A Match Made in Heaven

Olivia walked slowly towards the art wing of her high school. Normally, she would have been the first one to arrive at her Advanced Placement Studio II art class. She loved everything about art: the musty, yet invigorating smell of the oil paint, the softness of the bristles of her brushes, the typical messiness and clutter of the art room, her best friends that also took the class, the list goes on and on. But today, Olivia was dreading walking into that room. Today marked the unofficial start of “Prom Season.”

Prom Season is something that most schools have, but many people don’t realize it. It marks the official start of the "getting ready for senior prom" process; girls start buying their dresses, boys start asking girls to prom in cute and unexpected ways, the couples go out and buy their corsages, and the forever-young teachers start setting their students up.

Olivia hated prom season, not because she hated romantic and cute things, but because she would never be one of those girls that would walk home and find a sign that said “Olivia, will you go to prom with me?” or those girls that would walk into class and have someone serenade her and ask her to prom. It was like from the day she was born the universe was against her and just didn’t want her to find love and happiness. This year would be the worst year yet because Olivia and her friends were seniors and they would all be asked to prom, except her.

Let’s just clarify things a bit: Olivia didn’t completely give up on love. She had crushes on guys, but she never expected anything to happen between her and the person that she liked, and this year was no exception.

As Olivia made her way down the hallway, she noticed that there was a sign hanging from the ceiling. As she got closer, she saw the words, “Hey Sally, look here!” and an arrow pointing towards the wall right by her Studio room. The only Sally that ventured towards the art wing happened to be her best friend and fellow Studio classmate. As this realization hit her, Olivia’s stomach tightened, and she began to feel nauseated. Of course this elaborate scheme was for Sally... She was drop dead gorgeous and perfect at everything.

Olivia walked towards the wall where the arrow was pointing and saw an even bigger sign that read, “Sally, will you go to prom with me?” Bellow these words, there were two beautifully painted portraits of Sally; one was a happier Sally, with the word YES written near it, and the other was an angry and annoyed looking Sally with the word NO written near it. Clearly the guy behind the sign was also an art kid, and he wanted Sally to circle the head that corresponded with her answer. It was an EXTREMELY cute and adorable way of asking someone, especially an art kid, to Prom.

Olivia stared at the sign and walked away after she saw Sally circle the happier looking portrait. She was happy for her friend, she really was, but she couldn’t help but feel jealous because something like this would never happen to her.

And so began the start of Prom Season….