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In the United States of America, "Prom Season" ranges anywhere from late March to late May. In the area I live in, It ranges from mid-April to early May. Either way, we can agree the spirit of "Prom Season" is among the several high school students in the country. Prom is supposed to be "the" most exciting time for a high school student's life. Whether it be junior, or senior prom, it is a day for memories to be made. With this being said, prom isn't always so great. For many students, it can be the most depressing, and miserable time of the year.
Picture it: It's the late 2000's. I began high school as a nervous freshman in the Fall of 2005. After having two amazing years in a row leading up to my freshman year, I was also told by my friend who was two years older than me that high school was miserable. In other words, I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect much to go well.
Ironically, my best high school year was my freshman year, and my worst was my senior year. I went to a local Catholic school my freshman year, but I was forced to transfer, due to the fact my parents couldn't afford the yearly tuition, and we weren't eligible for tuition reduction programs. This was back in the day where people avidly used MySpace, and virtually nobody had a Facebook account-And Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc weren't even thought of. Most teenagers at this time either didn't have phones, or barely used their phones(Imagine that), so most communication was fueled by the lost art of socializing. Needless to say, I wasn't able to keep in contact much with the people I knew from the Catholic school.
The school I transferred to was a local public school, which ended up being the school I went to. The school I went to from my sophomore year until I graduated was called Hamilton High School. In a nutshell, I didn't connect much with the students here. Ironically, the school was located in a city I've(still) lived in my entire life, but many of them were unfriendly, rude, narrow-minded, and not accepting-Which is exactly how these hypocrites stereotyped Catholic schools.
SENIOR YEAR- "It's Nine Time!"
Let's jump to the Fall of 2008, which was the start of my absolutely terrible senior year. I won't go into all of the details, but this was a year I faced immense social isolation, excessive stress getting my college career started, and an incident in my family which changed my life forever. So, I "limped" into the end of my senior year with a slither of hope: Prom.
My high school didn't have a Junior Prom. As a matter of fact, the year I was a Junior, was the first year they eliminated Junior Prom. Why? I still don't know. And I still don't care. I know my class was outraged, and they had a reason to be-After 41 consecutive years of a Junior Prom, they finally decided to cut it with no explanation at all-And we just happened to be the first ones to "suffer" from it.
Our rules were as follows: if you were a sophomore, or junior with a friend, or had a girlfriend/boyfriend who was a senior, you could go to Prom. However, for many people, senior year was the only time to captivate the "one-of-a-kind" experience to go to Prom.
So, I figured, why not go to prom? I had still never had a girlfriend, date, or lost my virginity, and I wanted to. I had went to my senior year Homecoming with my friend, and it wasn't much fun, and I felt it was a waste of money, so going to prom without a girl was my goal!
Prom was May 16th that year, and I'll never forget that date.
Picture it: It's the end of April, and time was running out. I felt I was doomed. I couldn't find any girls without dates. I barely had any friends in the first place, and I had virtually no connections. Then, a miracle happened. Even in a local rural high school-A school I felt I had close connections, I still had no luck. Well, at least I thought it was a miracle.
When I was eating lunch, a girl sat next to me, and one of the few friends I had at the time. She began talking to us, about how she was mad at her friend, and so on. I thought she was fairly attractive. I found out she was a junior. She asked me if I was going to prom. I told her I would if I could find a date. We ended up swapping numbers, and later on after school-That very night-I asked her to prom, and she said yes. Believe it or not, I did it by phone call, and not by text-Very old fashioned indeed!
I know what you're thinking: THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! Of course it was. Even as a high school student, I knew something was off. I knew there was a "catch." I knew it was too good to be true.
Picture it: It's a little over a week before prom. Luckily, I had spent no money at all getting prepared. This was very out of character for me for me, because I've always been the last person to procrastinate-But this was a blessing in disguise at the moment.
So, what happened? I know you're wondering, since I've used a great deal of foreshadowing here.
Picture it: Some guy I had "beef" with in my senior class approached me one day. He told me the girl I was planning to take to prom was his girlfriend.
....and it was true. He told me it was a prank he planned and was able to get his girlfriend 'in on it." To no surprise, I never saw his girlfriend the rest of the school year, and she cut off all connections with me.
PROM NIGHT
So, what did I do for prom? I worked all night. I was already depressed for the entire school year, and this just ignited my anger, and sadness even more. I went to work that day, and told my manager(I worked at a local grocery store at the time), and my co-workers. Everyone was sympathetic, and my own manager told me I could have the day off. I declined his offer, since going to work was a way to avoid thinking about it. I had to hold every bit of anger not to beat the guy, and his girlfriend to a pulp. I kept telling myself "I won't get a diploma. I won't get into college. It will make my life worse", and those thoughts allowed me to establish some self-control.
Picture it: You're a young adult, well out of high school, who is also a substitute teacher. However, when you go to school for your job, you're reminded of that time, making this a somber "Season" of the year.
So, what is the worst Prom story you know of? I'll be interested to see.
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