So, this was the big event of the spring season before school let out for the year. It was the prom. I'd seen a lot of movies about wacky things that take place during proms. I figured the one we would have at Artesia High School would not be that eventful. I was partially right.
At my school, the junior class did all the organizing and decorating for the prom. They are also responsible for sending out the invitations for the seniors to come to the prom.
As you are aware, I had no girlfriend and no potential for a girlfriend my junior year. This meant that if I wanted to go to the prom, I would need to ask someone I didn't really have a romantic interest in. I sort of already figured my chances at actual romance at prom were nil, but I definitely wanted to go and did not wish to go alone. That really would have made me look like a loser.
So I called a few girls I was friendly with (including one girl I thought for sure would say yes) and they all politely turned me down, saying they weren't planning on going. (And they were telling the truth. None of the girls I asked went to the prom.) Then I asked this one girl in Drama class, whom I had known since first grade. I wasn't aware of this, but she was dating this other guy in Drama class. I was completely oblivious to this. That was embarassing, made even worse because they told the rest of the Drama class about it.
However, she came up to me later and said her cousin was going to be in town that weekend and wanted to attend the prom. She asked me if I would be her cousin's date. She showed me her photo. I didn't look at the picture for very long, but I remember she had medium length blonde hair with a few curls. She was rather cute, but her eyes were crossed. I didn't really see that as a deterrent. I figured it was better than dealing with more rejection.
So, I had a date. That meant I could stop concentrating on asking out girls and go about renting a tuxedo. I went tuxedo shopping with Mom there in Artesia. We found a decent light grey-colored tux that cost $200 to rent. What was going to happen with my date is I was going to take her out to dinner with my classmates. Mom came up with this whole list of stuff I needed to do to act properly when at dinner, especially since I didn't want to spill anything on the tux. She acted like I had no idea how to behave at a dinner table. I guess she was afraid that my date was someone I could possibly get married to and leaving a bad impression with my etiquette was likely going to turn her off before we even hit the dance floor.
A few days before the prom, my classmate had bad news for me. Her cousin didn't feel well and wasn't going to be able to come. That hurt me so bad. I was such a loser that some girl I had never met got sick at the idea of going to prom with me. Even worse, that meant I had no date for the prom and we had already paid to rent the tux. That pretty much committed me to going, even if I had to go alone.
As I've mentioned before, I never wanted my mother to choose the girls I dated. However, this was a desperate situation in which I had no choice but to relent. There was this girl in Mom's Distributive Education class. Her name was Rosed. She was a senior. I think she hadn't actually planned to go to the prom and had somehow mentioned this to my Mom. I think Mom told her I didn't have a date. Rosed had worn a nice dress during the DECA Sweetheart Pageant that she had gotten to keep. It could work as a prom dress. I now had an actual date to the prom.
Rosed was a very nice Hispanic girl and she was very smart. She was a little overweight, but was actually kind of cute. However, I never saw her like that. I had known her since I was in the sixth grade. She was in the musical the choir did that year. She played my mom. (That means I was going to be taking my mom to the prom. Ha ha! That cracks me up! I only just realized that after 33 years.)
One of the good things about Rosed is that I would not have to take her out to dinner before the prom. She was going to go to the senior banquet. I only had to concentrate on getting her to the prom and the after prom party at the Elks Lodge.
As befitting a loser, it was an evening with a couple of mishaps. I'll go into more detail about them tomorrow.
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