This past Prom season flew by in an instant, and for some it was more stressful than it should’ve been. 

Sitting in front of my television at a young age, watching Zac Efron sing about going to the dance with Vanessa Hudgens is a core memory in my mind. Daydreams of being asked to the prom and finding the perfect dress danced through my head. But when I entered high school, these dreams proved hard to make a reality. 

In my experience as a teenage girl, I struggled with one of the things that I’m supposed to be good at: talking to boys. Over the years, my friends have had their little relationships and flings, but that was never me. This year, I let whispers in the halls of who is going to ask who affected me more than they should’ve. I wanted my High School Musical 3 prom moment more than anything. The stress I felt could’ve been energy focused on more important things, like the ACT, which is only three days after Copper Hills’ prom this school year. After finally accepting the fact that I wasn’t going to get asked, there was a knock at  my door. 

The stress didn’t end after I was asked. Finding the perfect prom dress is so much harder than it may seem. There are even some students having their dresses shipped from across the world. Senior year calls for something special, right? Pranu Sudabattula’s dress is inspired from the Bollywood movie, Om Shanti Om, that she enjoyed watching at a very young age. In her childhood, she would frequently wear clothing inspired from the movie, and it became very close to her heart. Pranu has always felt like there aren’t a lot of places for her to show off her culture in high school. She took Prom as an opportunity to show off her culture in a beautiful way. This year Pranu had her dress custom made by Moulika Reddy in Hyderabad, India. “The dress is important to me because it feels like I’m living out my childhood dreams,” Pranu explains.

As for me, none of the dresses at the mall spoke to me. I searched through the million bundles of sparkles and sequins, but still nothing caught my attention. I needed the perfect dress. My mom was tired of me dragging her into store after store so she suggested we just order a dress online. Reluctantly, I agreed.

Because my entire life revolves around Taylor Swift and her universe, I found my perfect dress that had been inspired by her 2021 Grammy’s dress by Oscar de la Renta. I immediately fell in love with the flowers and tulle and pastel colors of the image on my laptop. With only three weeks left until the dance, I ordered the dress, praying that it would come in time. This past Saturday, it finally registered in my brain that Prom was in a week. It was in a week, and I still didn’t have my dress. My heart dropped and the stress that had settled down began to build up again. Countless calls and emails to the company led to several, “please leave your message after the tone,” and tears streaming down my face. My Taylor Swift Prom dress dreams were ending right before my eyes. I didn’t have a dress but I had to remind myself that at least I had a date. 

The revival of my stress was frantic and definitely unneeded. After my long and sad breakdown, a number of despairing texts were sent to my older cousins asking if I could borrow one of their past dresses. Thankfully, my favorite cousin saved my bad day. The next day, I went to her house to try on the dress. It matched the shoes I had already bought perfectly. I put it on and immediately my sadness was healed. The black dress has a flowy, tulle skirt, corset top, and fabric butterflies sewn all over the dress. I was stunned. Even though I wouldn’t have the dress that now haunts me in my dreams, I found one that I love. 

The stress continued to die down. After all the turmoil I put myself through, I remembered how much fun Prom is supposed to be. The High School Musical Prom moment I’ve fantasized about actually happened.