Once upon a time, there was this school, not a regular school. This school was very, very old. Some kids thought this school was haunted.

At this school, there was one class with nineteen kids. Their teacher, Mrs. Goodwood, was a very mean teacher. She would give the children an "F" on their homework whether it was right or wrong. Two of the kids in the class, Jack and Kate, were good outside of school, but in class they were naughty. They skipped class every day, but for a reason. They skipped because they went to spy on the principal. Some kids in their class, like Jim and Polly, said their principal was a ghost and his Mom placed a spell on the school.

One day, Jack and Kate told Jim and Polly they would go to investigate and solve this mystery. On that day their teacher almost caught them because they were not in class where they should have been.

"That was close one", Kate said in a whispered tone. Jack corrected her and said, "no, that was too close!" So they went off to spy on the principal. The principal was on the phone. Jack and Kate looked through the window and saw him on the phone. He was talking about locking the kids in the classroom and knocking the school down with a wrecking ball. Jack and Kate looked at each other and said, "Oh, no! What are we supposed to do?"

The principal heard them outside his window. So he got up from his chair, cracked his knuckles, ran and opened the door. Luckily Jack and Kate ran into the bathroom. They both thought for a minute.

"Hmmm." Kate had a plan. She thought that they should go to the janitor's closet and grab his tools. Then, when the principal was at lunch they would go into his office and loosen the screws on his chairs. So they did just that.

When the principal got back from lunch, he sat in his chair. When he did, crash! He fell to the ground. He was not at all happy. Not one bit. Jack and Kate were watching in the window. Jack giggled and Kate smiled. Then they ran back to the bathroom.

Jack said, "Kate, did you grab the tools?"

Kate said, "No."

Together they said, "Oh no!"

When the principal got up from the ground, he looked around and saw the tools by the desk. He quickly grabbed the tools and went to the janitor's closet to talk with the janitor. He said, "Did you loosen the screws on my chair?"

"No, of course not!" replied the janitor. "I can fix it if possible."

"Okay, but I'm on to you!" said the principal.

So the janitor ran away from him. Jack and Kate saw and heard the whole conversation. Jack said, "What did we do?"

Kate said, "Don't worry about it. It's the only way to see if Jim and Polly are right."

"Don't you think it is wrong?" asked Jack.

"No," said Kate. "We are just seeing if the principal is a ghost."

"Why?" asked Jack.

"Because I have a feeling this school is haunted."

"Really?" asked Jack.

"Yeah, why do you think that he was on the phone discussing locking us in our classroom and knocking down the school with a wrecking ball?"

"What are we going to do?" asked Jack.

"Go in his office and hide in the closet where he keeps his guns," said Kate.

"Okay," said Jack in a soft whispered tone.

"So let's go," said Kate.

So they went to the principal's office and went into the gun closet. They both didn't say a word. The principal came into his office and sat in his newly fixed chair. He then started typing on his computer.

Jack and Kate looked through the keyhole on the closet door. The principal opened his drawer to his desk. He pulled out a small container of ghost dust. He took a small amount and placed it into his mouth. Suddenly the principal was turning into a ghostly figure. He began by flying through the air heading into Kate and Jack's classroom. But before he did this, he heard Jack sneeze. The principal stopped what he was doing. He turned, opened the closet door, and found Jack and Kate standing there. Jack and Kate looked as white as ghosts. Jack was so scared he nearly fainted. Kate quickly grabbed Jack by the hand and they both slipped under the ghost's legs. Jack quickly grabbed the container of ghost dust and both of them ran as fast as they could down the hallway. They quickly dashed into another office. Jack grabbed the phone to call 911. Then as he placed the phone to his ear he realized the phone lines were dead.

Kate said to Jack, "Let me see this container you grabbed." She then read the label on the container. It read "Flammable Ghost Dust."

"Hey," said Jack. "I have an idea. Let's go back to the janitor's closet and grab a book of matches. We can win this by throwing a match on the principal and turning him to ashes."

"That's a great idea, Jack! Let's do it!" said Kate.

So they both carefully checked the hallway to see if the coast was clear. It was. They ran to the janitor's closet and grabbed the matches. As they approached the proncipal's office they noticed his shadow moving quickly around the office. They were both scared.

Jack said, "How is his shadow in here if he isn't?"

Kate said, "That's easy. If you read scary books like me you would know that ghosts can turn invisible but their shadows never go away."

"Okay. Let's do it," said Jack.

Their hearts were pounding.

Kate slowly opened the principal's door. "Creak," went the sound of the door. Jack looked inside carefully. He noticed the ghost was reaching for one of his guns out of his closet. The ghost's back was turned from Jack.

Jack said in a whisper tone, "This is my chance. I'm going to quickly run up to him and light the match. Wish me luck."

"I do," said Kate.

Jack quickly ran up to the ghost, and reached for the match under the book cover. "Hey principal!" he hollered.

The principal, startled, dropped his gun. Jack lit the match and threw it towards him. The principal vanished to ashes. Relieved, Kate and Jack started hugging each other. They ran in circles, hopping up and down. They immediately noticed a good feeling they hadn't felt before while at school.

"The curse!" yelled Jack. "It's gone!"

"It is gone for good," said Kate. "Let's go back to our classroom."

As soon as they went into the classroom, Jim and Polly were standing on their desks and yelling, "Something feels so good!" Even Mrs. Goodwood was standing on her desk, even though she was 100 years old. Jack and Kate realized everyone was feeling like they were. The children and Mrs. Goodwood listened to Kate and Jack.

The whole class threw a party for them. The school was now back to normal. The mayor came to the school and awarded Jack and Kate a "Medal of Honor" for their bravery.

The End