Prom Promenade: Lauren, Courtney, Faithlina, and Megan Photos courtesy Cheng family

In the land of high school, where chivalry is mostly dead but relationships still bloom, prom probably ranks as the second-most anticipated event of each [female] student's high school career.
As junior and senior classes prepare for their own prom experience, there are numerous, perhaps too many, challenges encountered. It's not about the dresses or the limos; it's about the dates and the asking, as portrayed in Disney's newest film, Prom.
Almost every girl wants to go to prom with a date. This is to be expected, but there is a problem: these girls aren't always asked. A few years back, a female student at Acalanes had so many date plans fall through she almost completely opted out of going to prom. Her friends finally set her up with one of her best guy friends, and they both ended up having a great time.
So often these days, teenage guys don't realize that their "perfect date" is right in front of them. From a girl's perspective, it seems that some boys will refuse to go to prom if they can't go with their crush. Chances are, though, if the boy asked a friend, things will be less pressured at the actual event and both parties will have more fun.
Miramonte junior Lisa Chang agrees. "I wanted to go with someone I knew I was going to have fun with. Not necessarily a romantic interest, but just someone I know I'm going to be comfortable with the day of prom."
Other times, guys try their best to "outdo" everyone else in the way they ask. There's no need to find the most romantic way to ask someone. Keeping things simple often works best.
For her own prom on March 19th, Lisa took matters into her own hands and asked her date herself. "My date and I are math partners in our Calculus class. Whenever we didn't get the score we wanted on partner quizzes, he would jokingly blame me and tell me to bake cookies to repay him. I took that idea and baked five cupcakes spelling out 'Prom?' in frosting letters accompanied by a poem."
Prom is perhaps Disney's most realistic movie to date. The film encompasses all the drama of asking someone to prom. Five different stereotypical couples' scenarios are played out: the dateless loser, the perfect couple gone wrong, the dateless pretty girl, the perfect "for show" couple, and the beautiful girl caught between two possible dates. There is, of course, a happy ending - one that may actually be achievable in real life. Every high school student should be able to look back on prom with a smile, recalling funny stories and laughing at photos. The only thing that would make the night even better is being able to reminisce on the memories twenty years later with the same friends in those (cheesy) photos.
If all goes well, the senior ball attendees from the Acalanes Union High School District will have just that this May.
Courtney Cheng is a junior in high school. She enjoys playing violin, writing poetry, and reading fictional novels.

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