My first high school dance wasn’t a formal, just a fall social event in the commons, aka our school’s cafeteria. Casual attire was worn; jeans and t-shirts. Not too many kids were in attendance. We were a very small school, but I’m sure a lot of kids rolled their eyes at the thought of a school dance and decided to skip it. I was involved with the Student Council, so I pretty much had to go, but I would have gone anyway. Not only do I like to do stuff, but I knew my crush was going to be there.

He and I both played on the school soccer teams. A lot of our teammates were at the dance, so we spent most of the evening hanging out with each other. No one really danced to the fast songs, but most of us buddied up to sway along to the slow ones. For the first slow dance, one of the soccer players asked me to dance. A different teammate asked me to dance to the next one. This went on throughout the evening, but I kept hoping my crush would step up. Finally, at the last song, he asked me to dance. He said he wanted to ask all night, but his teammates knew it, so they jumped in just to mess with him. I was happy to have the best for last.

A week later he brought me flowers for our one week anniversary. We danced together at every winter formal and prom over the next three years, and at his college fraternity formal after those, but none were as sweet as the first.