... i spent my senior prom in the ladies' bathroom hiding...
on november 3rd 2006, trinity college had their annual ball at the grand hyatt hotel melbourne. marking the impending finals and imminent graduation for the 459 students that made up the february main intake. everyone dressed to impress with the thought that separation awaited all of them in approximately 30 days.
... i spent my college ball... having the time of my life ;p
___________________________________________________________________
i woke up on friday morning with a swarm of giant butterflies and grasshoppers jumping around in my tummy. after my weekly chemistry meeting with patricia, i rushed home to change before walking to the lecture theater. as usual, the boys had saved a seat for me in the second last row. and as usual, joel was in attendance eventhough he wasn't enrolled for the subject ;p regardless, i did my level best to comprehend as much 'green chemistry' as possible before going to the mess hall for lunch. all the while frantic that i hadn't completed the second friendship bracelet that made up kevin's 'prom trimmings'. after running home (yet again!) to grab my math books, i attended my maths 1 lecture... my final class for the day. by the time i walked out of the hall... i had the bracelet completed in my back pocket :D (how do i split my concentration? ;p) with my nerves not letting up, i watched the 4th season premiere of 'las vegas' for an hour before getting ready. after 2 panicked phonecalls to joel... who made it known that kevin was with him (talk about making it worse!)... i took the leap of faith (and doa lots and lots) and attempted to recreate the hair and makeup as shown by mom a week earlier.by 6:35pm i had my dress on, my hair and makeup done and my tummy STILL hadn't let up!
jacq came home from doing her hair at concept blue and was looking all gorgeous when the boys called and told me they were in the lobby (they had to wait a WHILE before we actually came down ;D). in typical movie fashion, us girls had to come down the stairs instead of taking the lift. knowing that joel had a surprise for her, i made jacq go down the steps first. all jacq had to do was peek her head around the banister and joel was already going nuts. amidst the 'oh my god's and 'damn!'s that joel was letting out for his beautiful date, i came down (on seriously shaky legs!) and saw kevin and mark standing in the corner. kevin was in his suit and mark was in a black samfu-ish shirt that made both of them look great nonetheless. kevin put a bright yellow corsage on my hand (that matched the flower in my hair!) and mark (which i didn't expect at all!) put a white one on. so yeah... i had two dates! ;p i gave kevin the friendship band i made... and to my relief he chose to wear it immediately. and no matter how corny it sounds... i wore mine too ;pafter dropping their bags up in jacq's room, all 5 of us walked out into the street (avoiding curious glares) to the horse-drawn carriage that waited on swanston street. it felt so
surreal! i was jumping out of my skin all excited but hat to keep calm as i knew jacq (who was the only person who didn't know about our 'ride') was probably freaking out more. almost to the hotel i noticed joel and kevin trading glances at each other and nodding. joel searched in his jacket pocket and pulled out a grey box and handed it to jacq. kevin did the same and came up with a little parcel he put in my hand. as joel helped jacq put on her silver necklace, i opened my parcel up. inside was the most beautiful pair of earings... WHICH MATHCHED MY DRESS TOO! (i swear that boy has been poking around my room more than he let on!) i took off the blue earings i was wearing and put my new ones on ;D i still can't get over them.... kev, thank you so much!
before long we realised that there were FIVE carriages heading for hyatt. it felt like somewhat of a parade. the hotel entrance was swarmed with trinity students clad in their best. i lost my legs again when i got off the carriage. finally being there... all kinds of phobias introduced themselves. eugene and allynna arrived a few minutes after us and we wal
ked into the hotel together. taking a few pictures with almost every girl screaming and trading compliments, i walked into the ballroom attached to kevin on my left... and mark on my right (i felt like a pimp :D, but a good one!) we met ai-lynn, li ern and wai yen, which completed our table, and made our way to table 26. the hall was decorated to impress. with the ball themed 'hollywood', the student committee pulled out all the stops... flowers and balloons in abundance.prom was great. the music selection was superb and everyone was having a great time. not a single person recognised me on first glance...
which worried the hell out of me! but a part of me knew that was a good thing. we took hundreds of pictures and lots with our teacher pat too, who decided at the last minute to join us (sorry your holiday got cancelled pat!). joel was all geared up to hit the dance floor (he ditched his crutch for the night and was walking perfectly on two legs! i'm so proud of you joe!). michael was the centre of attraction, ultimately winning best male dancer for the night. i made a round or two with jacq and lay leng, and even danced a bit with gavin before running back to the table. but all in all... the prom was fun. i got to spend one night off with great music and awesome company ;p
[me, ai-lynn, jacq, joel, kevin and mark... the people who make my day ;D]
[me and lilian]
[me an joel... my younger older brother ;p]
[me and mark... my partner in random crime ;p]
[me and michael... the puppy-dog little brother i'm gonna miss so much ;p]
[me, jacq and allynna]
[joel, me, kevin and mark... my three boys ;p]
the hall cleared out by 12.30am, as everyone decided on which of the three clubs to hit for the afterparty. me, kevin, mark, jacq, joel, allynna, eugene and jon decided to take the safe route and walked to crown for late-night cake at grecco. the 8 of us ended up ordering FIVE cakes... and for those of you who don't know... grecco's cakes are HUGE! after a few bites, allynna and jacq were on a massive sugar high and couldn't stop laughing. a great indicator that it was time to head home (and that it was almost 3am ;p). i called mom from crown and she sounded all excited about my fairytale night... if only she knew how painful my feet were though :( we shared a cab and dropped jon and eugene off at melbourne central and allynna at arrow before going back to nelson. we took one last picture in our suits, before changing out into our pyjamas to wait for sunrise. mark fell asleep the minute he hit the couch ;D but the rest of us stayed up till 5.30am before climbing up the access ladder to the rooftop. (and to be inventive... we jammed a calculator case in between the door so it wouldn't lock us out ;p)
with my laptop in my bag, me, jacq, joel and kevin sat by the railing and watched as the dark night sky became lighter and lighter. the stars peeled away and the sky was now tinted with shades of light blue and orange. hot air balloons filled the air too as some opted for an aerial view of the sunrise. but i was still restless. so i got up... turned my laptop on and played michael buble and nelly furtado's 'quando quando quando' on loop. with the sunrise in the background and the balloons high above us... me and kevin had our one slow dance ;p and yeah... jacq and joel were sniggering the whole time. the sun decided not to show itself clearly behind the clouds, so we climbed back down as the hour approached 7. taking thankful refuge in the warmth from the cold upstairs.
when we got back... mark was STILL asleep exactly where we left him. so we woke him up, dragged him to jacq's room, showed him the beanbag... and let him fall back to sleep. the rest of us had ice cream, hot chocolate and toast for breakfast... exchanging awes at the fact that prom was the night before.
joel made it public knowledge how amazing he thought jacq looked that night. and no matter how sweet that was... i wouldn't trade my moment for the world. at 4:30am waiting for light, well after prom was over. one word: beautiful ;D
it came one year late, but i had a memorable prom. i had a dress i was proud of, friends who turned me away from my hesitations, and dates that ensured i wasn't alone the entire night. so to mom, thanks for putting so much effort into helping me get my dress and tutoring me on the art of hair and makeup... i couldn't've looked how i did or had all the fun i had without you, mommy ;D to jacq, joel, allynna, eugene, ai-lynn, li ern and wai yen... thanks for making the prom special. and to mark and kevin... thanks for making my prom... mine :D
2 comments
2 Comments:
glad u had a great night... mine was wonderful too... gonna miss these times with all 6 of us... anywayz... =)
Aww Yana, it brings tears to my eyes just reading! It sounds beautiful and I'm sure it was amazing amazing amazing!! I'm so happy for you!!!! Heheheheh!!
