When Homecoming Gets Weird
Read these three reports titled "When Homecoming Gets Weird". Then, put on your creative hat and write a story. It must be titled, "When Homecoming Gets Weird" and it has to be set in St. Marys PA during Homecoming Weekend. Your story should not relay any real shenanigans that occurred over the weekend. This should be entirely fictional. Have fun with it, but follow the rules of good writing!
It was my last homecoming: my last football game, my last dance, and my last chance to make the memories of a lifetime. Little did I know that these memories would be so traumatizing.
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I arrived at the dance at approximately 8:15 - not too early, not too late. We were greeted curtly (as per usual) by a bashful Mr. Lallman, and proceeded to the nautically decorated table beyond the doorway to hand over our tickets. I could already hear the DJ blasting some hardcore 80s rock, which I didn't think much of. My friends and I approached the gym with excitement, ready to make our debut at our final homecoming dance.
That was when we saw it.
Parents. Everywhere.
My eyes grew wide as I realized what was happening: the parents of every high school student had literally taken over the dance. The dance floor was crawling wildly with middle-aged couples, as their disturbed teenagers crowded around them, plopped on the bleachers or huddling against the padded gym wall. Some kids buried their faces in their palms, shielding their eyes from the horror before them. Others watched with their jaws resting on their knees. Still others held their foreheads with great distress. But one thing was consistent among them all - they all wore the same expression as I - one of pure terror.
I slowly approached the dance floor, staying close to the walls to avoid being a part of this horrific display of "dancing." There were groups of moms gathered together, whipping their necks back and forth (in a way that was almost concerning) to the beat of the music. There were fathers moving their limbs in ways I never thought possible for a grown man of 45.
And that was when I witnessed the real horror.
As I made my way (with great caution) over to the bleachers to join my traumatized classmates, I felt a tap on my shoulder. But when I turned around, I wished I hadn't. For standing before me, with poofy hair and even poofier sleeves, was my mother, whipping her head and jumping around like a maniac. I was greeted promptly with a "WOO!" before my father popped up behind her, moving his arms like he was trying to catch a huddle of fireflies. And as I stood there, expressionless, I was truly unsure of whether or not I would live to see tomorrow.
This was very creative, Mary! I could just imagine your mom and Bradley J. busting some crazy moves! How horrible would that be, though? I love my parents but there is definitely a time and place for them and high school dances is not one of them! this blog was so funny!
DeleteI honestly do not how I would react if I walked into the gym and saw my parents absolutely leaving it all out there on the dance floor. I might...well...I might just cry. I don't even know. I love my parents, but only when they stay home and don't do anything extremely embarrassing. But anyway...that would probably be just about every high schooler's nightmare. Very well executed. I enjoyed reading just about everyone's blogs, but yours was very hilarious.
DeleteMary, I almost wrote about this same idea for my blog and I was even going to mention your dad haha. There are certain parents in our grade (like yours, Grace's, and Emily Kamats's) that I could see boogieing at a dance.
DeleteI was so excited for homecoming weekend and had everything from my dress to my makeup picked out for the big night. I was going to look wonderful and everyone was going to have so much fun at the dance.
ReplyDeleteThe warm and beautiful morning of homecoming, I got dressed and ready to go on my way when I forgot about my hair appointment. I had never been to a hairdresser for any dance and I was completely out of my element, but I decided that it was better than trying to do it myself and ending up with a ponytail for my last dance.
I made my way to downtown Kane at the only beauty shop that had an open slot and the beautician, Helga, was staring out the window waiting for my arrival. She began to dance with joy when I showed up and explained to her that I did not really care what my hair looked like, I just did not want it to be in my way when I was going hard that night at the dance. I sat there patiently while Helga wetted down my hair and began to brush it through with a comb when I heard a mysterious buzzing noise and felt a weird vibration on my head. I turned to look in the mirror and Helga was shaving my hair off! I immediately began to scream and slapped the razor out of her hand before running out of the shop and crying. I called my mom and told her what had happened and she told me that I would have to shave the rest of it and that I did not have time to get a wig before the dance. I was absolutely mortified and did not want to show my shiny head in public, but my parents told me that I should go to my last dance.
I approached the front door with anxiety, major depression, swollen eyes, and an egg head when I saw Mr Lallman knitting himself a cardigan. He looked at me and said "fair enough," as if my head was some sort of fashion trend, before allowing me to enter. I looked like a thumb and I wanted to leave immediately, so I began to tear up once again before being noticed by Lallman. Once he found out that that look was not desired at high school dances these days, he took his yarn off of the knitting needles and wrapped his cardigan around my head to cover Helga's mistake. I was blessed.
People were hating on the cardigan hat all night, but I knew that it was truly better than what was underneath. I danced around those haters all night anyway, trying my hardest to forget the unfortunate hair appointment the day of my last homecoming.
This was a great story, Grace. It included a concept that most of us appreciate, a bad hairstylist, and took it to a whole new level. Thankfully you were saved by Mr. Lallman! For some reason, him knitting strikes me as odd, but I have no idea what he likes to do in his free time.
DeleteWell...that would certainly be depressing. I don't really care what my hair looks like, as long as I have hair. So I honestly think I can say I understand the stress you'd be under if you accidentally got all of your hair shaved off. But of course, Mr Lallman is the man. So of course he would save the day with his...knitting skills? Well...whatever works I guess. Anyway...that was a very enjoyable story
DeleteGrace, how did you think of wearing a cardigan on your head? This was definitely a very creative story. This was a really funny blog and I laughed out loud a couple of times.
DeleteAll week in school was filled with the excited chatter of students guessing what the big surprise was going to be at homecoming. Everyone was informed there was going to be the surprise of a lifetime waiting in the gym, and I could not wait to find out.
ReplyDeleteI knew something was really wrong when Mr. Lallman greeted me at the door with his hair in pigtails and his younger sticking out. When I walked into the gym, I saw the big surprise, and what a surprise it was. The center of the gym had a chain hanging down from the ceiling with a ball the size of a supersize sumo wrestler attached to it. Everyone was standing in silence looking at the very out of place contraption. Then, all of the sudden, a familiar tune started to fill the air. We all started singing along, "I came in like a wrecking ball," when all of the sudden Miley Cyrus climbs onto the wrecking ball and starts swinging around on it. Sadly, the song was interrupted by a loud crash. Miley Cyrus drove her wrecking ball into the wall adjacent to the auxiliary gym. Miley Cyrus had crashed Aaron Straub's gym. Next thing I know, Mr. Straub was running into the gym screaming, "MY GYM, MY PRECIOUS GYM!" But the shock did not end there. Mr. Straub then got onto the wrecking ball and started swinging around. All of us students then got out their phones and began taping the event unfolding before them. The next day, the Internet broke because Mr. Straub wearing a tuxedo while riding a wrecking ball and swinging his tie got so many views that it broke. That is how Mr. Straub beat Kim Kardashian in breaking the Internet and made my homecoming a night I will always remember.
Wow! That is a pretty crazy idea! Mr. Lallman is definitely the guest star in these blogs but Mr. Straub's role was nice too! I'm sure he loves to dance to Miley Cyrus in his free time. Picturing these blogs makes me laugh because therpy are all so awkward and unlikely, but you never know. I guess it could happen!
DeleteLauren, this is so funny! As I read it I felt like I was in a dream, because this just seems like one of those hilarious yet mildly disturbing dreams that you never really forget. I do wonder who thought it would be a good idea to attach a wrecking ball to the gym ceiling, though. I loved when Mr. Straub came in screaming "MY GYM!" I don't know why, but I really can't imagine him screaming like that. I wonder how he would react...
DeleteOctober 3, 2015 started out like any other Homecoming day. The ECC gym was decorated and prepped for a night of dancing and fun. The football game, the weather, the atmosphere, it was all perfect. The football team won against their rivals and a queen was crowned at half time as the band played in the background. After the game, everyone went home to prepare themselves for the night to come.
ReplyDeleteStudents finally started showing up at the dance after taking pictures and having dinner. By the time 8:45 rolled around, which is when everyone needed to be there by, all the students had slowly trickled into the gym and were dancing. It was easy to see the difference between the seniors, dancing like mad, and the freshmen, who were too scared to even boo along to the music.
In the midst of the commotion inside the gym, no one noticed that new people were trickling in through the door. Slowly, the students began to realize that the faculty was congregating around the door. All of a sudden, the song changed and they began to dance.
Mr. Lallman bopped slowly to the music as Mrs. Messineo cut a rug across the gym. Not believing what they were seeing, the students cleared from the middle of the gym. Mr. Winklbauer seized the opportunity and did his best interpretation of Saturday Night Fever right in the half court line. As Mr. And Mrs. Knight started to boogie, Lexi had to hide her face in embarrassment. As the dance continued, the faculty dancing got even more strange. Doctor Millinder led everyone in a choreographed line dance after which Coach Straub and Mr. Breindel danced along to "Get Your Head in the Game" from High School Musical. Even Mr. D and Doctor Pam came back and made an appearance. By the end of the night, the students left the dance confused and slightly disturbed by the experience.
I CANT STOP LAUGHING ABOUT THIS. This was such a simple idea but it is seriously so funny! I loved the way you described the dances of all of the teachers. The mental images are perfect. Honestly, this makes me wish that all of the teachers would come to the dances. I don't know, there's just something about watching Dr. Pam "whipping" and "ney-neying" that would be too good to pass up.
DeleteIt all started the Monday before what was supposed to be Homecoming. Over the announcements, Mr Hanes announced that Homecoming would have to be moved to next Friday, as the ECC Super Bingo Club was scheduled to have their Super Bingo Playing Dance Party that Saturday. So...okay...I guess that means I would just have to wait for next Friday to have the greatest homecoming of all time...except...not quite.
ReplyDeleteThe next Monday, Mr Hanes announced that there would be a slight complication with our Homecoming dance on Friday. Apparently, the HAVS (Historically Accurate Viking Society) had already scheduled their Leif Ericsson Appreciation Boogie to be that Friday. Sadly, rescheduling our dance was no longer possible and the HAVS would not reschedule their boogie. So we had two options, we could either cancel Homecoming or we could share the gym. After a very close vote, the student body decided that we would share the gym.
As I pulled up to the school, I could see Mr. Lallman with his head buried in his hands. I parked and immediately ran up to him and asked what was wrong. He could only manage to peek one eye out from behind his hands and he just motioned to the gym. I went in and strolled up to the gym. I knew that it would probably a little weird sharing the gym with Historically Accurate Vikings. But the theme this year was Under the Sea, so really? How bad could it be? As I swung the door to the gym open, the answer became painfully obvious. Extremely bad.
These Vikings weren't historically accurate at all! My eyes literally started to bleed as I looked around the gym and saw 30 or so men in their 40s and 50s wearing nothing but shorts and a helmet. At least the helmets didn't have horns, or else I really would have objected to the name of their society and their presence at this dance. All of the students were off the side of the gym, watching these not very historically accurate Vikings swing their plastic battle axes around and just have a good time. Unfortunately, while they were having a good time, the student body was not. A few hours whet by where these Vikings just kept partying and we kept just being sad. Finally some one pointed out that there were over 150 of us, but there were only 30 of them. This thought resonated with the student body for a few seconds, until finally someone decided to charge the dance floor. Everyone followed and the battle began. The Vikings stood no chance with their plastic battle axes against a bunch of very angry students. As the battle went on, it became more and more obvious that victory was in sight for the student body. Finally, the Historically Accurate Viking Society called for retreat and they all ran out of the gym, crying. All of the student body was very relieved that finally, we could have a good time. At that moment though, Mrs. Florig marched in and declared that homecoming was over. So hey...it may not have been my favorite homecoming ever, but it was definitely the most memorable.
Giz, this is great. I can totally imagine the student body battling some not very historically accurate Vikings in order to reclaim our gym. Another striking image you produced was that of the distraught Mr. Lallman. I can see him sitting with his head in his hands. This was a very great story.
DeleteNick, this was my favorite story. I love it because it as logically thought out with the Leif Erikson reference. I just loved everything about this. Our students would probably be really excited if this happened, heck I would! I would bring my own plastic axe and chant some good Viking chants.
DeleteMy last homecoming was certainly one to remember. Everyone was buzzing in anticipation of the masquerade themed night. Student council had even convinced Mr. Hanes to allow masks, a miracle that completed the mystery of the night. As the students filled the gym, they tried to find there friends amidst the sea of bright colors. The music was slow and quiet, and everyone waited for the real party to begin.
ReplyDeleteAn hour dragged by, and the music still remained quiet and slow. Many of the students were muttering to each other, wondering what was going on. Just when it seemed someone was going to attempt to seize control of the songs, the faculty came to the dance floor and demanded everyone's attention. The students formed a ring around Mrs. Florig and Mr. Lallman, who appeared to be imitating the showy dance of some exotic bird. They hopped and skipped around each other, sometimes holding hands or even twirling around. I was too stunned by their acrobatics even to laugh. They informed us that this traditional ballroom dancing would also accompany the masquerade theme.
No one moved, so the teachers began to pair off students. As I danced with my parter, I thought about how ridiculous we all looked, and laughed. I was actually enjoying myself in some bizarre way. The weird dance didn't seem so humiliating because of my mask. I couldn't even tell who my partner was.
As we danced on into the night, the music began to fall back on its usual upbeat selections. However, the weird start ensured that this dance would be remembered for years to come.
Imagining Mr. Lallman dancing like an exotic bird was the best thing I did all day. I don't know if that is a really great thing to imagine or if my life is boring. I am thinking a combination of both. The funny part was ECC allowing a masquerade. Oh how I wish they would!
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