Proms

This past weekend, on Sunday, was GC's prom. I went with her because we've been "kissing on a regular basis" for nearly two months now, and also it'd be my first prom with a real date. That's right, you read it correctly. My first prom with a real date. In actuality, this was my fourth prom. That's right, you read it correctly. This was my fourth prom. Here, let me break it down for you.

1st prom: 2006.
It was the year before my graduating year. All of my high school friends were older than me, so this year the last of my true friends at my school were graduating. One of my best friends at the time was going to this prom. But her prom date bailed on her. And so did her second one. So, as the good friend, I offered to take her if she wanted me to. And she did. So, all kinda last minute, I managed to arrange the rental of a suit, getting a corsage, and getting everything sorted out. It was actually pretty cool. I got to go to prom with my friends, and have a good time. It was on a boat, the dinner was okay. I'm not a dancer, and the music wasn't too appealing to be, but when the slow song came on, I danced with my friend Rebecca. I would say "my date," but I was actually her date, so there. That was my first prom.

2nd prom: 2007.
This was my graduating year. My graduating class. This prom was my actual prom. But, get this, I didn't want to go. I knew that it was going to be on the same boat as last year's prom, except I didn't have anyone to go with, and I didn't really have any friends in that year. So I didn't buy a ticket. I wasn't going to go. But then in the last couple weeks of school, teachers approached me. Called me out of the Drama class I taught (officially I was the TA (Teacher's Assistant) but the actual teacher wanted to use this time to do work, and I wanted to actually teach, so it was cool) and everything. I thought I was in trouble. In actuality, they wanted to know why I hadn't gotten a prom ticket. I came up with an excuse, saying I didn't have the money. Then they offered to send me to prom for free. I was shocked, and said yes. So I ended up going. I had a suit already rented for another prom I was going to (which ended up being my third), so there was no trouble there. But I was right in thinking that it was the same as my first prom. Same boat. Same food. Same DJ with the same playlist even. All that was different was that it was a different slow song, and I danced with my step-cousin (who was a new teacher at my school) for that. All in all, it was my least favorite prom.

3rd prom: 2007.
This prom was for a different school. It was actually for the high school that was the extremely competitive rival of my own high school. But I went to that prom anyway, because of my ex-girlfriend. She invited me (as a friend) just because she wanted someone she trusted, someone she liked, and someone whom she knew wouldn't try to take advantage of her at any after-parties. Also; she didn't want her entire graduating class to know that her date would've been a girl (she's lesbian, just to clarify). So I agreed. I had rented the suit, and made all the arrangements (before I even knew I was going to my own prom). All was good. It was at a hotel instead of a boat. The food was really good. The music was great. We had the banquet hall until 1am officially, but nearly everyone had left by 11:30pm. Except for us. Me, my ex-girlfriend, and the seven others we were with. So for that last hour and a half, we got to dance to anything we wanted to, and we got to have anything that we wanted, since the banquet waiters were happy to do anything for us since we actually stayed. I even slow danced with my friend Matthew, as a joke, to mess up a bet our dates had made. After that, we went up to a hotel room to change for a party we never went to. Instead, we broke onto the room of the hotel, and watched the sunrise. Then we went out for breakfast. It was a lot of fun.

And then there was GC's prom, this year. Had I gone to school in Ontario it'd be my graduating year too, but Montreal (and all of Quebec) is funky with their education system. This was to be my fourth and final prom. I only agreed because it was GC. Had it been anyone else, and I wouldn't've gone. I even turned down two other prom invites that I had. But this prom was different from the others I had gone to, in the sense that the school had nothing to do with it.

It was organized by students. Most of them were of legal age in Quebec, so they arranged to have it on the Quebec side of the river, so that alcohol could be consumed. The dinner was pretty good. It was chicken, which is a common theme between all proms (or so I've noticed), but good none the less. The after prom was out in a ski lodge. The music was loud, and not exactly my taste. I'm not a dancer, but I tried to dance with GC. Managed to dance a little, but horribly. I felt ridiculous and uncomfortable, but I gave it my all, and managed to for a little bit. What shocked me the most though was there was no slow music for a slow song. It was the first prom I had been to that didn't have a slow song for all the couples. It was my last prom, and I didn't get to slow dance with GC (at her prom, on top of it).

But overall, I still had a good time. Slow song or not, it was still the first prom I had with an actual date, not an ex, or a friend, or going solo.

In the meantime, though, in the here and now, I'm working on this play I'm writing while waiting for GC to get back from work, which should be relatively soon. I'll talk about this play in my next post.