Not What its hyped up to be

Not what it’s hyped up to be.
One of the worst days of my life occurred on a day which for most high school students, is hyped up to be an amazing experience and a so called rite of passage that will be remembered forever. My original plan was to not even attend the prom at all, therefore avoiding the hassle of finding a date worth the outrageous cost of the event, and even worse dressing up something I hated doing. Luckily enough for me I ended up asking a cute girl from a different school to prom; I was actually excited to go. It was the night before prom I had my last track meet before the state meet; I had qualified for state the previous night and I was super excited to run again. I was about to run my last race of the meet and didn’t think much of it and didn’t really warm up at all. That turned into one of the worst decisions of my life, and pretty much ruined the next twenty-four hours of my life. The race starts I get the baton; sixty meters into the race my leg tightens up I take a stride then my leg made a popping noise and my left leg collapsed. I finished the race and only made it worse; I walked off the track in immense pain and find out that I partially tore my hamstring. To make matters worse when I called my date to tell her the news she was disappointed and angry, a mood which would continue throughout the next twenty-four hours.
The next morning I was relieved to wake and find that my leg didn’t hurt quite as bad as I expected, or so I thought as I lay in bed. When I attempted to walk to the bathroom however, I find that the pain truly is as bad, if not worse than I had expected and I struggled to walk the few steps out of my room. As the day progresses, the pain only begins to worsen, and I am forced to take pill after pill of pain medication and basically bathe in Icy Hot as I contemplate if I am even going to prom. The sole reason for choosing to go at this point was nothing more than the incredible amount of money I had already spent preparing for this day; a day that should have been one of the best of my life. When my date finally arrived, I was completely stunned by how amazing she looked and thought to myself maybe this won’t be so bad after all. That all changed quickly when her crabby demeanor only made my own attitude worse as we posed for picture after picture, neither one of us enjoying the moment in any way. After the photo shoot finally ended, I was so immersed in leaving that I forgot the directions to the prom. The drive there became the most awkwardly silent car ride of my life.
I finally arrive to my senior prom extremely late, only to find that my friends had not saved my date and me a seat at their table, forcing me to eat with people I didn’t care for as my date texts on her phone and replies to all our table’s questions in an extremely condescending tone. I find solace for the night lying in the promise of an epic after party where I can drink my sorrow away. As the food arrives at our table, I’m disappointed and even slightly disgusted at its quality, but I am still forced to eat by myself due to my date’s refusal to eat the food. While the dancing begins, I sit at the table with my date desperately trying to talk to her about anything, since I was in too much pain to dance. After what feels like several hours of coercing minimal conversation out of her, I decide to risk the unavoidable pain and ask her to dance. I ask my date to dance but I’m shocked and humiliated when she rejects me, stubbornly remaining in her seat, silently, for another hour. I start thinking to myself how this night could get any worse. After that agonizing hour I finally decide to leave and go home with my date and wait for the after party. So I say goodbye to all my friends who are all pissed at my date for being such bitch.
When we got back to my house we both changed our clothes and just hung out in my basement for awhile watching TV, there was nothing good on so I told her to pick a movie and am immediately regretful when she chooses Grease. Twenty minutes later I get the call I was waiting for, but unfortunately my friend TC told me this “Hey, what’s up? Yeah the party has to get cancelled the cops know about it and called my dad and said they would be monitoring the party and if any drinking was going on they would bust it” I don’t think I have ever been so mad and disappointed in my life. In a fitting end to my disaster of a day, I pop a few more pain pills and fall asleep around midnight. They say that senior prom should be one of the most memorable experiences of your time in high school, and I am positive that night will surely be a memorable one but not for the reason I had hoped.

By Aaron Gingerich