I don’t think any senior was prepared for the mayhem that has ensued this week. No, it’s not college. And no, it’s certainly not schoolwork. The madness that has taken over everyone’s lives is prom.
The official Hinsdale Central Prom website states that all prom tickets must be purchased next Monday and Tuesday with the completed table form—meaning you must have exactly 12 people to reserve a full table—a waiver for every person at the table, a waiver for every person attending Post Prom, and all the money separated into individual checks. And it’s safe to say that this task has sent the senior class into a whirlwind of “prama”—prom drama, if you will.
It’s a lot to handle, though it’s understandable if it may not seem like it. How hard can it be to organize 12 people to a table, right? That means that you’ll need your six best friends to all have dates so you can all sit together and have the night of your lives.
But what happens when Suzie wants to sit at your table but you don’t have any more room, but she “thought you guys were best friends so why can’t she sit at your table?” Then you have to go through the whole process of reorganizing your table assignment which offends more people, and then no one is happy.
You get what I’m saying. It’s hard putting together tables without offending someone.
“It’s stressful; since you plan a month ahead, you don’t know how things might change between your friends. And with groups and couples, there are people without dates, so that’s hard too,” said Maddie McCormick, senior Class Board member.
But this is just a smaller problem that seniors are running into. The unwritten rule is that you need a date for the dance. That’s just the way it goes. But there is only a short amount of time to snag a date before the table forms have to be filled out. That means that guys are stepping on each other’s toes trying to ask girls out and, in some cases, random couples sprouting up just to ensure that they have a date.
“I wish we had more time to plan and figure out who we were going to ask [to prom]. It’s stressful when it’s this short notice and so final. It makes the whole thing even worse,” said David Gallo, senior.
No one wants to be the one friend that gets left out of their group’s table for whatever reason. And, more importantly, no one wants to go alone. I get it, really I do.
But this should be one of the most memorable high school experiences we have for all of the good things that happen, not because you felt bad that you didn’t have a date and you fought with your so-called best friend over the way the tables worked out.
“I think it’ll be a great night, once all the planning is done. I just wish it wasn’t so hard to get things together. In the end, it won’t ruin my night, but I’m sure it will for some people,” Gallo said.
