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" Elizabeth Eulberg is the author of the new must-read book Prom and Prejudice. It&amp;#039;s about Lizzie Bennet who has no interest in prom or the pompous Will Darcy. So when Will asks her to prom, she suddenly may have a romance - and prom date - she wasn&amp;#039;t expecting! CG had Elizabeth give us her very best advice you can&amp;#039;t miss about the pros of going to prom and why it&amp;#039;s okay if you decide to stay home too. And be sure to read through to the end for a special prom giveaway!. But what if I don&amp;#039;t get asked to prom? I&amp;#039;ll totally admit, this thought went through my mind a lot my junior year of high school (okay, okay, maybe a little bit sophomore year...and freshman year). At the time, I was so worried that I would be stuck at home, alone that night while all my friends got glammed up and went with their dates. Sure, I didn&amp;#039;t go to one or two Homecomings (alright none of them!), but this was prom. My friends started to get asked and I was happy for them. But a thought would start to creep into my head, what about me? And then I got the call. (This was back before you texted...or had cellphones, so yes, someone actually called me on my parent&amp;#039;s home phone!) I was asked if I had a prom date because someone was going to ask me, and not just anyone, this super cool and nice guy who is friends with the guys taking all my friends. It was the perfect scenario. Not only was I going to prom, but I was going to be with my closest friends. I loved going shopping for my dress and getting dolled up. But what I remember most from my prom was how much fun we all had. There were about a dozen of us who carpooled to Madison (which is about 45 minutes away from the tiny town I grew up in) to go to dinner at this really yummy Italian restaurant that was in an old converted church. We then went to the big dance, which oddly enough, wasn&amp;#039;t even close to the highlight of the evening. Afterwards, the movie theatre in town hosted all the juniors so we put our normal clothes back on and went to see My Cousin Vinny. Then everybody came over to my house and we just hung out and laughed. Because most of us were just going as friends, we didn&amp;#039;t have any couple drama (not that all couples create drama, but you know who I&amp;#039;m talking about!). There was no fighting, no pressure, nothing but a bunch of friends hanging out, getting dressed up and having a blast. Let&amp;#039;s face it, You&amp;#039;ve got enough pressure in your life - grades, work, parents (by the way, no matter how old or accomplished you become, your parents can still yell at you - mine do it all the time!). Prom shouldn&amp;#039;t be one of them. At the end of the day, it&amp;#039;s just a night. If you go, remember to have fun. If you don&amp;#039;t have a date to go with and want to go, go with a group of girl friends. And if you don&amp;#039;t go, do something else. Going to prom isn&amp;#039;t a life-altering event (this is something I didn&amp;#039;t realize at 16). It won&amp;#039;t make you a smarter, richer, more successful person if you go. Sure, there might be some people who will judge you if you don&amp;#039;t go, but seriously, do you care what people like that think of you? But if you choose to go, make the most of it, as you should with everything in your life. Make it fun! Make it memorable! Laugh! Or you can curl on up on the couch, put on a fun, semi-cheesy prom/dance movie (my suggestions: Footloose or Pretty in Pink) with your favorite comfort food. Enjoy! One last piece of advice: just remember when picking out your dress and how you&amp;#039;re wearing your hair, that you may write a novel about prom someday and be asked to share that photo to the world. If only someone would have told me that, I may have opted for less hairspray and not so many white bows. But live and learn...and laugh! Are you planning on going to prom or are you sitting it out? Tell us about your plans in the comments section below. AND, want to win the Utimate Prom Survival kit? Click here to win the book Prom and Prejudice, a 10 megapixel digital camera and a designer clutch filled with all your prom essentials! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/prom/a13358/prom-and-prejudice-essay-and-giveaway/>