laughing. “It’s Miles, finally. And he brought his girlfriend, a junior…”

We came into the family room and all the faces turned on me. Instantly, I knew this was more than just a group of seniors hanging out. This was a crew.

“That’s alright,” Carter Hale smiled and lit up the room. If the faces at first seemed judgmental, Carter’s two words defused any concerns by sheer charisma. “If Miles vouches for you, that’s good enough for me.”

Miles took a seat on the couch and grinned at the compliment.

“This actually will work out well – we could use one more person,” he nodded to himself before smiling again. “Quinn, right?”

“Quinn, yeah,” I nodded, adjusting my glasses – a nervous tick.

“Cool,” he nodded. “Did Miles tell you what we’re up to here?”

I shook my head.

“Keep it quiet, Chen, I like that…” he turned his mega-watt smile on Miles again. Then back to me, “We’re going to scare us some freshmen. It is October, and what a great opportunity to break in some of the newbies. Have you heard the legend of the drowned girl that haunts the school?”

“Drowned girl? No…”

“That’s because she doesn’t exist. Well… she does now,” Carter, clearly relishing his role as The Ringleader, raised his hands to take in the group. “We’ve been seeding the story about Lana Merrin. She was a freshman who drowned in school pool in a tragic accident. They named the school after her – Merrin High – and it’s said she still haunts the school, wandering dark hallways soaking wet…” he ended dramatically.

“Except the school is named after Eleanor Merrin, who was principal for like a hundred years and just died a couple years ago at an old folks home,” I stated flatly. “And we don’t even have a pool.”

“You know that and we know that… but the freshman,” he shook his head slowly, “They don’t know that. They know what we’ve been telling them about poor Lana Merrin. And how the school built the current gym over the pool to try to erase the tragedy.”

“But all they have to do is check the yearbooks and pictures…” I started.

As if anticipating my question, Carter stood behind Lila, who I knew from the paper. “They could, except Lila has backstopped our story with some carefully fabricated documents sprinkled here and there.” Oh, Lila was The Archivist.

She smiled her self-satisfied smile that I hated so much when she copy-edited my writing. “There’s some annotated replica yearbooks in the library, along with some convincing pictures that I photoshopped showing the old Merrin pool. When it comes to lore, I’ve got this on lock.”

“So, you’ve spread a scary story…” I shrugged, feigning I was unimpressed.

Carter smiled again, “That’s the groundwork. This week the freshman have some scheduled flower parties to decorate their float. Since no one knows anyone, they’re holding them in the gym. They’ve already had a few, of course. Most of them go out the main gym entrance to their rides, but Miles has his hand in the school’s surveillance system and has tracked a number of freshman who wander the dark hallways to hit their lockers before they go home.” He gestured to Miles.

Miles was The Nerd (though later he swore his role was “System Ghost”. Sure, Miles, sure…) I thought he’d be confident explaining his role to me, but maybe it was the way he had to hold the floor, but he stuttered nervously. “I… uh… the janitors are done by six, and the last few flower parties ran to 8pm. So, uh, we’ve got the place to ourselves.”

“Exactly,” Carter picked up. “And that’s where you’ll come in, Quinn. You’ll run recon for us, letting us know where our mark is. When they wander into position, Miles cuts the school lights. Then it’s time for Owen and Finn to set the scene.”

Owen and Finn were The Tech Crew – no, literally, they ran lighting and sound respectively for our school plays.

“And then you lead our ghost onto the scene,” Carter gestured to Addison Rowe.

Addie Rowe, The Actress. She stood up from the couch, all gorgeous, willowy five foot ten of her and threw her long black hair around her face and hunched forward letting out a pained moan and flailing her arms a bit before she shook her hair back, blew some errant strands from her face and smiled a glowing smile. I don’t know why, but I felt the need to clap. Addie giggled – literally giggled – and mock-bowed, saying, “thank you, thank you…”

Carter gave Addie a little golf clap and said, “Thanks, Addie. That’s going to be terrifying come Wednesday.” He pulled out a photo-copied flyer, “And Wednesday is our go-day. Next frosh flower party in the gym starts at 5 and runs until 8.” Carter looked from one face to the next and finally settled on me. “Are you in, Quinn?”

“I’m in.”

Monday and Tuesday I got texts on our group chat making sure all details were ironed out – where were we meeting, where equipment was being stored. Finally the bell rang on Wednesday and we all took our places.

I met Addie in the women’s locker room. “Addie?” I whispered into the darkness. “Are you here?”

“Heya, Quinn!” she whispered back. In the dim lighting I could see her in a black one-piece Mirran High swimsuit. “I’m going to go get wet,” she said, pointing to the showers. “You keep lookout.”

“Will do.” Through my AirPods I could here Carter verifying Owen and Finn were set and ready.

“Miles? Do you have eyes on our quarry?” Carter asked.

“Yeah, the party’s starting to break up. A few have already left… It’s minutes now…”

“Perfect. Quinn? How’s our ghost?”

“She’s drowning herself now,” I responded quietly.

“Excellent. Let me know when she’s in position.”

A moment later, I heard the shower shut off and Addie walked out, dripping wet, hair bedraggled around her face, sneakers squelching as she walked. “Ready?” she asked. “With my hair around my face I can’t see shit.”

“I got you,” I said, taking her hand and leading her out to our position.

We were nearly there when I heard Miles speak, “We’ve got a live one… male has left the gym and entered the corridor…”

“Quinn?” Carter asked. I tapped the microphone on my AirPod twice to acknowledge.

“Perfect. It’s showtime, gang…” I could hear Carter’s smile.

“Cutting school lights…. Now.” I heard more than saw the already dimmed overhead lights shut off with a loud click. I imagined the kid stopped for a moment, unsure what to do, but mustering his courage to hit his locker and soldiering on. “He’s in range, guys…”

“Okay… go,” Carter said smoothly and I saw Owen’s gelled blue light cast an atmospheric glow down the corridor as I peeked around and caught sight of the freshman. Even in the dim light, I could see he was spooked. And that was before Finn’s hidden speakers started playing the sound of dripping water. Owen turned on his projector which caused flickering light like pool lights casting the shifting water onto the walls of the corridor. The freshman completely stopped now.

“Quinn? Ghost time…” Carter cooed.

I turned to Addie and nodded, taking her hand and leading her to the corner, placing her hand on the wall so she could sightlessly get her bearings.

She let out a low, keening moan as she stepped out into the corridor, Owen’s spot perfectly backlighting her as her long hair hung over her face and the water dripped onto the floor, her soaked sneakers squelching as she took staggering, lurching steps towards the freshman.

When he saw her, he went rigid for a second before letting out a high pitched scream and turned, tripping over himself, then getting back up and sprinting down the corridor still screaming. We could hear his panicked footfalls all the way to the gym.

Carter’s voice came in laughing, “Oh my god, guys, that was perfect! Strike the set, clean up and get out of there now.”

We’d even practiced this part. Finn and Owen stashed their equipment while Addie rushed back to the locker room, grabbed her Speedo parka and left through the side door. I grabbed a mop I’d stashed nearby and hurriedly covered up the water in the hall. Sixty seconds later, I exited the same side door and met Addie at Carter’s waiting car. Meanwhile, Miles restored the lighting in the halls just as the last freshmen rushed back with their terrified classmates only to find… nothing.

We repeated our performance a second time two days later. This time catching two freshman girls. They shrieked, turned, and ran into each other before scrambling up and out. By the end of the week, the rumors of the ghost manifesting were all over school and every single freshman looked positively scared.

The next week, we readied ourselves for our final prank. Carter figured we might get one more scare before the adults insisted on escorting freshman to their lockers after the party, and he was right. Though this time it was a trio – a freshman girl and two freshmen boys accompanying her. Aww, how chivalrous!

“Lights, sound… go,” Carter conducted. The lights slowed the boys, while the girl clearly wanted to turn around. The dripping water sounds made all three stop and look at each other.

“Quinn, we’re good for ghost…” I led Addie to the corner and moved a bedraggled strand of hair in front of her eyes. “Thanks!” she whispered before starting to moan as she squelched out into the hallway.

“Holy shit!” one of the boys yelled as the other one already fled. The girl looked like she was hyperventilating, but the Holy Shit boy grabbed her hand and they both sprinted back down the hallway, yelling as they ran.

“Perfect!” Carter’s voice came in. “Now strike everything. I’ll see Addie and Quinn in a sec.”

Addie high fived me and started to squelch jog around the corner to the locker room as I grabbed my mop. I heard her footfalls stop abruptly mid-squelch. I stepped around the corner and saw wet and bedraggled Addie face to face with…. A wet and bedraggled girl… who was translucent.

We three stood there for a long moment, Addie and me staring at the ghost, ghost staring at us. I’ll give Addie credit, she didn’t panic. One second she stared at the ghost, the next I barely saw her move as she flew wordlessly down the hallway to the locker room.

Which left me standing, staring at a ghost.

“That was pretty good,” the scratchy voice of the ghost came out. “But those two girls crashing into each other was the best of the scares.”

I just nodded.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything, Quinn… They believe. That’s all I ever needed.” The ghost girl turned and took three squelching footsteps down the hallway, unhurried, each step fading until the sounds and ghost herself disappeared.