Whee! I returned from Candice’s a little while ago. Mom just finished making breakfast. I had two slices of bacon, a fried egg, two pieces of buttered (margarined) toast, and orange juice. That’s the only time I like O.J.: when I’m eating a breakfast like that.

Prom was a blast. I enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would. I wish it had been more like the prom at that summer academic program where there was always a huge knot of people dancing. At the prom last night, there were just little groups of people and sometimes the floor was empty. That sucked. They played too many slow songs, too. I would rather be out there shaking my booty with my friends than swaying back and forth with some guy to whom I have no attachment.

I had my hair and makeup done by Candice’s aunt. I tried to pay her but she wouldn’t let me. She did a really good job. I’ll get photos up soon.

Candice, Zack and I ate before prom at O’Charley’s. Excellent rolls there. I had the Chicken Florentine which involved some kind of noodles and sauce with a slab o’ chicken on top, covered in spinach, sauce, and artichoke hearts. A “vegetable medley” (broccoli, carrots, squash, etc.) accompanied and I had Mountain Dew (which I am also drinking right now, actually) to drink.

After prom, the five of us (Candice, Zack, Jennifer, Keith, myself) went to Wal-mart. We saw several other people from our own prom and other proms (there were three other proms last night in that town) tripping around in their dresses and tuxes. Regularly dressed customers insisted on staring at us. One lady commented, “I knew I was underdressed coming here like this!”

Then, we stopped at a gas station so Jennifer, Zack, and Keith could change clothes. Candice and I didn’t have our regular clothes with us, so we stayed in our dresses. Candice bought a French vanilla cappuccino (this comes into play later). We took off again. I passed a guy that got pulled over by a cop and drove by, slowly, on the other side of the road. A little way down the road, I see flashing blue lights in my rearview mirror. I pull over, wondering what I’d done, since I had been going the speed limit. From the backseat, I hear from Candice, “The cappuccino spilled. The cappuccino fell over!” I picked it up; none had spilled out. The cop came up to my window, checked my license, and told me he had pulled me over because I hadn’t dimmed my lights when I’d passed him. Der. He said a lot of drunk drivers do that and he had to check. He asked if we’d come from prom; yes. Asked if we had drank anything; no.

Made it almost to Candice’s house before Candice asked me to pull over because she was going to be sick. I pulled up into some guy’s driveway but she couldn’t throw up. When we drove off again, Candice burped and felt fine.

When we reached Candice’s house, we hung out outdoors around the tent and made a fire. Keith roasted hotdogs and made smores for all of us. We tried all sleeping in the tent but it was damn uncomfortable, so we went inside. We went to bed at about 5 or 5:30a. I started to sleep on one couch in the living room while everyone else was in Candice’s room. I got uncomfortable there and moved to the other couch. When I woke up at 9:35a, Keith was in the couch I had been in first, asleep, and everyone else was in Candice’s room.

This morning while cleaning my car of everyone else’s stuff, I noticed that there is dried cappuccino along the whole back passenger side. Candice emptied her cup out window in a very clever move last night.

I took Zack home this morning and came home myself. I can’t wait to get my photos developed. I hope they turned out all right. I have to finish the rest of the camera (disposable Kodak Max Flash); I’ll do that at school.

Prom dress: $0 (borrowed it from my cousin)
Shoes: $0 (borrowed from my cousin)
Purse: $12 (from Afterthoughts)
Hair: $0 (Candice’s aunt)
Makeup: $0 (borrowed the matching eyeshadow from my cousin; application by Candice’s aunt)
Ticket: $0 (I have a card for good scores on last year’s statewide testing that allowed me to get in free)
Dinner: $13.65 (O’Charley’s; beverage and chicken florentine)
Nails: $0 (fingernails done at Chauntel’s with my own polish; toenails done by Candice with her sister-in-law’s polish)
Gas: $20+ (damn premium)
The overall experience: priceless

On Skip Day on Friday when Candice, Jennifer and I were shopping, we counted twenty people from our school there. Out of our senior class of 100 students, about 18% were absent. When we got to Chauntel’s house for the pedicure party, Chauntel’s mom told me that there were 170 absences and two pages of check-out sheets.