People I Went to PROM with: A List

"HAVE A GOOD TIME!"

'Tis the season to get your PROM on. So, in honor of the annual Promenade, here is a comprehensive list of Alexandra Silber's Prom Dates in Chronological order.

1. Bill Bradley
He was Mr. Webb and I was Mrs. Webb. He was John Jasper and I was Rosa Bud. He was a Senior and I was a Freshman. It was the scene of the "my-Dad-put-on-a-tux-and-jumped-out-of-the-bushes" crime.
It was super awkward and I was the only Freshman there.
But we got Slurpees afterward and that is what matters.


2. JP Zammit
I don't think I will ever know what JP Zammit was thinking when he asked me to Prom my Sophomore year--I barely knew him, truth be told. His mom sometimes came into the Greek diner I worked in, and he kind-of-sort-of lived around the block, but there must have been something about his  portrayal of Lazar Wolfe the Butcher, combined with the fact that he was in super rad band (and still is), combined with the fact that he was nerdy-cool-but-cooler-than-me. We never really talked before or after that night, and our Prom "date" was short, utilitarian and pretty business like: he showed up, we took some pictures, we ate, we danced, we went home. Scene.

But you know? I remember how he came to my house a few weeks after Dad died, and despite my pajama-ed, grief-stricken state, we had a gentle, meaningful talk. I remember the way he sat on the end of the bed with his hands in his pockets aching to know what to say. The truth was I didn't know what to say either. But ultimately it was his mere presence at the end of that bed that meant the most. Because people forget--they forget to come over and just sit at the end of your bed a few weeks later.  I doubt he even remembers so brief and uneventful an encounter, but it meant a lot to me at the time. It still does. All of which revealed to me that JP Zammit was, and is, a super great guy.


3. Nick D’Emilio
Now this is pretty weird. When I was 14-15 I was having a rough time. 1997-98 are sorrrrrt of a bluuuuur. I was having trouble with "girls" at school, my Dad was very ill, and the summer of 1998 at Camp was when I made some of my closest, most enduring, lifetime friends. It was the summer of The Alexandra Sisters and hurricane of charisma that is Oliver Friendly (who ended up marrying one of us). So, when a huge gang of us decided to gather in Washington DC at Oliver's House for New Year's Eve, my parents didn't bat an eyelid-- they let me go have a really special, utterly memorable New Year with what I knew would be a group of lifelong pals. It was magical. Then there was a blizzard that kept me in DC a few extra days and I got to meet a few more of Oliver's DC friends-- one of whom was Nick D'Emilio-- budding photographer.

I dunno. It was in the early days of AOL chatting-- IMing was like some sort of miracle-- WOOOOOW you could talk to multiple people at once from anywhere in the country just by typing. Remember that? I kept in touch with Nick and one night online, he asked me to go to Prom. In DC. And the crazy thing was? My parents let me go do that too. It was on a boat. I barely remember it, but I do remember sneaking into The National Zoo and kissing him in the Rainforest Room before seeing The Phantom Menace.
I never saw him again.
Good times.


4. Jeremey Catterton
Ahhhhh my first love. Jeremey may have irritatingly spelled his name with three Es, but, man: I LOVED HIM SO HARD. He was rebellious and dangerous, über-damaged and preeeeeetty arrogant (in truth, actually just a sweet, rejected, floundering youth trying to find his way); and though he was irrational, totally strange, sometimes selfish, oh how I loved him as only a sixteen-year-old could!

Sure! He dyed his hair constantly (my favorite being “Number 44B for African American Women”). Sure! He had a piercing in both ears (and eventually in his nipples). Sure! He was more than a little manorexic, and okay, he waxed on and on (and on) about how everyone on planet earth besides him was a philistine.

But he also held me like a cross between a boy, a man, and a desperate teenager, all of which he was. He wrote beautiful love letters, and poetry, and the best book inscriptions you have ever seen all in his glorious left-handed scrawl, and hell, it all came from a pain I think he may, at least at that time, had only ever shared with me.

All that said, my parents were still, understandably horrified.

To hell with matching boutonnieres-- this was MORP, Interlochen's version of Prom (it is "Prom" spelled backwards you see, and "Stag, Fag, or Drag: YOU GO") and this time my date matched his nail polish to my dress.

It was the most romantic dance I ever attended.


5. Michael Arden

O...MG. Babies.

Before Michael Arden was Michael Arden, he was Jerrod Moore and I went to spend "Spring Break 2000" with him in his hometown of Midland, Texas. We drove around. A lot. We sang. We went to the airfield. We stayed up late. We ate all. the. time.
And we went to Prom.
AT MIDLAND HIGH SCHOOL.
There were cowboy hats.
We did not fit in.


6. Michael Arden
Eager to not be outdone by our turn at Midland High, High School besties must go to MORP together and we did. We went in a big group of Theatre heavy-hitters and had an amazing night.
There was a giant yellow school bus.
And gowns made out of duct tape.
And epic dancing.
And bowling.

All of this is to say: six Proms in four years of High School is some serious result.