I was never much of a team player in high school. For me, staying home and reading was always more preferable to attending sports games or pep rallies. But there were a few rites of passage, such as senior skip day and school plays, that I opted to participate in. I even went to a homecoming or two, and thoroughly enjoyed them. While I may have been somewhat antisocial, I would have never imagined that I would intentionally miss out on my senior prom. But I definitely did.

Prom 2007 was held in a giant room with a carousel in it. I had 17 people in my graduating class, and we seniors showed up dolled up and dressed to the nines. I didn’t have a date that night (I never had dates in high school, surprise surprise), but my girl friends and I were ready to take on the event like we had at dances in years past, with lots of grooving and silly photos.

Things started to go downhill in the first five minutes, when everyone gathered around the carousel for photos. An hour’s worth of them. Apparently no one actually came to prom for dancing; I suppose that since we all spent so much time on our outfits, hair and makeup, they wanted to get their photographic memories’ worth. Eventually I managed to drag a few friends onto the dance floor, where we boogied by ourselves for a bit. I know: in theory, dancing with just your group of friends is supposed to be fun! But, frankly, when you’re three figures alone on the floor at prom, it just doesn’t have much energy to it.

People eventually came around, and we started to have some proper school dancing. Until the boys somehow took over the DJ booth. I went to a very religious Catholic high school, so the resulting music wasn’t the dirty rap you’d expect from a group of 18-year-old males. Instead, think of songs along the lines of “Cotton Eye Joe,” which was played no fewer than three times in the two hours I was there. When the DJ announced that it was to be our class song and started it up again, my friends and I decided to make a break for it.

Being the religious school that it was, we were locked in tight, with chaperones at every exit, making sure none of us snuck off for any typical prom night shenanigans. But somehow we three girls made it out the door, thanks to our “cool” math teacher. Running in our dresses across the parking lot, shrieking and giggling was the most invigorating part of the night, and is still one of my favorite high school memories.

So what did we do with our bad, prom-ditching selves? Get some booze and a hotel room? Go joyriding in a parent’s nice borrowed car? Actually, we headed over to a college-aged friend’s house for some crazy times. And by “crazy times,” I mean “video games.” Lots of them. The rest of our night was spent in front of a TV, gleefully shouting at Mario Kart and GoldenEye. While some people have crazy, thrilling prom night tales, I’m thankful to have the memory of sitting on a couch with my friends, decked out in big hair and poofy dresses, shooting bad guys on the Nintendo 64.

Did you go to your senior prom? If so, what was it like? If not, what did you do instead?