If I could turn back the hands of time, I would live my first prom once again. It was a dream came true after many years living in my imagination. Ever since I was told about how princesses meet their princes and how they lead each other passionately through a dance, I had always dreamed of my own dance, the beautiful dresses and someone to guide me. At last, the prom night came but not the way I had thought, it turned out to be totally different, especially different.
Let’s go back to January, when it was getting warmer to welcome the spring as well as my first prom. I had just finished the final exam at that time so I decided to attend some events to relax after three stressful weeks. One day, my friend called and asked me if I wanted to attend the prom at her Architecture university, which was to be held in the next Sunday evening. “What a chance!”, I thought and agreed right away. Since that night, I recalled the childhood dream, imagined what I should wear, how should I make up and how I would meet my prince.
A prom is always an occasion that any girl gets excited about and so do I. I wasn’t a hot girl but I hoped I would catch some boys’ eyes – laughing to myself. In the next week, I had to attend a short-term dance course to practice some basic dance steps such as Rumba, Salsa, and my favorite one – Waltz. The prom was held by a dance club so it was obligatory that every participants know how to dance. However, there weren’t enough boys to partner the girls so they requested that all girls from outside the club had to bring their own partners. That announcement was not a problem to other girls but it came as a shock to me. While the others were busy calling their boyfriends and satisfied with their sweethearts’ answers, I was sitting alone in the corner of the room, feeling sorry for myself. My dream was then half broken since I didn’t have a boyfriend. After 3 days trying to find out a name, I finally resorted to the game of chance. While rolling down the contact list I closed my eyes and suddenly opened, the first name I saw should be the one I choose. It was KD. “Alright, let’s try”, I thought and hopelessly sent him a message. KD was my close friend, we shared a lot of things but he was a real bookworm, I bet he didn’t know how to dance, he never liked going out and that day, he wouldn’t have been himself if he said “yes”. He did, which surprised me a lot.
The big day came. I went to the hairdresser’s from 3pm to have my hair straightened. Auntie Truc helped me make up. She also lent me her sleeveless white dress and silver high-heeled shoes which perfectly fitted me. KD didn’t have his own motorbike so I had to pick him up. Like everyday, he wore a short-sleeved striped yellow shirt and kaki trousers. His outfit was not fashionable but polite enough to go with my dress, I thought. He offered to ride and said with a kind smile: “I’m so sorry that I can’t pick you up. When I have my motorbike, I’ll give you a ride!”-“It’s ok”, I replied. That was the first time I sat behind a boy. He rode not so fast and very carefully. We began talking about everything we saw along the street or some familiar topics. I didn’t expect anything from this partner but it turned out to be comfortable to go with him.
We arrived just on time to watch some performances from members of the club. The ballroom was then decorated with curtains, sparkling yellow lights. Everyone dressed beautifully and looked charming with a mask on their faces. KD put on one, too. The performances ended, the MC announced that it was time to dance with your partner and a slow melody of Waltz began to play. Subconsciously, I gave my hand and he held it. I could feel my heart beat fast and strong, there was a strange feeling run through all my cells. While I was still confused to recollect the first steps, he softly pushed me back, drew me close and turned me around along the song. I was too astonished to say a word. Someone must have taught him well to beguile and to entrance. Under the mask were his gentle eyes looking straight into mine. I wondered if I had ever noticed that this close friend had such beautiful eyes. I kept silent, moved to his dance and shyly glanced at him. When the songs ended, I asked: ”Hey, you dance so well, when did you learn?”. No sooner had I stopped my words when a strange girl came towards us, she invited KD to dance with her in a Salsa song. He accepted and disappeared with that girl in the crowd, leaving me behind. Everybody was dancing excitedly together to the fast rhythm of Salsa while I was standing still, trying to catch sight of my partner. “He’s there, holding the girl’s hand. He makes every move so natural!” I thought to myself. Suddenly I felt jealous with that stranger. “Some minutes ago, he was holding my hand in a warm and kind way, but now...” I seemed to see my friend in a different light; he was a dancing bookworm, some kind of elegance I had never recognized.
While I was lost in endless thoughts and questions, a boy run towards and accidentally hit me. Immediately, I fell onto the ground, some girls shouted. I didn’t close my eyes but all I could see was color, black, yellow, white, green, there was so clear images then. A few second later, I saw many people gathering around me, some asked if I was alright, some was angry with me because I had just interrupted their dance. “Wow, I finally became the center of the prom!” . Then, somebody was calling my name. That was a boy with a warm voice. Only when he helped me stand up did I realize my dislocated ankle. He quickly caught me when I was about to fall again. Until then I was too dizzy to recognize who was that gentleman. “Is this my prince?” I foolishly wondered. He guided me to a chair and said: “I shouldn’t have left you there! Are you hurt?” – “Ah, a little, but…” only then did I look up at him to see a bright face, a kind smile and beautiful eyes. It was KD. I began asking him all wh-questions that I could think of.. He said he had been a member of this dance club for moths but he had just quitted last week. That was why I didn’t see him every time I came to practice. “I intended to invite you to go with me but you invited me first”, he told me. I went through this surprise to another one. There were many things about him that I had never known. Far from the crowd, we keep chatting and exploring each other, ignored time and I forgot about my pain. The wind was passing us so tenderly. It was never more comfortable than those moments when my close friend became my special friend.
That night, I kept thinking about KD until I fell asleep. My mind was full of his smile, all his moves and I replayed the moment I thought he was my prince over and over again. Maybe I didn’t care enough about my friend. I let stereotype wrap my judge. Luckily I was woken up just in time to know there was a special one beside me. I’ve never had such a great time so I’ll remember it forever.
