‘School Spirits’: Simon Reveals His True Feelings About Maddie in Exclusive Sneak Peek

Simon Elroy is opening up about his true feelings for his late best friend Maddie Nears as he seeks the truth as to who really killed her. In a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Thursday’s all-new episode of School Spirits. Simon (Kristian Flores) and Nicole Herrera (Kiara Pichardo) take on Homecoming as they apply “psychological torture” to their plan to get the real story out of Claire Zolinski (Rainbow Wedell).

Placing a memorial photo of Maddie (Peyton List) strategically next to Claire’s Homecoming Queen poster, Simon explains to Nicole, “[Maddie’s] penetrating gaze watches over us – especially Claire. If you really got something to hide, her eyes follow you.” Nicole, skeptical, responds, “Yeah, no, I get it. Stop.”

It’s then that Mr. Graziano notices the memorial, and commends the teen for the “nice gesture” for their friend. “She should be here,” he tells them tenderly. “At least in our thoughts.” Despite his kind words, Nicole isn’t buying the sentiment, telling Simon after the teacher walks away, “Please, no one even knew her. The last place Maddie would want to be is here.”

Simon agrees that Maddie would never be buying a Homecoming ticket if she was alive, but he couldn’t tell Maddie’s mom that when he talked to her that same morning. “This morning, Sandra said she always thought Maddie and I would end up going to Homecoming together,” Simon admits. After thinking about it for a moment, Nicole agrees she could “see that,” prompting a surprised reaction from Simon. 

“Please, you never thought about it?” Nicole responds to his shock. “Nope,” Simon says quickly, before pausing and confessing, “Maybe once, but I shut it down immediately.” Nicole brushes his confession off, “Yeah, yeah,” as Simon insists, “She’s my best friend. Stakes are way too high.”

Prior to the School Spirits premiere, Flores opened up to PopCulture about the inquisitive nature of Maddie’s mourning best friend. “He’s very relentless,” Flores said at the time. “To me, he’s a symbol of intuition because he’s very instinctive. … I just love those kinds of people who follow their intuition because I think we all need those Simons. Otherwise, I believe society would crumble if everyone accepted all the information that was given to them. We have to refuse. We have to question things.” School Spirits airs Thursdays on Paramount+.