I'm Morgan Risch. I'm currently 17 and a senior at Centerville High School. I'm going to tell you about my junior prom experience.
I had waited for years, and last year I was finally a junior and was going to be able to go to prom. I had been looking forward to prom since I knew what prom was. The idea of getting dressed up and looking and feeling like a princess was a dream come true to me.
My best friends Anika, Anabel, Danielle and I got ready together the day of prom. Listening to music while getting ready at Anabel's house was a great start to the day. I went and got my hair and makeup done at a salon. My makeup was a stunning darker brown eye shadow look with glitter on my eyelid. And I was wearing my favorite lipstick, which is a rosy natural shade. I had a gorgeous royal blue dress.
I had planned everything out for prom. I knew what time I'd get to his house for pictures and dinner. Everything was going to be perfect. My boyfriend Areas at the time was my date area. He has brown hair and eyes. He played guitar and skated; sometimes his style is grungy.
Once I'd finished helping my friends get ready, I grabbed my dress and headed to his house. When I got there, Areas was very quiet and hardly talked to me at all. Within less than an hour, my parents showed up for pictures. My mom went outside and told him to talk to me, and he finally came into his room, which is when things started sour. I was in my dress completely ready for the night when Areas walked in and told me he wanted to break up with me.
"Why did you ignore me once I got there?" I asked him recently.
"I went outside after we started fighting, and we started fighting something because you just didn't like my hair or my suit," Areas replied. "And I see that's two pretty minuscule things that I couldn't change. But that started to get carried into an actual fight."
"Why couldn't you have waited until after prom to break up with me after a year and a half of us being together?"
"Prom day is obviously the the worst time to break up, especially beforehand, but I'm sure you remember that I obviously don't like being an aggressor or talking mean to you. I don't hate you or anything. I was just done with how we were as a couple."
"Yeah, me too," I replied. "I kind of wish I would have ended it sooner because looking back, there are a lot of red flags."
He told me he wanted to break up with me because he needed more time for friends and family. Feeling that from someone I had spent over a year with killed me inside a little bit. I almost immediately started bawling my eyes out. My tears very quickly ruined my makeup.
I was telling my parents I didn't even want to go to prom anymore. My mom wanted me to go so that he couldn't ruin my night. She called my best friends, told them what happened, and told them to come get me. I hung up, got my dress and shoes on, took off my old makeup and grabbed my makeup bag so I could get ready in the car. They all comforted me and told me I didn't need him and that I have fun without him.
The group I ended up going with successfully made my prom night unforgettable. We danced to every song that came on and screamed every lyric until it hurt. By the end of the night, I was an exhausted, cold mess with sore feet.
Being broken up with made me realize some of my flaws as a person, and I've changed myself and bettered myself. And I feel like I've grown since it happened. There's a silver lining to everything. Bad things happen, and yeah, it sucks but things are going to get better whether it's in an instant or it comes to you later.
Morgan Risch is a student at Centerville High School. Special Thanks to Tricia Rapoch, teacher for the Communication Arts Program at Centerville High School. Learn more at the school's website: http://www.centerville.k12.oh.us/CHS. Dayton Youth Radio is supported by the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council and the Vectren Foundation.
This story was created at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.
