<p>Ok I’m guessing project graduation is a NJ state-wide thing? We had that as well, although it wasn’t really all that wonderful and at one point one of my friends remarked, “you know it’s bad when you go to the bathroom for lack of anything better to do”. Most of the kids that would have been inclined to go and get raving drunk either did that the following night or stayed behind and sprayed silly string all over the cars in the school parking lot. But I digress.</p>
<p>My prom tickets cost about $40 I think, my dress was around $80, hair wasn’t that expensive and we just drove there in my friend’s car. Some of the girls probably spent more to buy their puffy princess gowns they couldn’t get out of their chairs in, and I think only one group of people actually had a limo. We didn’t really get much for that $40 either, but it’s not like we expected to. We rented out an apartment at the shore for the weekend, I think there were 5 people total there. All we really did was hang out and eat junk food and watch rented movies, and we went and wandered around on the boardwalk the morning after before we left. Real terrible, wild, stereotypical prom shore weekend, there.</p>
<p>My parents very nearly did not let me go, and one of my friend’s parents didn’t let her go at all, and she just had to go home after the prom and not participate in anything. She was really upset and we all felt bad about it, but no amount of “no, we’re not going to go out and get drunk, that’s not our thing, we’re going to sit around and watch movies…no, our guy friends are not going to rape us in our sleep…no, we’re not lying” would convince them. My mother was only convinced after she talked to the one girl’s mother that was actually ok with the idea. She reminded me approximately every half hour in the week leading up to it that they would come and get me at any time if I ‘felt uncomfortable’ (as if they weren’t an hour away and I wasn’t going to have my car with me anyway). You would think all 18 year olds are inherently evil or something. Life’s not a tv show episode.</p>