The Prom Experience, by Robert Leslie

Prom huh? I guess it was that time of year. Inevitably, if you want to look nice you need to rent an overpriced tux or be smart and buy one cheaper than you could rent it. Of course, if you are a girl you have most likely been searching for your perfect dress since January. Then the boy has to find a cute way to ask the girl to prom, and it usually never happens how he wants because he is too nervous. But hey, you tried. The day of prom is marked with constant waiting for the dance to actually happen. It can take almost all day to get dressed up and fancy for your date. Then you go out to dinner in your nice clothes and hope that no food just happens to fall on you. Finally you arrive at the dance, and you get to see all the pretty decorations and how wonderful everyone else looks. Then you have a decision to make: whether you want to actually dance or to take pictures the whole time. That is essentially the prom experience.

 

 

My experience wasn’t too far off from this. I bought a tux for less money than it costed to rent one, but that still left me without a shirt, shoes, and a tie (though now I own a tux so it was worth it). Had I done this last year, I could have owned a tux for this year and would not have spent so much money. Still, the point is, I own a tux. Then I asked my date to prom very subtly because I’m relatively shy and wouldn’t like to be over the top, but luckily she liked it. The day of prom, like I said, was filled with constant waiting for the dance to be over—simply because I don’t like to dance, not because I didn’t enjoy my day with my date. Dinner was very good; I got a steak from the Cheesecake Factory and managed to avoid spilling it on myself. Then we went off to the dance. The decorations were wonderful. I felt the theme was represented really well through the casino tables and the martini glasses for the punch. The food was delicious. The pictures were great, especially since the price for them was included in the ticket. The cameraman had many ideas for poses and made sure the picture looked good. The dancing itself was kind of awkward. Most people, I think, felt watched by how many adults there were in contrast to the number of students. It got better towards the end when everyone was dancing; the night had grown dark, and the music was louder. When it finally ended my ears were ringing, but I left with a smile and that’s all that matters. Prom was a lot of fun and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as well. Good luck next year, juniors!