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Answer by Michelle Roses Ridlehoover:
As someone who has spent her whole life dancing, I couldn’t wait for my first school dance. It was 1987. I wore my Forenza T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Tretorns, and my grey Esprit mini skirt.
I had a great time dancing with my friends and then, at the end of the night, IT came on. “Purple Rain,” Prince. Benji K. crossed the lobby of our school. (We had our dances in the LOBBY!) He took my hand and pulled me to the floor, about 3 feet from my friends who were giggling and “having a cow.”
I put my hands on his shoulders. He put his hands on my waist and we started to sway, stiffly, in a circle. All I could think was, “Is he gonna go for it? Is he going to put his hands on my butt?” Purple Rain is a pretty long song, but it finished, and “Never Say Goodbye” by Bon Jovi came on. We kept swaying and then, when Jon Bon Jovi hits a high note, Benji’s hands slid down onto my butt!
Well, you would have thought I had gotten naked for all the ruckus that it caused. My friends screamed, teachers moved in, and Benji had to “have a talk” with the gym teacher. One of the science teachers asked me if I was OK. I couldn’t stop smiling. A boy had touched my tush! Best dance ever!
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Answer by Caroline Zelonka:
Seventh grade, first dance ever. I was ever the dork, but for some reason, this cute boy (a fellow “gifted program” student and music geek) chose to hang out with me. I was blown away; as I said, he was cute and seemed to like me.
Anyway, we spent the first hour or so at the dance talking and exploring the place. I remember sitting inside one of the speakers, which was vibrating to the beat and probably destroying our eardrums. He asked if I wanted to step outside, not for anything bad, just so we could hear each other.
So we did. And the door locked behind us, so we couldn’t get back in.
Now, considering this was my first dance, and I was my parents’ first child, they set strict rules about it. They were going to pick me up at 9 p.m. (dance ended at 11 p.m.), and when they came, I was not there.
Horror of horrors, they looked around for awhile, then stopped the band and got up on stage to ask if anyone had seen me(!!!). Considering I was a shy, unpopular seventh grader (junior high consisted of grades 7 through 9), nobody knew who I was. And those who did would never have copped to this. I was mortified.
After this, they walked around outside, and that’s when my dad found me, and grabbed me away like I was about to get raped. Nothing was happening, we were just sitting on the sidewalk making awkward conversation as 13-year-olds are wont to do.
My dad was so mad, he called the boy’s parents. I was grounded for almost a year and was so embarrassed I never talked to that boy again until 2009, when we reconnected on Facebook and had some closure (well, I had closure, the boy’s dad just laughed and warned him some girls’ dads would be like this).
My first dance. I still have pleasant memories at the thought that this guy liked me, despite my looks and lack of social graces. I didn’t go to another dance until I was in high school, but no prom or whatever was as memorable as this.
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