JS Prom

February 19, 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34883952@N02/4231501683

Junior and Senior Promenade. Did I ever imagine myself experiencing it? Actually, no; my mother and aunties would say that it is “one of the most memorable events you’ll get to experience in high school!” It never stuck on my mind, though, especially because I was in an all-girls school. Maybe the nuns would never think of having one for us, right?

Wrong. Not because they never experienced it. According to them, it’s like a rite of passage for a girl – from being a tomboy, she must know how to practice social graces. Her femininity (or lack of it) must be showcased.

All of a sudden, the JS Prom hype seemed to be everywhere – in the junior and senior classrooms and even at every end of the hallway. I knew it was in the air; it couldn’t be ignored.

I remembered my classmates bringing back issues of fashion magazines (Cosmopolitan for Prom dos and don’ts; Vogue for possible prom dresses). They talked every recess and lunch about everything JS Prom – what would they wear, what make up they wanted, where will they buy their dress, the color, the style (somehow it has to be considered or the nuns will be outraged), their shoes (I found three-inch heels horrific before), and who will they bring as escorts (one classmate said she’ll bring her cute cousin, which made other girls squeaked. They agreed to sit in one table because of that. Poor boy.).

I somehow found them nuts. It wasn’t because I was annoyed. I guessed it was really an event to treasure. It’s just that either I couldn’t finish my cleaning tasks in the class or my Geometry assignment because of this JS Prom pre-occupation.

Months passed and even I couldn’t concentrate on Geometry (and Chemistry) anymore. As the JS Prom-related concerns became more important that the congruency of the lines and balancing of chemicals, my mother has also started asking me of my plans for the event. The thing was I didn’t find the event interesting.

It hit me: I wasn’t excited about the JS Prom. Not at all.

I could list a lot of reasons why: it was expensive (and the venue was in school quadrangle!), I was struggling of how can lines be congruent and why must I really need to balance chemicals, I didn’t have an escort, I was an anti-social average kiddo. Whatever it was, I just didn’t feel like going.

It took some mother-daughter talk to up my excitement one notch (at least). And with re-assurance from my closest friends that “it’s going to be fun!,” I somehow anticipated for the day. At least I was in the normal level of thinking.

So what happened on THE day?

The event just blew me away. All of a sudden, I thought: here I am in an event fitting of a fifteen-year-old, all dolled up. I did not care about congruencies and chemicals; I was suddenly anxious to see people while careful on how I sit and walk. Fun and hope filled the quadrangle (nobody cared). My classmates didn’t care whether they looked like the models on the Vogue and Cosmopolitan pages; we just enjoyed the night with each other as company. Excitement got the best in me. It was nuts. I enjoyed every minute of my touch at femininity.

I never imagined myself in a Junior and Senior Promenade. But being there was really, a memorable event that I experienced.