Page 33 of 10 Things I Hate About Prom
With Mr.Cline in dreamland, I pull out my phone and open my text thread with Joaquin.
Good news: it’s quesadilla day in the caf. Bad news: they’re all sold out. Even better news: I snagged you one.
Come by my free period if you want it & thank me later
Ooooookay I guess you’re not in a quesadilla mood?
Five minute warning before I eat this myself
[photo]
It was delicious
Is that your abuela blasting Bad Bunny rn???
Bc I can hear it all the way from my bathroom
good morning my dear best friend who may be dead but I wouldn’t know because he won’t text me back!!!
It’s not unusual for Joaquin not to immediately respond to a text. But these are all sitting in message purgatory—read but not responded to. Now that he has morning practice sessions with Coach Mills, I’ve been riding my bike to school instead of hitching a ride with him, and the lights in his bedroom have been out every night I’ve gotten home this week. I get that it’s not like I was texting him anything important, but he hasn’t so much as given any of them a thumbs-up or a cry-laughing emoji that I can roast him for because who our age uses the cry-laughing emoji unironically?
Maybe he knows. If Anna could see right through me, Joaquin would’ve known I was lying through my teeth instantly. And now he’s super pissed and ignoring me. Ghosting our friendship like a date—or promposal—gone wrong.
I’m spiraling.
That’s the last time I let Anna talk me into one of those energy drinks. Caffeine isnotmy friend.
Okay, okay, chill, Ivelisse. Deep breaths. Inhale, exhale, whatever bullshit that yoga instructor Mami dated two months ago taught her.
Once I’ve talked myself off the metaphorical ledge, I turn back to the empty page of my notebook. Journaling usually helps clear the mind, right?
I press the tip of my pen to the page but still can’t force myself to open up, not even to this blank page. Instead, I try to godown a somewhat related route and write out all the pros and cons of Rutgers versus Sarah Lawrence. But all I’ve written isWould make Mami happyfor Rutgers andVibes are rightfor Sarah Lawrence before deciding this is too high pressure for my caffeine-addled brain to handle.
To further avoid being honest, I decide to get out all of my prom-related frustrations, inspired by Anna’s classmates’ Tessa-centric sonnet.
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PROM
The traffic. Goinganywherewithin five miles of the mall is a nightmare.
Constant—and I meanconstant—PDA. Are seniors wearing body spray laced with pheromones?
There’s glitter everywhere. Enough said.
The pressure to spend up to four figures on an outfit you’ll only wear once for a grand total of three hours.
