Homecoming is fast approaching. Everyone is excited about getting asked. There’s a certain thrill to opening your door in the morning and finding a colorful poster on your doorstep. 

You take a picture and send it to your friends. They’re ecstatic, asking question after question. Who asked you? Are they cute? Do you know them? 

Thoughts are running through your mind. How are you going to respond? Are your friends in your group? Where should I buy a dress? 

Everyone knows the feeling.

But what if when you flip over the poster all you feel is disappointment. Perhaps you audibly groan. 

This is not who you wanted to go with. Maybe you didn’t have any one particular person in mind. But you know. Your palms are already sweating. You absolutely cannot go to homecoming with this person. You know your date needs to be uber attractive, tall but not too tall, easy to talk to, confident but not too confident, nice but not too nice, have a sense of humor, and many other essential characteristics. But what happens when they aren’t up to par? There’s no way you could go on a date with them all day long. Because when you think about it, with the day date, dinner, the dance, and maybe an after party, the date is about six hours. 

You tell your friends. They send back the expected replies; “Oh well, it’ll be fun anyway”, “he’s nice”, “you don’t even have to talk to him”, etc. 

But you don’t want to go with someone who’s only good quality is that he’s generally a “nice guy”.  Is it an option to say no? Do you need to come up with an excuse? Could you just flat out refuse? 

I asked some people what they thought about their date dilemmas and have come to a conclusion. Going on an awkward date is part of life. Especially in high school. There’s nothing fun about a dance if there isn’t an element of excruciating awkwardness. 

I’ve decided that it’s good if you have no interest in your date. That means there’s no pressure. No room for embarrassment. Therefore you can just have fun and dance like there’s no place like homecoming.