It’s only a few more days before one the biggest events of the year: homecoming dance. All this hype, anticipation, and zeal are due to the days that build up towards the dance. There’s the traditional pajama day to start off spirit week, the girls’ Powderpuff game,  and the hallway decorating competition for each grade.  But, even before spirit week, excitement over homecoming has already started. From mid-September until today, I’ve seen pictures, videos, and witnessed the most clever and romantic ways to ask a date to homecoming at Niles West.

In a perfect world every girl would at least be walking around with a bouquet of flowers, holding a sign that says “Homecoming?” from their date. Sadly not every girl at Niles West is lucky enough to noticed by a creative and daring guy.

Junior Olivia Rusek is one of the lucky ones.  Around a week ago, Olivia walked into the cafeteria and followed a path of volleyballs that spelled out “Will you go to homecoming with…” at the end of it, she saw one of her best friends, junior Zachary Gelfand holding a volleyball that had “Me” written on it.

Seeing proposals like that can make others feel lonely, jealous, and even depressed. But going stag could actually be better than all the all the attention from being asked.  How?  That thrill and happiness from the period of time while you’re being asked to go is just one of the many opportunities in life to get a bouquet of flowers.  Not to be pessimistic, but so many things can go wrong with a date.

Dancing with a guy and realizing that they have a serious case of BO in all of the heat is not a pleasant experience. If that person is a date it gets hard to abandon them on the dance floor without looking like a complete jerk. Suddenly girls get trapped in the smell for the rest of the night, unable to escape for fear of being rude. On the other hand, the people going solo can ditch that as soon as possible.

To be honest, there are only three legitimate reasons for going to the Homecoming Dance with a date:

One: Couples. It would definitely be something new if two people in an established relationship didn’t go together.

Two:  A pair of happy people are attracted to each other but aren’t official, and their friendship is ready to go onto the next level.

Three: The solution to every single teenager’s fear of going alone to a social event (although, if you ask me, that’s irrational).  Going with a friend (a fake date) is becoming a popular trend. This way no one is partner-less for the group pictures.  It’s nice because that picture will be there to look back on, but the couple won’t be committed to the same person for the whole duration of the dance.

There really isn’t anything wrong with going stag to the dance. Homecoming is a huge opportunity to meet new people and socialize. There will be plenty of other people going without a date, so you will probably never be alone.