Free Prom Date by G. L. Snodgrass

 
    PROM DATE
    My life was officially over. I wanted to crawl into a hole and pull the earth over me like a blanket. The only thing that stopped me from slitting my wrists was the thought of strangling Danny O’Brian with my bare hands. Who cancels a prom date an hour before the big night?
    My mind flew a thousand miles a minutes to all the terrible things I could do to him. This was supposed to be my big moment. Walking in on Danny O’Brian’s arm would have cancelled out some pretty crummy high school years.
    “Why me!” I yelled as I cried into my pillow. The tears flowed like wine at a wedding. Something else I would probably never get to experience. Why do things like this always happen to me?
    Freshman year I’d been too shy to even think about going. In sophomore year, no one had asked. Flat-chested bean poles like me weren’t asked to fancy things like the prom. In junior year a bunch of us wallflowers were going to go together but I broke my ankle playing volleyball, and I wouldn’t be caught dead at prom walking around on crutches. Only my friend Mary Hopkins even knew I wasn’t there.
    Senior year had been different. I’d come into my own. Blossomed as mom liked to say.  Things had gotten all curvy like they were supposed to. They must have started working because I seemed to have caught the eye of the star quarterback and school hunk Danny O’Brian.
    You could have rolled me up and mailed me to Wisconsin when he asked me to the prom. My mouth dropped open and my heart stopped beating. Danny O’Brian was asking me to the prom.
    I’d squeaked out a yes before running all the way home to tell my mom. Then flew over to Mary’s house to tell her. Being the bestest of best friends she had squealed and jumped up and down with me as we totally lost it. 
    Life was perfect. Chrissy Thompson, the school bitch and my personal nemesis, would see me walk in with Danny. I know she’d see us because she’d be monitoring everybody. Categorizing what they wore, judging and commenting to her pal gals about what a terrible color this girl wore. Or how sad it was that so-and-so couldn’t find a date. All the time secretly squealing with glee at other people’s misery.
    Of course I told everyone that Danny and I would be going to the prom together. There'd been quite a few shocked expressions and weak congratulations. I'd filed every one of those looks away in my memory box and marked the folder “Pure Glee.”
    You know the feeling of being on top of the world? Of being in that place that everyone else wishes they could be? That was my life for the last month.
    Mom, Mary, and I had spent hours shopping for just the right dress. I couldn’t stop giggling and laughing as we went from store to store. Mom had been patient. Standing to the side, never criticizing but somehow letting me know what worked and what didn’t.
    I finally found the perfect sky blue dress that matched my eyes. Low cut back and spaghetti straps. It fit me perfectly. They wouldn’t even have to alter it. I looked like I was ready to step onto the red carpet at the Oscars. I couldn’t wait to watch Danny’s eyes when he saw me in that dress. I couldn’t wait for Chrissy Thompson to see me. No way was there anything wrong with that dress.
    Instead, no one would ever see it.
    I started to bawl my eyes out again when mom knocked gently coming into my room.  “I’m so sorry honey,” she said as she gently rubbed my back.
    “Why Mom? Why always me?” I mumbled through a snotty nose.
    “Oh honey,” she said, rubbing a little harder as if she could push aside my pain and humiliation. “Someday, this won’t seem so important.”
    “Oh mom,” I yelled before throwing myself back onto my pillow.
    She stopped rubbing for a second then said, “Can’t you go by yourself? You can borrow the car.”
    “Mom, you don’t get it,” I cried again into the pillow.
    “What about Mary, could you go with her?”
    “Mom,” I said, my voice getting