Brewed to Perfection

Part 12

2nd December 2015, St Helena's

My high school was a little weird. Unlike most schools who celebrate Prom for school leavers after the final exams in summer. St Helena's tradition for as long as the school has been open, was to host the Prom in January.

Despite the protest of basically everyone, our headteacher during one of the many mandatory assemblies explained that there was rationale behind a January Prom

Reason 1 - Students were more likely to cover up.

Yes. One of the biggest reasons our school decided to have prom in January was to prevent students showing too much skin. Mainly because it would be freezing and no one would want to wear a dress with a massive leg split.

There have been many protests against this particular reasoning, due to most girls at school finding it outdated and offensive. I feel like I'd care a bit more about the blatant sexism if I were planning to attend or wear a little black dress. Neither of which I was planning to do.

Reason 2 - Venue prices were much cheaper.

This made sense. Summer venue prices would bump up the price of everyone's prom ticket from £30 to £100. This I could get on board with.

Still there were some people who didn't care about the £70 they would be saving, because £70 was basically spare change. I, on the other hand, greatly appreciated the price difference and bet that lots of other students who weren't as well off as the rest of the class, were happy about it too.

Reason 3 - Life after prom

This one was a bit more confusing, but our headteacher Mrs Greyhaus basically suggested that during prom we celebrate friendships and have a good time with people in our class. Sometimes we get talking to people we haven't spent a lot of time with. We get a chance to socialise with people who aren't in our classes. She said it would be a shame if we only started talking to each other on the final day we were all together.

She thought that if we strike up conversation with people we don't know very well, having prom in January means we have another six months of getting to know each other before we all go away to college etc.

I guess this made some kind of sense, but to be honest, what were the chances? I doubted if I went to prom, I'd somehow get talking to someone i haven't spoken to, or known before and realise they were going to be my new BFF.

I suspected prom would be just like school during lunch hour, but instead of wearing our uniforms, dresses, bow ties and glitter would be in abundance.

From seeing previous year group photos of their January prom, it didn't look like the schools reason No.1 impacted the style choices of the girls who attended. There was no way St Helena's could prevent the skin tight, low cut and high riding dresses they were so desperate to ban.

Prom was less than a month away, so it was basically all anyone talked about. In class, guys would be whispering about what girls they were going to ask. In the cafeteria, girls would be scrolling through their phones at potential prom dresses and getting advice and approval.

I, on the other hand, was perfectly content knowing I didn't need to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a dress I'd only wear once and most probably feel ridiculously uncomfortable and self conscious.

I also didn't need to anxiously bite my fingernails down to the nail bed, while wondering which loser guy was gonna ask me to prom.

I didn't need to ask my parents for £15 each that they probably didn't have to waste on me going to prom.

In another life, sure. I think prom could have been cool. If I were in a friendship group and we all went together in the dresses we had picked from Clara's dress boutique in town. My dress would be a teal green, elegant and sparkly. My hair would be long, glossy and waved. Mum and dad would get photos of Robbie and me together before I headed off to the venue. I'd dance to terrible 2010's pop music and cry from laughter.

But in this life. No... prom would be depressing.