Prom

Dresses… flowers… teenage lovers… Every high school student talks about this one magical night of their life. How this is the one day you need to look forward too. How beautiful and magical it is. A special night called Prom. They talk about it, as if it is the best night of their lives. Like nothing can compete. They dress up all fancy-like and using these silky materials and pretty flowers to cloak any problems in their lives. They get to go into this magical alternate universe.

In most cases it’s held in a room. Just an ordinary room but this room is filled with decorations that are supposed to entice you and start the magical journey of Prom. Walking into the room fills you with joy because it’s full of all of your peers. Peers that you just said hours ago that you despised and hoped wouldn’t be here.

You then see this group of girls, the girls you couldn’t stand because they sit there and judge you and make you feel awful about yourself because you don’t fit into their cookie cutter, idea of perfect. These girls walk up to you, and they talk to you like you’re a group of best friends. They compliment you on your dress, and smile at you, and call you beautiful, and you enjoy it because it’s nice having them be nice to you. Even if they are being fake and you know it. And you smile back and compliment them like this isn’t the 200th time they’ve heard they are stunning and beautiful.

You pretend that these girls don’t make your life completely awful outside of this room, you remind yourself this is an alternate universe and nothing can go wrong here. You continue to forget about all of your worries under the sound of bad dance music and bright lights.

You then see the boy you used to call your best friend. He smiles at you like he doesn't hate you. You both pretend that an argument didn’t occur between you two just days ago. You pretend that he didn’t call you self-destructive and he didn’t tell you that you are worthless without him because this is an alternate universe called Prom and bad things can’t happen at Prom. So you smile at him and pretend like he didn’t ignore you.

But don’t worry your friends finally show up and they begin to dance with you. You are filled with joy and happiness for the first time that night. Actual joy and happiness. They crack jokes with you and give you sincere compliments and you do the same back to them. You take bad photos together and make fun of your peers. You dance with each other like no one is watching. Maybe Prom is an alternate universe filled with joy and happiness.

You suddenly hear angry whispers from your friends. They are arguing about a boy with fluffy blonde hair and striking blue eyes. A boy with the most “striking” personality. A boy that they are both swooning over and you don’t know why. This boy is the reason they start arguing, the reason they want you to choose a side, choose a friend. You decide that you are not going to choose a side and now they are angry with you and with each other.

You wander off to the dance floor because nothing is going to ruin this magical night.

You are now drowning in the loud noise they call music and the bright lights are giving you a headache and the room feels like it’s spinning.

You’re suffocating, at Prom, but that can’t happen because this is Prom and nothing can go wrong at Prom because it’s a magical alternative universe but suddenly Prom suddenly feels like you’re 100 feet underwater and struggling for air.