The gym smelled like hairspray and cheap perfume.

I coughed, momentarily overcome by the thick scent. I looked around: silver balloons shaped like crowns floated near the stage, and the lights hit the disco ball and sent broken pieces of color spinning across the crowd. Everyone looked perfect.

Everyone except me.

I stood behind the bleachers with a camera strap digging into my neck. I wasn’t there to dance or to date—I was there to snap photos of the annual Homecoming Dance for the yearbook.

I usually didn’t mind my yearbook assignments. Being the school photographer means two things: you get to see everything, and no one really sees you. I’m not even against school dances–student government actually did a great job with the decor, and I knew the colors and composition would make for amazing photos.

What I didn’t like was everyone else in class sticking me with the Homecoming spread because they assumed I wasn’t going. Actually, Morgan assumed I wasn’t going.

“Come on, Sophie. The rest of us already have dates and dresses. You can spend one Saturday away from your room and with actual people.”

I winced thinking about her saying it. That sing-songy voice that made every insult sound like a compliment. The soft smile that hid malice. Morgan was as beautiful as she was terrible, and I had been her punching bag since her family moved her ten years ago.

Bile rose in my mouth as I thought about what I’d say to her. Just because you’re a pick me doesn’t make you better than me. Oh, and I spend every weekend at my house because Makenna hates being around you. But I bit my tongue because if I told her off, she’d take it out on Makenna. If Morgan’s sister wasn’t my best friend, I would have put that bleached blonde bully in her place long ago.

Principal Hawthorne’s voice boomed over the speakers and broke me out of my reverie. “And your 2025 Harvest Falls Homecoming Queen is…”

He dragged it out just to build suspense. I sucked my teeth in annoyance. We all know who it’s going to be, I thought. Just say it.

“Morgan Johnson!”

The crowd exploded with cheers. Morgan, radiant in a silver gown, smiled and stepped onto the stage. The spotlight hit her crown as Principal Hawthorne placed it on her head. She waved, teeth shining white under the lights. I raised the camera to my eye, adjusting the zoom to capture her stupid, judgmental face. I pressed the button for a burst shot.

Then the lights flickered–just once, plunging the gym in darkness for around five seconds.

I heard the crown clatter to the stage floor 

When the lights steadied, the camera’s autofocus went beserek. Someone screamed. Then hundreds of voices began frantically yelling.

Morgan was gone.

For once, I spent the rest of Saturday night and all of Sunday at the Johnson’s, comforting Makenna as she sobbed. It didn’t matter how cruel or dismissive Morgan was to her–Makenna would take a bullet for his big sister. 

“How–How could this happen?” she kept saying.

I had nothing to tell her. Morgan had made a lot of enemies–I mean, I was one of them–but I couldn’t think of a single person who would actually hurt her.

I thought Mrs. Johnson would also be freaking out, but she just sat calmly, just sipping her glass of wine and not saying anything. She was normally nice and sweet even though she worked two jobs to support Morgan and Makenna as a single mother (no one in the family ever spoke about Morgan and Makenna’s father). But now, it was like she was just shut down. I guess people grieve in different ways, I thought.

On Monday morning, I expected missing posters all over the school. Counselors comforting people in the halls. But everyone acted like nothing had happened. The announcements didn’t mention her. Her name wasn’t called during attendance during Yearbook. The only thing close to a mention of Morgan was when Mr. Wooden, the yearbook adviser, told me to “take out the royality story and adjust the layout.”

I found Makenna at lunch. I expected her to blue with sadness but she was white-hot with rage.

“This is bull!” she spat out, trembling with anger.

“I know. It’s weird that no one’s talking about it–”

“Because of him! He told everyone that everything’s fine!”

I blinked in confusion. “Who?”

“Hawthorne!” She said the name like it was the most vile swear word she knew. I had never seen Makenna so upset. “You know what he told everyone? That she had a mental health episode. That she was so overwhelmed by winning that she fainted, and that my mom transfered her to a boarding school for her own well-being.”

I looked at her, stupified. “That makes no sense. Morgan would never give up her clique and her status here. And no offense, but she causes mental health episodes–she doesn’t have them.”

“Thank you! You’re the only one that believes me! None of her friends or teachers will talk to me about it because they ‘want to respect her decision.’ Like, what are they even talking about? “Transferred? Overnight? During a dance?” This is not normal!”

“What about your mom?” I asked. “She would have to have signed paperwork.”

Makenna crossed her arms as disgust tightened her voice. “She said that what Hawthorne said is true.” She swallowed hard. “She said that it wasn’t fair to me that Morgan didn’t tell me goodbye, but that she was always mean to me and so I should have expected it.”

I didn’t respond. Leaving without telling Makenna would totally be something Morgan would do, and I couldn’t think of any reason why Makenna’s mom would lie to her.

As if she could read my thoughts, Makenna looked at me, tears in her eyes. “Sophie, I need you to believe me. You believe in what’s real — in what’s right in front of you. You’re a reporter and you believe in facts, and you know these facts don’t add up!”

“I do believe you,” I said, “but there’s nothing we can do. We have no proof.”

Then her face shifted, as if a lightbulb went off in her head.  “You were taking photos that night! You might literally have proof in your hands. If you caught something on your camera–”

She was right. My fingers trembled slightly as I took out my camera. Makenna was pearched over my shoulder as we scrolled through the pictures on my memory card. I got to the burst of photos I took before the light’s went out.

“Okay, here we go. Just don’t get your hopes up—not everything real can be explained, Makenna. Sometimes the truth hides between the frames, and maybe… maybe I didn’t capture it”  I swallowed hard “And besides, Principal Hawthorne loved Morgan. She was basically his favorite. He let her get away with murder.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t because he liked her,” Makenna shot back. I was about to ask her what she meant when she said, “Stop!”

I looked down at my camera and felt my stomach twist. In flipping though, I had reached the last photo before Morgan vanished. There was her smiling face, the crown sitting atop her blonde curls, and an unmistakable silhoette of a person with curling fingers reaching toward Morgan’s shoulders.

That night, I stayed up late looking at the photo. I sent a copy to Makenna, who planned on taking it to her mom and then the police. There was something that definitely looked like hands, but it could be a light flare or fog, so I was running the photo through every editing filter I had on my laptop in the hope to get a clearer image.

Around midnight, a notification popped up in our Yearbook chat group. I figured it was a deadline reminder, but then I saw that it was a direct message. And then I saw who sent it. 

@ morgan.johnson: Hey loser, still awake?

I froze. Morgan’s school email had been deleted when she “transfered.” Even if Morgan was wherever everyone thought she was, she couldn’t send this message. Before I could respond, another message appeared:

@ morgan.johnson: You caught it, didn’t you? The hands

My hands shook as I hit the voice assistant on my phone. “Call Makenna,” I whispered. She picked up on the second ring.

“Sophie?”

“She texted me.” The words came out in a hoarse whisper. “Morgan! She knows I caught whatever it was on camera.”

There was a pause. Then Makenna said, “Meet me at school. Gymnasium. Now. Come alone.”

The school was dark except for the faint glow of the exit signs. I figured the building would be locked, but when I tried the door, it opened. A chill ran up my back–the doors weren’t even unlocked during school. What is going on? I thought.

I got to the gym and saw Makenna standing on the makeshift stage that still hadn’t been taken down from Saturday. Her eyes were wide and her lip was trembling. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

”This is where she disappeared,” Makenna whispered. “Right where I’m standing.”

“Makenna? What’s going on?” I asked.

“Look behind me.”

I glanced behind her at the lecturn that Principal Hawthorne used to announce the Homecoming King and Queen. Drapped over it was a ripped sash that read “–ing Queen.” On top was chipped tiara with spots of dark, dried blood.

“Those were Morgan’s,” Makenna said. “She was wearing them just before she vanished.”

I couldn’t believe Makenna found them. “This–this is the evidence we need!” I said. I lifted my camera and took a flash photo. The burst of light lit up the stage for a second— just long enough to see something standing just behind Makenna.

A girl. Silver gown. Blonde curls. Hollow eyes.

Then she was gone.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed.

@ morgan.johnson: Don’t let her wear it. She’ll listen to you.

“You saw her, didn’t you?” Makenna’s face was pale.

“Makenna…” I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking. “Was–was that Morgan?”

“No,” a voice said behind me. “That was Maddie.”

I looked behind me and was blinded by the light of a projector. It was a series of photos. My photos. My homecoming pictures started playing and repeating—only this time, something new appeared. There was a double exposed image of Morgan where two of her stood on the stage. But that’s impossible, I thought You can’t double expose a digital photo.

I squinted, looking harder. The faint, ghostly figure that hovered behind Morgan looked almost just like her, but the eyes and the smile. No, she was different. 

 “Makenna,” I asked hesitantly, “Who is Maddie?”

Makenna hesitated. “She was my sister,” she said softly. “My other sister.”

“Her deceased sister,” the other voice said. I could make out who it was now.

“Principal Hawthorne?”

He stepped out of the shadows. “Or should I say, her other deceased sister.”

“What are you talking about?” My thoughts were racing. “Maddie?”

“I was only five when Maddie died,” Makenna said. “She was on her way home from her senior Homecoming dance. She… was the queen. Everyone thought it was an accident.”

“What do you mean?”

“What she means is,” Hawthorne replied, “that my daughter didn’t accidentally flip her car on a desolate road outside of town. No, it was my wife–her mother–that killed her!”

My eyes grew wide. “Wait… does that mean–”

“That’s right,” Hawthorne said with a menacing grin. “I am Morgan and Makenna’s father.”

“Makenna!” I yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me? We’re best friends!”

Makenna held back her tears. “I wanted to! But Mom said I couldn’t. She said if anyone knew about the accident or why we moved to Harvest Falls, Hawthorne would make sure she went to prison for murder!”

“Oh sweetie, it hurts me to hear you call me that,” Hawthorn said. “Call me Dad.”

“Never!” Makenna’s face was now pure anger. “You’ll never be my father! A father doesn’t kill his own daughter!”

I turned to my villinous-looking principal. “You killed Morgan?”

“In a way,” he said. “After she murdered my oldest girl, I left my traitorous wife and went to eastern Europe. I was there seeking knowledge–dark knowledge, the kind that deals with resurrection.”

At that moment, I noticed fog beginning to swirl around my feet. It didn’t know why Hawthorne would turn on the fog machine from the dance, but that was the least of my questions at the moment.

“Finally, I discovered the key to bringing my daughter back. I could channel Maddie’s spirit through a totem she was wearing at the moment of her death.”

“The tiara!” I blurted out.

“Yes. After bathing it with mystical energy, I could place it on someone’s head and my Maddie’s soul could take over her body and live again.”

I moved closer to Hawthorne. “And you chose Morgan because she looked so much like Maddie.”

Hawthorne laughed. “Exceptional guess, but know. To bring my daughter back, she has to inhabit a body with the same blood. The same parentage.”

“Fine,” I said. “But why kill Morgan then?”

“Oh, we didn’t mean to, but there was a problem with the soul transfer. It turns out there’s was something I didn’t know.” Hawthorne walked past me and toward Makenna. “It turns out that Morgan only shared one parent with my darling Maddie. It seems my wife had an affair.”

I scoffed. “Being married to you? I can’t blame her.”

Hawthorne spun around and looked at me demnetedly. “Ah, there it is! Little Sophie’s famous acerbic wit! You have no idea what I’ve been through. The sacrifices I made, how hard it was to place myself as principal in this backwater town just to get close to her, and years of treating that obnoxious brat like a princess so I could get this tiara on her head at the perfect moment. And what happens? Betrayed again by that horrible woman!”

“Well, too bad!” I was shaking at this point. “Morgan’s dead! Guess your plan failed.”

That’s when Hawthorne started smiling again. “That’s where you’re wrong. I have a backup plan.”

It took a minute before his words sunk in. “No! Makenna!”

Hawthorne laughed. “Time to finish what I started.”

The emergency lights flickered on, casting everything in an eerie red glow. Makenna’s shadow stretched long across the floor.

Makenna’s breathing grew shallow. “I’m sorry, Sophie. You weren’t supposed to be part of it. I didn’t mean for this—”

I turned to her. “What do you mean you didn’t mean this?” I asked in a stern voice. “You knew?”

A door slammed somewhere behind us. 

“Mom told me a couple years after we moved here,” Makenna finally said on the verge of crying. “I wasn’t allowed to tell Morgan, and she was just so mean… I thought it might be better to have my other sister back.”

“And now you’re okay with your sister taking over your body!” I yelled.

Makenna started to cry. “I have to! I have to save Mom…”

My phone buzzed again. I looked down.

@ morgan.johnson: Stop her, you idiot! How can you be so bad at this?

A cold wind swept through the gym. I could see a glowing figure in a silver dress behind Makenna–this time with. Her eyes were hollow but glimmered with the same determination Makenna once had.

Maddie tilted her head. “It’s too late. The crown needs a new queen now.”

From the shadows, I saw something glint—a silver tiara rising from the lecturn. It pulsed faintly, like it was alive.

“Makenna, don’t—” I started, but Makenna was already reaching for it. I broke out in a run. If I can just reacher her before she puts–

I was suddenly lifted in the air and slammed against the gym floor. Everything went black.

When I came to, I was in the Johnson’s living room, lying on the couch. A smiling face with blonde hair stared down at me.

“Makenna?” I whispered, almost crying. “Is that you?”

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” I felt her arms wrap around me. “I was so worried when Maddie lifted you up and threw you against the ground.”

“So… You didn’t…”

Makenna smiled. “I guess Maddie hurting you woke me up. Prinicpal Hawthorne too. He ran over and did this.”

She held up two halves of a broken plastic tiara.

“Really?” I sat up. “But your mom…”

Makenna sighed and looked down. “She was arrested this morning. I could have convinced Hawthorne not to turn her in, but I realized that she had been manipulating me for all these year and that this was all her fault… I just couldn’t live with her anymore.”

I blinked in shock. “So…”

“Hawthorne has agreed to let me live with him. He already had a bedroom set up for Maddie’s return, and he’s legally my parent.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I tenderly stood up. I saw a large bruise covering my left arm.

“Oh good, you’re up!” Principal Hawthorne walked in with a box with clothes spilling out the top. “‘Kenna, I finished packing your things. Why don’t I take you girls to breakfast and then we can get you all moved in?”

Makenna beamed. “Sounds great, Dad!”

As Hawthorne left the room, I felt the ice water flow through my veins. “Dad?”

Makenna looked at in me in a way she never had before. Her lips slowly curled into a grin and she pulled me into a hug.

She whispered into my ear, “We are going to be such good friends, Sophie.”