The Great Date Race
By Loan Kim Ly

Who is your dream date? What if so and so asked? Would you go with him? Why don’t girls ever ask guys? What if I get rejected? Dang, I still don’t have a date? Should I take someone from school or not?

These are some of the questions that pop up during the second phase of the pre-prom jitterbugs. It isn’t even the real deal yet. If you were to tap into the mind of a girl who is thinking about prom, you would either get “How should I do my hair? I wonder if he’s going to ask me? He’s pretty fly—If I ask him, what if he says no? Gosh I hope I find a date. (sigh)” or “What? Prom is coming up? Man, that’s more money out the pockets.” Believe it or not, tap into the mind of the average guy and you would probably get the same thing.

Before you know it, it comes time for the Great Date Race. At this point, those who do not have a date are a bit nervous and those who are still suffering from the princess syndrome (dreaming of the picture perfect prom) are probably a bit envious of those who already have dates. There are basically four types of dates that one could have for prom, the couple, the buddies, the hook up, and the import.

The first type consists of all the couples, soon to be couples, or those who should and will most likely become a couple after prom night. In most cases they are boyfriend and girlfriend or anything close to that.

The other type consists of the two people who are really close, if not best friends. The third type is made up of the “hook up” date. This usually happens when someone doesn’t want to take someone from school, or is too picky and finally settles for someone their friends hook them up with. This type of date often falls into the category of “import dates” since they usually don’t go to the same school, and thus, are classified as imported from another school. And then you have those who choose to make a statement or to simply go stag. No matter whom you decide to go with, the Great Date Race will always be a major part of prom preparation.

Soon phase III rolls into place. So stay tuned for The Grand Finale.