With a hit of my snooze button I started another day. Today would be like any other day except I was waking up in a completely different state and would be attending a new high school. I had just moved to Ohio from Denver Colorado and my parents thought they would be helping me, but they made everything worse. Just a couple weeks prior I was a forced to see a therapist. I was diagnosed with social anxiety, which just wasn’t acceptable in the Stein family. Since our family was a very publicly know family, my parents were horrified about anybody finding out about my condition. My father told people he was just branching out his business so he decided to relocate our family. In reality, he was running away from truth and the disappointment I brought the family.
“Nikki! You’re going to be late for your first day of school.” My mom yelled from the bottom of the stair case. Just then I realized I had hit the snooze button a couple more times and I was recapping what had these last couple of weeks.

“Coming mom!” I yelled while getting up.
“Great.” I thought while getting up a new school full of people to hate me. As soon as I walked down stairs I realized my parents had left and I was expected to walk to school as usual. I looked at the clock and it was already seven thirty and school started at eight. So I grabbed an apple, walked out the door, and began my walk. As I started walking and thinking I began to feel angry. It bothered me how my parents thought that we could just move and everything would be fine. Their decision just made my anxiety worse with all the moving and new schools.
As soon as I walked into my new school I felt an immediate weight lifted off my shoulders. I wasn’t sure why but all the welcoming smiles made me feel so relieved. As the day went on, I began to feel better than I had in a long time. Then sixth period came and as I introduced myself to my new teacher I laid my eyes on the cutest boy I had ever seen. Then I was told to go sit next to him. I was so nervous yet excited all at the same time.

“Hi I’m chad” He said with a little smirk.
“Oh hi. I’m Nikki.” I said a little embarrassed.
“Trust me I know your name . All the guys in school do.” he said smiling.
I just sat there blushing,
The next day I couldn’t wait for sixth period. The day went by so slow, but finally the ending bell of fifth period rang. I darted to sixth period so excited. As soon as I walked in I saw Chad he looked at me and waved me over to him with a smile. When I sat down, my heart sank. On my desk was a flyer for prom. My anxiety came flooding back I wanted to go so bad, but there was no way I could take it. Then the next words out of Chads mouth crushed me.
“Will you go to prom with me Nikki?” he asked so innocently.
Soon I felt my ears getting hot and my eyes began to water. The next thing I knew I was in the hallway crying. As I put my head up, I saw Chad coming toward me and came and sat down next to me. I felt so embarrassed, and then he broke the silence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know asking you was such a bad thing.” He said awkwardly.
“No it’s not that. I actually really want to go with you. That’s the problem.” I said through tears.
“What’s the problem?” he asked worried.
“It’s so hard to talk about and totally embarrassing.” I admitted.
“ Look Nikki, I really like and you can tell me anything. I really want to go with you so I’ll do anything”
“Okay” I said with a sigh. That’s when the whole truth came out. I told chad everything and when I was done I felt a lot better. “That’s it” I said shyly.
“Wow you’ve been through a lot in these last couple of weeks. I had no idea. I understand that you concerns about going but please go with me. I promise if you ever feel uncomfortable we can leave.” He said.
“I just don’t want to ruin your good time” I admitted
“The only way I won’t have a good time is if you’re not there with me”
I only smiled and went back to class. When chad walked in he sat next to me asked
“Is that a yes?”
“Of course it is.” I said smiling.
As I slipped on my beautiful black and purple dress I began to feel like a princess. As I was just finishing up my makeup I heard my mom call my name
“Nikki! Chad’s here. Come down stairs!” My mom hollered.
As I began walking down stairs the last week began to recap in my mind. Chad and I have been dating for almost a week and my family and I have been closer than ever. My mom had taken a day off of work to take me shopping for a dress which made me feel very good about myself. Besides that though school was going great and I had made a ton of new friends. Everything was finally staring to fall into place.
“Are you ready to take pictures Nikki?” My dad questioned.
”Oh yeah sorry.” I said quickly realizing I had just been standing there.
After we finished taking pictures to my surprise there was a beautiful black limo waiting for us. As I turned around in surprise my dad just winked at me with a smile and that is when I knew my dad finally understood me.
When we first got to the dance I had a really hard time with all the noise and so many people. After a while though I began to calm down and actually have a really good time. We danced a lot and met up with a few friends. Then I needed a little bit of a break so we sat down at some tables. While Chad went to go get us some drinks, the DJ announced the next few songs would be slow ones. Then to my surprise as soon as I looked up there was Chad holding one hand out.
“May I have this dance” he asked ever so politely.
As tears filled my eyes, I managed to say “Yes.”
And that’s how Prom ended with one last magical dance.