As spring slowly crawls its way towards us with promise of bright blue skies and sunny days, it brings along another season unbeknownst to males. It’s called ‘prom season’ and, although it’s not officially marked on the calendar, it lingers in minds of high school girls around the country. Some even rank it as the biggest event of their high school career. Although prom itself can be extremely fun, there are many pressures to overcome and obstacles to thwart before you set foot in the ballroom. Planning for prom takes longer than the actual prom, as sad as it seems.

But have no fear! It’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s actually quite fun, if you’re into being organized (which sadly I wasn’t). The only problem with this planning process is the amount of pressure and stress that teenagers can feel concerning prom.

The main source of pressure for prom is, of course, the scramble for a date.

I don’t know what’s worse, the pressure for a girl to be asked or the pressure for a guy to think of a creative way to do the asking. Although we wish that the standard tradition of guys asking the girls wasn’t so, it’s still alive and rampant at Wayland High School.

However, I would like to point out that that is not necessarily 100% true. There are many girls who have asked guys to prom, except I have never heard of them doing it in creative ways that some guys do. (It’s a double standard, but what can you do? There are worse double standards to come by).

The basic rule of thumb for finding prom dates is that the guys do the asking in the most clever way that they can think of, and the girls will either accept or decline.

This is not as easy as it sounds, especially for the guys. They have to think of all the possible ways they could ask a girl to prom and not seem “super lame.” At least, that’s what one of my guy friends told me when we were going through prom drama – lovingly nicknamed “prama”. The “prom proposals” over the years have included flowers, baked goods, candy, huge signs and songs.

As the boys mull over their options, I would like to tell all the girls that the guys do not have an easy task. So forgive them if their prom proposal is not as ingenious as you wish it would be. Cut them some slack, they have a lot of pressure on their shoulders.

I’m sure that however they plan to ask their dates, it’s going to be amazing – except if they just ask casually and straight-out in a setting such as the Commons. Because well, that’s defying all the traditions of prom, and you cannot do that. That just undermines all the romantic allusions associated with prom that girls have dreamed about their entire lives, besides their wedding.

I’m not saying that you have to go with someone you see a potential relationship in. I just mean that whatever your status with your prom date may be, there is of course going to be a tinge of a romantic element on the night of prom.

Now on the other hand, girls have a lot of pressure themselves. The main questions rattling in their brains consist of: ‘Will I get asked?’ ‘Who should I go with?’ ‘How will I get asked?’ and ‘What will my answer be?’ 

The worst possible thing that can happen to either a boy or girl with prom is that their ideal choice gets asked or asks someone else. There’s nothing worse than getting a text from a friend saying that Julie is going with Billy and that’s really sad because she thought that Billy was going to ask you. The second worst thing that could possibly happen is a girl saying no after a guy has put in terrible amounts of effort to be creative and unique.

There’s this one story that I always think of whenever prom season comes around. A couple of years ago, there was a boy who really wanted to ask a girl to prom. He spent copious amounts of time baking her a cake and wrote the word ‘Prom?’ in the middle, in fancy script.

He worked up the courage to walk into her class and bend down on one knee with the cake poised above his head. She took one look at him and told him flat-out no, to his despair . Then, to worsen the blow, she accepted the cake and asked if anyone wanted any.

Now, I’m pretty sure that this has been stretched and revamped year to year, so I don’t know how much is true anymore, but it is a sad tale to tell. (Don’t worry boys, I’m sure that none of this will happen to you).

Although this all just seems like a bundle of fun, there is way too much pressure regarding dates to prom. Sure, it’s okay if you get your date flowers when you ask them, but do you really have to go all the way out there and ask them out by plastering a sign to the Commons door? (That hasn’t happened; it’s just an example – let’s not get too carried away.)

Boys shouldn’t feel this immense pressure to think of outstanding ways to ask people to prom because, in the end, it’s not the prom proposal that they are going to remember. It’s the night.

So girls, if you have your head in the clouds with prom daydreams, please try to float back down to Earth and remember that there are so many other good things that come with prom. The dresses, the hairstyles, the corsages, the nails, the food, the dancing, prom weekend… Need I go on? Don’t be upset if your date doesn’t get down on his knees and sing to you, and also don’t be upset if you don’t have a date.

It doesn’t matter if you decide to fly solo to prom, and it is upsetting that this is looked down upon. Just because someone doesn’t have a date, doesn’t make them a loser. Maybe they didn’t want a date to bring them down on the dance floor. There are some people who just work better alone.

In all seriousness, enjoy prom because it is truly a night to remember.