the FYA prom mega spectacular, vol. 1

a few weeks ago, we asked y’all to submit yr own stories and photos from one of the most disappointing magical milestones of YA, that clustercuss of angst, excitement and glittery lip gloss known as PROM.

and after weeks of reading through yr amazing submissions, i am pleased to present the FYA Prom Mega Spectacular, Volume 1! the second volume will be published next week, because we received ample humiliation to spread around. and while not nearly enough people submitted photos (“i lost them!” “i burned them!” YEAH RIGHT, liars), all of the stories are straight out of a YA novel, aka prepare yrselves for tragic hilarity!

wow, i suddenly feel like the editor of seventeen magazine. where’s the sassy yet professional photo of me in my huge office, drinking a big mug of coffee? come to think of it, where’s my huge office?!

From Meghan:

1) Who was yr prom date (if you had one)? Please provide a brief description (crush? best friend? boyfriend/girlfriend?).

david — i’d had a crush on him since 10th grade. he graduated from the other high school in town the year before, and was my dream date. two of my friends ALSO had dream dates with the boys they’d crushed on since 10th grade (and nekendrik even came to the prom with brea in his marine dress blues!!). the funny thing is, after that night all THREE of us were totally and completely nonplussed. like, absolutely unimpressed. we were all like, “what? we spent 3 years dreaming about THAT guy? what was i THINKING?!?” david was very nice, but very VERY boring. ha.

2) What was yr favorite song that played at the prom?

jeez, i can’t even remember. i just know they always ended all dances with the garth brooks song “the dance” and they always ALWAYS played “sweet home alabama”

3) What was the most YA-tastic moment of the night?

hm. probably the story about finding out my date wasn’t my dream date after all. that and the rockin’ balloon arch decorations. man, i wish i had a picture of those.

From Katie:

1) Prom Date:

My prom date was Danny Fisher. He was a thug-wannabe, having grown up in the same upper-middle class Westchester town that I did. He tried to start a gang. You can imagine he talked like he grew up in the ghetto. He was stupid but looked good in pictures. When I asked him (all girl’s school), he had to first clear the night because he had so many other proms he was already going to. We kinda grew up together. But apparently, asking him to the prom made him think he needed to take me on a date. My birthday was like a week before the prom. So to celebrate, he took me to New Ro high school (he did NOT go there, he went to private school). First we stopped off at a bodega where he bought a 40 and bought ME a 20, making some sort of comment that was supposed to be romantic about my being little. He proceeded to drink it and drive to the school. There, he held my hand and pointed out all the graffiti and told me what it meant. Romantic. The prom was equally horrible. I paid for his tux, ticket, limo, etc. etc. because he couldn’t afford yet ANOTHER prom. At the prom, I drank too much soco and wound up hooking up with him in a not-so-private place. Unforch, I did not drink enough to black out visuals of this encounter. Memories of this still make me feel disgusting. *shudder*

2) Favorite Song:

Totally “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure! Or Forever Young, but Alphaville. Makes me want to slice Jay-Z’s throat, incidentally… STOP ASSAULTING MY YOUTH!

3) Most YA-tastic Moment:

Being in a limo in the city at night! Me and my friend Erin and sticking out of the sunroof at night with yelling something embarrassing like, “NEW YORK I LOVE YOU!” I really thought people probably believed us to be celebrities. I was obviously drunk. Erin’s date passing the bouncer at the Palladium money so we didn’t have to wait in line! Ha! Oh! Another one–post-prom? See, my nemesis had taken Danny to her prom the year before. I remember her telling me he kept calling her afterward, asking when he could get the pictures. After my prom, I called him to tell him I had the pictures, and his sister answered. she siad “Oh hi, Katie, sure hold on.” there was silence, then she came back on and said “um, he’s not here.” Like I was stalking him. Insult to injury, I tell ya. He never called ME back for the pictures. *sigh*

From Megan McCafferty:

Senior prom. My date was my ex-boyfriend’s best friend. This sounds more dramatic than it really was. I deeply regret the tan.

From Joanne:

I don’t have a readily available prom picture to send, but my prom was so YA-tastic I just had to share the story.

my date was my crush who was super cute and from another school so everyone was surprised by my totes hot date.  he was also younger than me (because I was a cougar before it was popular).

I have no memory of any songs that were played, but I do remember that Ricky Martin was popular at the time because my date bore a striking resemblance to him. and coincidently enough, both turned out to be gay.

the dramarama factor:  fight with the best friend who wouldn’t stop trying to flirt with him and then at the after party he ended up having sex with my arch enemy while I was next to them because they thought I was asleep.  the rest of the night was spent with the enemy’s 2 good friends and I drinking strawberry wine on the floor of the kitchen and them apologizing to me for her slutty ways.

so would that make for a good ya book or what?

From Jenny:

1) Prom Date:

I was home-schooled, so I didn’t have a prom.  That fact seriously bothered me for many years.  I wanted to be like all the cool people i’d talk to who would tell me that I didn’t miss anything, and that all proms are terrible, but I wanted a prom, dangit!  I had a right to that terrible experience!  So, many years later, my husband, George was the programmer at an art-house theatre, and held a “Buffy Prom”, and my dreams were finally fulfilled!

2) Favorite song:

Total Eclipse of the Heart, obvs.

3) Most YA-tastic moment:

I had two:
1. George went out to run some pre-show errands before the prom, and when he came back, he had gotten me a wrist corsage, because he wanted me to have the *whole* prom experience. 2. We took photos of all the couples under an arch (with hell hounds in the background, of course, and everybody there could vote for their favorite couple, who would, at the end of the night, be crowned prom king and queen.  This one super sweet and super scary looking middle-aged goth couple came with a bunch of their friends, and they won!  It was like the best geek prom ever!  George and I crowned them, and then they got to dance to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on stage.

Related posts:

1. call for submissions: the most magical night of your YA life!

Tagged as: prom