Prom is not a big deal. You will not be sorry that you missed it.
That is what I kept telling myself when prom season rolled around my senior year in high school.
I had only been on two dates up to that point and prom had not been one of them. All of my friends had dates lined up, and I didn’t want to be the third wheel at-large; going stag was not an option. It was the early 90s; interracial dating was still kind of taboo. I figured none of those White boys wanted to ask me out. The few Black guys at my school already had girlfriends or dates, too. So I accepted my fate: I was not going to prom. Get over it.
But my best friend Katherine had other plans for me.
Enter Terrence – mid-school-year transfer from Minnesota who turned out to be one heck of a baseball pitcher. He had blond haired and blue eyes. In other words, he was the complete opposite of me. He was “the new kid.” Kat ingeniously realized he probably didn’t have a date for prom. So she cornered him at his locker in between classes.
“Hey Terrence, do you have a date for prom yet?” Kat asked.
“No, I don’t,” Terrence replied.
“I think you should ask Courtney,” she said.
“Really? Okay. I will,” said Terrence.
Kat ran up to the second floor and planted herself outside of my French class. She got my attention from the hallway and mouthed, “Terrence is going to ask you to prom!”
And just like that, I was going to prom. I. Could. Not. Believe. It.
Scott called me a few days later and officially asked me to be his date. We spent the next few weeks talking on the phone occasionally and chatting at school.
Naturally, I wondered if he knew I was Black or if that would be an issue. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed or uncomfortable.
Word spread like wildfire that we were going to prom together. And Terrence relayed a conversation he had with one of our classmates.
“So, you’re taking Courtney to prom?” said Lawrence.
“Yeah, I am,” said Terrence.
“You know she’s Black, right?” asked Lawrence.
“Yeah, I do. So what?” Terrence said.
We both laughed. I was tickled at how nonchalant Terrence was about my race. To say I was relieved is an understatement. At that point, I realized that I could go to prom and enjoy myself and not worry about my date being uncomfortable because his date was “the black girl who looks White.”
Prom was fun and everything I expected. Terrence was a wonderful date and a complete gentleman that night. We agreed to hang out again. A few weeks later, he returned to Minnesota to graduate with his high school class. I never heard from him after he left.
I don’t know where Terrence is or what he’s doing, but I am so grateful to him for taking me to the prom. And I am grateful to my best friend, Kat, for orchestrating the whole thing 🙂
Prom was a big deal. I am glad I didn’t miss it.
That is what I kept telling myself when prom season rolled around my senior year in high school.
I had only been on two dates up to that point and prom had not been one of them. All of my friends had dates lined up, and I didn’t want to be the third wheel at-large; going stag was not an option. It was the early 90s; interracial dating was still kind of taboo. I figured none of those White boys wanted to ask me out. The few Black guys at my school already had girlfriends or dates, too. So I accepted my fate: I was not going to prom. Get over it.
But my best friend Katherine had other plans for me.
Enter Terrence – mid-school-year transfer from Minnesota who turned out to be one heck of a baseball pitcher. He had blond haired and blue eyes. In other words, he was the complete opposite of me. He was “the new kid.” Kat ingeniously realized he probably didn’t have a date for prom. So she cornered him at his locker in between classes.
“Hey Terrence, do you have a date for prom yet?” Kat asked.
“No, I don’t,” Terrence replied.
“I think you should ask Courtney,” she said.
“Really? Okay. I will,” said Terrence.
Kat ran up to the second floor and planted herself outside of my French class. She got my attention from the hallway and mouthed, “Terrence is going to ask you to prom!”
And just like that, I was going to prom. I. Could. Not. Believe. It.
Scott called me a few days later and officially asked me to be his date. We spent the next few weeks talking on the phone occasionally and chatting at school.
Naturally, I wondered if he knew I was Black or if that would be an issue. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed or uncomfortable.
Word spread like wildfire that we were going to prom together. And Terrence relayed a conversation he had with one of our classmates.
“So, you’re taking Courtney to prom?” said Lawrence.
“Yeah, I am,” said Terrence.
“You know she’s Black, right?” asked Lawrence.
“Yeah, I do. So what?” Terrence said.
We both laughed. I was tickled at how nonchalant Terrence was about my race. To say I was relieved is an understatement. At that point, I realized that I could go to prom and enjoy myself and not worry about my date being uncomfortable because his date was “the black girl who looks White.”
Prom was fun and everything I expected. Terrence was a wonderful date and a complete gentleman that night. We agreed to hang out again. A few weeks later, he returned to Minnesota to graduate with his high school class. I never heard from him after he left.
I don’t know where Terrence is or what he’s doing, but I am so grateful to him for taking me to the prom. And I am grateful to my best friend, Kat, for orchestrating the whole thing 🙂
Prom was a big deal. I am glad I didn’t miss it.
Light and All Write 