Two proms, one white tuxedo

Editor's note: Sam DeReign is a senior at Oran High School and a columnist for the Class of 2morrow.

By Sam DeReign ~ Southeast Missourian

For most people, it was just another average weekend filled with Nick at Nite marathons and "The Iron Chef." But for thousands of high school students across the nation, it was a weekend of fake tans, gallons of hair gel and enough fruit punch to keep those awkward nondancing moments at bay. Prom night is the night everyone gets together in their fancy threads to suffer heat exhaustion.

"You can do side bends or sit-ups, but please don't lose that butt!" hundreds of Sir Mix-A-Lot wannabes sang as we danced and sweated in our expensive clothing.

I spent the weekend going to proms on consecutive nights -- Notre Dame Regional High School's and Oran's -- with Katie Spalding. I went to hers, and she came to mine. But you don't just go to a prom. A couple of weeks before, my friend Zack Burnette and I drove to Sikeston to pick out our tuxes for the upcoming festivities.

"I don't want to do this," he told me.

"Neither do I."

While the girls have their faces glued to prom magazines and online dress sites, most of us guys are thinking about the PlayStation 2 games we could have bought with the money our moms gave us for the tuxes.

When the evening of the first prom came, I knew I would be angry by the time I left the house. I was right.

"Honey, come here! Honey!" my mom said, sprinting through the house with the camera. "Honey! Honey!"

"Mom, settle down, please."

"You look upset, honey. Is there something wrong?"

I just stood there trying to breathe steadily, mainly because wearing my jacket had cost me full function of my arms and neck.

To make things worse, it started raining Friday night, a rain which would continue until Saturday night.

There were more blinding photographs and painfully fake smiles until we finally settled down with seven or eight other couples to eat at my date's house.Since I was wearing a white suit, I ate like someone handling priceless vases. Amazingly, I made it all the way through the dinner without getting a spot on me.

Punch bowl as backup

Although I didn't know many people, I ended up having a good time at Notre Dame's prom at the Bavarian Halle in Jackson. Luckily, I always had the punch bowl to go to during the need-something-to-do-with-my-hands moments.

After dancing, however, the punch was more than just a prop.

"I look like crap, don't I?" my sweating friend Katie Daniel asked as she ran up to me at the punch bowl.

As my hair gel melted down my head, I noticed the cups were gone.

I kept staring at the empty spot where the cups should be until someone dragged me back out onto the dance floor, away from my state of shock.

At 1 a.m., the scene switched to Project Prom at the bowling alley. All of us were excited about it.

The goal of Project Prom is to keep everyone safe after the prom. There were prizes and free food.

All I cared about was getting to change into shorts and a T-shirt.

At 4 a.m., a hypnotist came into the room to do a routine. By that time, we were all slap-happy.

It ended at 5 a.m. By 6 a.m., I was in bed dreaming about the adventures to come at the Oran prom. So far, my white tuxedo was still white.

My friend Travis Randolph only slept a couple of hours that morning because he had to go right back to Cape Girardeau to help decorate for the Oran celebration.

My mom's jovial "Honeys" awoke me at 3 p.m. I began to don the dreaded tuxedo. My friend Trevor Irwin and I picked up our dates and went off to our 5:30 p.m. reservations at Mollie's restaurant in Cape Girardeau.

One spot on my tuxedo sleeve later, we went to the prom at the University Center at Southeast Missouri State University. The grand march began at 8 p.m. Don't know what a grand march is? It consists of all the couples prancing around the room after being announced and having our pictures taken several thousand more times by parents and friends. Then it was time to get the party started.

'Are you working it?'

We danced the night away until the senior video was shown, which showed numerous pictures of us all together, baby pictures and pictures we took ourselves at parties, class trips, etc. This was the high point of both proms, looking at a collage of pictures of all of us growing up.

The prom king and queen were announced and the night was coming to an end. The night, however, would not have been complete without the Cha-Cha Slide. It's the new Macarena, a rap song played at every school dance I've been to.

"Are you working it? 'Cause I'm working it!" Zach Burnette, a Oran senior, said to me.

During the final slow song, Katie pointed out some of the differences between her prom and mine.

"It's a lot smaller than ours," she said. "It's so cute!"

Cute it was, with sparkling lights and fake trees galore.

Everyone said they had a great time and that the decorations looked great. Both my two senior proms were memorable and fun.

After a few hours at the prom queen's after-prom party. I made my way home and was in bed by 4 a.m.

While picking up my murderous tuxedo up from my bedroom floor, my mom found a second spot I didn't know about.

sdereign@semissourian.com