Homecoming Narrative

It was September 21 which meant the short but crazy intense period known as Homecoming season had begun at Lawrence E. Elkins High School. The air was thick with talk of potential dates, potential ways of asking, and potential ways of transportation. I personally thought the whole thing was overrated and overhyped but I was actually buying in this year as I was a senior and this would be final opportunity to be a part of the Homecoming craze and I would go all in

I wanted to take part in as many social activities as I could my senior year so I figured Homecoming would be a really good start. I had a circle of guy friends that I hung around regularly consisting of Astle, Reen, Eric, Cole, Michael, and Joel and when we started talked about Homecoming,

Cole had started the conversation and was talking about how he wasn’t going to the Homecoming dance no matter what happened between now and then. "I'm not going to that stupid dance", he said in a firm voice, " I think the whole concept is freaking ridiculous, it's just going to be a bunch of teenagers in a room together for a couple of hours acting like idiots." Astle took the liberty of responding to him and said emphatically, "Bro, you're just making up excuses since you can't get any chicks. Homecoming is a rite of passage that's one of the best nights you'll have in your life while you're in high school." I sat there watching and listening to them for a while thinking about my predicament until got the solution about 7 minutes later. I waited patiently for a minute for their petty argument to die down but it wasn't so I just cut them off and exclaimed, "I figured it out.” Cole and Astle both gave me an annoyed look and were about to continue arguing when I said, "I figured out what I'm going to do about the issue of my Homecoming date. I'm going to make a list of girls I'm interested in to be my date and then I'm going to make a list of pros and cons of taking each girl and once I've figured it out I'm going to ask the girl I've chosen with a huge Homecoming proposal." Joel, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, said," Mike, you're

It was going to be on the morning of October 8th which was next Thursday which was also the week before Homecoming. I planned on having the principal call up Shante as if she were in trouble and then tell her to go to where I’d be located standing (in a secluded hallway) holding a poster in one hand and flowers and chocolate in the other. The proposal was going to have me surprise Shante with flowers, chocolate, and a huge decorated poster saying “Will you be my Nubian queen at Homecoming 2016?” Lastly, I was going to have my boys Astle, Reen, Eric, Cole, Joel, and Michael stand around me for support because I know I’d be extremely nervous in in the moment. I told the guys and they all approved and agreed to help me out when the time came. The next week went by quickly and consisted of me buying and getting everything ready for the proposal and me trying to get my nerves under control for my big day. The big finally arrived on the morning of October 7th. I woke up, got dressed, and ate breakfast, all while full of extreme anxiety. Afterwards, I wrapped the poster, flowers and chocolate to conceal them in case I saw Shante before I was supposed to and got in my car and drove to school still full of anxiety. I arrived and walked in the building 10 minutes later doing my best to keep myself under control. The