According to sophomore student body president Quincy Morrison, Winter Formal will take place on February 29th. So prepare yourselves, Eagles, for the agony and the ecstasy of the dreaded high school dance.

Lucky for you, Miya Nash collected some tips, tricks, and some horror stories to avoid, from the Sun Journal staff.

How to ask somebody to a dance

Step 1: (Aaliyah) Just don’t.
Step 2: (Jake) Ask all their friends to make sure they will say yes.
Step 3: (Maddie) Ask them low key before you do it in front of people.
Step 4: (Kira) Present them with flowers.
Step 5: (Ava) Be creative and stand out. Do a flash mob.
Step 6: (Miya) Freak out before you do it & wimp out at the last second.
Step 7: (Aubree) Dances are stupid.

Horror Story One: The sting of rejection

“My freshman year, I didn’t think to ask the guy I wanted to go to Winter Formal with before I asked him with a giant poster in front of my entire class. I was really excited and was very certain that he was going to say yes. I had spent two hours working on the poster the night before trying to get it to perfection. I was ready and 100% positive that I was going to have a date to Winter Formal. I get into the classroom ready to ask him, and I start freaking out. I walked up to him, showed him the sign, and asked him. There was a long pause, and then finally he says, “ Sorry, but I am going to have to say NO”.
My heart was torn apart. For the rest of that class period, I was crying. My friends tried to comfort me, but nothing would cheer me up. I was just so upset that I didn’t have a date to the dance, especially someone that I really liked.”

Horror Story Two: Date Drama

“ I started talking to this guy and we went out to lunch a few times right before Hoco and he ended up asking me to go to the dance with him. We went with mutual friends, but still, it was awkward to say the least. At one point I went to get my camera to take some pictures for Sun Journal coverage of the event. As we were walking back out onto the dancefloor, a slow song started. My date asked me to dance but I had the camera around my neck, which would be between us. I tried to think of a way to dance with him without the camera being in the way but by the time I could have put it away and got back to the dance floor, the song would have probably been over. So I told him that I really needed to get some pictures. I could tell he was a little upset but I didn’t think it would be too big of a deal.
I texted him the next day and told him that I was really sorry and that I shouldn’t have ditched him for the slow dance. He repeatedly said that it was fine and that it wasn’t a big deal. We agreed that it just didn’t work out but we really wanted to be friends.
The week after the dance, one of my friends asked me why I was such a jerk to my Hoco date. He had he had told people about it and was really making me out to the bad guy. I know that I was wrong, and I hurt him, he deserved to be angry, right? So I shook it off, I figured it would all blow over quickly. Nope, I found out he had still been talking about months after the fact, still making me out to be the bad guy, but if he was so angry, why didn’t he tell me that when I asked if he was? Why did he say he wanted to stay friends then talk trash about me? I don’t know why, but what can I say, it’s high school.”