The first—and only—time I ever went to prom was as a freshman in high school. I hadn’t planned on going, but a close friend of mine, a senior at the time, fell too ill to attend her own prom. That also meant her boyfriend couldn’t go, as going solo wasn’t really a thing back then.
As a favor, I agreed to step in as his date. The catch? I had no dress of my own, and my friend’s gown was two sizes too big and strapless. We managed a last-minute fix to keep it from slipping, and I made it work—even though it was a little long—by pairing it with heels.
The night went surprisingly well. Word spread quickly about the freshman being at a prom only meant for people in 10th -12th grade prom, and people teased that I was dating the football team’s captain. Even though everyone knew his date was ill, and I was the best friend fill in.
I wish that had been the legacy I carried through the rest of high school. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
As we danced and had a genuinely good time, one of the more popular prom traditions that night was a kind of dance-off. Everyone formed a big circle, and couples would take turns stepping into the center to show off their moves, dancing to cheers and applause from the crowd.
The entire school was there, and all eyes were on the football captain dancing. Thankful for my years of dance class, I wasn’t half bad myself. And we got the crowd loving us. But as we tried the finale, we did the “Dirty Dancing” scene. Knowing I was light enough, and he was strong enough to do this, I was successfully lifted into the air.
As I ran up to him, he stepped one foot forward to support me, he stepped on the front of my dress, which pulled on it a bit, but was still able to move his foot, to still perform the lift.
What I didnt know was that the strap that held my dress up broke. Neither one of us realized it until he held me for what felt like forever, and as he put me down, we held hands, and put our arms up to take a bow but before I realized it, because it all happened so fast, when my heels touched the ground, so did my dress, and before I could fix it, I stood for a split second naked in front of the entire school with just wearing my heals, and a sheer lace see through thong.
The heavy sequenced dress revealed to the school everything that was… or was NOT under that dress.
For next 4 years od school, I was not able to live that moment down.