Prom Night

The other night, I happened to pass by a hotel filled with young people dressed for some special occasion. The first thing that came to my mind was: Prom Night. And it made me smile as I recalled my first (and only) prom experience.

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There was a debate then among our teachers as to the propriety and relevance of JS Prom for us government scholars. But the traditionalists prevailed, and prom pushed through. Most of our batch mates were excited about it. The girls were giggling, and narrating the experiences of their older siblings, and even that of their parents. Both of my parents skipped their own school prom during their time. I am the eldest and there was no one who told me what this event was all about.

We were high school juniors then, naïve and rather innocent. But I, along with a few, was scared as hell. For one, we don’t have our own dates. And we were too shy to ask. Some senior boys asked the prettiest girls from our batch to be their partner. We just watched with envy. Some of the pretty senior girls asked some of our gutsiest boys to be their escort. There was one teacher who told us that in the US, plenty of teens lost (or willing to lose) their virginity on prom night. We just laughed about it, but we’re actually curious.

On prom night, the teachers did the matching for those of us who were not taken. We were paired with the seniors who also had no dates.

I was never concerned with how I looked. I was even wearing the barong my dad wore on his wedding day 15 years earlier. Nobody noticed. I didn’t want to buy something new even for this event. If I had my way, I’d skip this one. But my dad smiled and was proud when he saw me wear his barong. “At your age, I already had a girlfriend” he told me. At 14, I thought of it as ridiculous.

I was paired with a Chinese-looking girl with a Chinese-sounding family name. She smiled at me. I didn’t know how I reacted at that moment. Perhaps I smiled back. But I was turning cold. Then all pairs were made to march to the stage. I just followed what others did. I cared not how I walked, or how she walked. I did not even notice the smell of her perfume. She was holding my arm and I felt like melting at the gazing eyes of the others. I took a very deep breath every now and then.

At the dining table, she tried to open up a conversation. I kept my answers few. She immediately concluded that I was really very shy (hmmm…, it’s true). She then turned to her classmate who sat beside her, made a few introductions, and then I just sat there not knowing what to do or what to say.

After dinner, I slipped out from the table without even excusing myself from my partner. There at the lobby I found my friends who also ‘escaped’ from their uneasy situations. We laughed and enjoyed the ‘all boys’ moment. We did not return to our respective dates that night. Perhaps our dates just danced with their girl friends. Or perhaps they were also glad they got rid of us immature bunch.

I went home with nothing much to tell about the experience. "Did you get yourself a girlfriend, son?" my dad asked. I just smiled and shook my head. I thought it was better that I skipped the event altogether.

Prom was abolished the next year, when we were seniors (as we also agreed to its abolishment). The announcement broke the hearts of the many juniors anticipating the event. I wasn't able to redeem myself, at least by behaving properly and not leaving behind my partner.