Teen’s Crush Rejects Him For Prom, He Shows Up Anyway

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Taking His Shot

His shoulders were tensed as he stood in the middle of the hallway, small beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he tried to force a smile. Despite trying his hardest, his lips would not budge. The girl’s eyes found his, looking right through him.

Despite his nerves, he took a step forward and bared his soul to her as he asked her to be his date to prom. But her response broke his heart and what followed was even more horrifying.

Living Nightmare

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Coby Blackburn had never been a fan of school dances. To many, it was a time to celebrate their achievements but for Coby, it was a living nightmare.

Why did he dread it so much? It all stemmed from his inability to find a date. Since he was a junior, he had avoided school dances at all costs. He was no stranger to the anxiety of looking for a date. But he had a change of heart with his upcoming prom.

Senior Prom

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Coby attended one of the best schools in all of California. He was a senior and this prom would be his last ever. He committed to doing everything in his power to find a date and to make an appearance at his senior prom.

He had never been to any school dance before and he didn’t really know where to start looking for a date. But he knew how important it was to ask a girl to the event.

Girl Of His Dreams

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For an entire week, he thought of the perfect way to ask a girl to prom. It gave him sleepless nights but eventually, he knew who he wanted to take to prom. For years, Coby had had a massive crush on a fellow classmate.

He thought she was perfect. She was beautiful, smart, witty and her smile lit up an entire room. She had an undeniable twinkel in her eyes. But that wasn’t why Coby wanted to take her to prom.

Lizzy Bateman

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She was one of his closest friends. Although Coby and Lizzy Bateman weren’t best friends, they were close enough to hang out outside of school hours. They would see each other over the weekends and go to the movies together.

But there was one problem that Coby feared. He was her friend, which meant that he had seen Lizzy during her best and worst times. He knew her better than most people, this meant that he knew what she wanted on a date.

Tall, Dark And Handsome

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Lizzy like the tall, dark and handsome type. She wanted a six-foot, broad-shouldered, ball-punting football player. But sadly, Coby was none of those things. He was the exact opposite of Lizzy’s type.

Would she ever be able to see him as more than a friend? He imagined a world where she would give him a chance to be her prom date. It was all he wanted.

Time To Ask

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Prom was approaching fast and Coby was getting more and more anxious. He had watched as several ball-punting players asked Lizzy to prom, but she shot all of them down. Perhaps she was waiting for Coby to ask.

Knowing that the most beautiful girl in his school was waiting for him, Coby knew it was time. He had planned to ask her casually during lunch or perhaps the next time they went to the movies. But now he knew he had to go big.

Making A Poster

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He thought about it for hours on end. He raked his brain to find the perfect way to ask her to prom. It was important for the gesture to be massive. He was determined to show her that he was worthy, more so than those ball-punters.

That night, he sat at his work desk and made a sweet poster that would help him relay his message to Lizzy. He knew what she would like. Her put inside jokes and movie references all over the poster. If only he had known how everything would come crashing down around him.

It Was Time

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He went to bed with a smile on his face. And before he knew it, he was at school, standing in front of Lizzy in the hallway. He eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at him, confused by what was going on.

She forced a smile, but Coby could tell that it wasn’t genuine. She looked around the hall, uncertain. If he didn’t ask her right now, he would never get the chance to again.

“Will You Go With Me?”

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He stumbled over his words as he asked, “Would you like to go to the dance with me?” He would be able to handle it if she said no, but he wouldn’t enjoy it. He reminded himself that the worst she could do was say ‘no’.

Lizzy responded with, “Ew. Not ever.” He saw a fire burning within her eyes, one he had never seen before. She took a step back and shook her head. The students watching all started laughing, but that wasn’t even the worst of it.

When It Rains, It Pours

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One of the students knocked Coby’s poster out of his hands and stepped on it. The entire hall erupted in an even wilder roar, and when Coby looked up, he found Lizzy laughing.

His shattered heart broke into tinier pieces, scattering before him with the torrents of laughter. He picked up his poster, his eyes damp with tears, and walked away.

Numb

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The weekend passed with Coby sulking in his room. Although he didn’t mind Lizzy’s rejection, he couldn’t understand why she’d put him on display like that. She’d laughed at him.

To make it worse, one of the students streamed the rejection as it happened. Coby was trending on multiple social networks. He’d woken up to scores of mean comments on Saturday. Sunday had been worse. How could he walk into school now that Monday was here?

Uncaring

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Coby had always thought that his school valued bravery, happiness, and care. It had taken a lot of courage for him to do what he did when he asked Lizzy to go to prom with him.

But Lizzy and the other students hadn’t cared about him at all when they witnessed his rejection. And now, he had to face something else he never saw coming.

A Warrior At Heart

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Despite the humiliation Coby faced on Friday, he still showed up to school that morning. He expected more ridicule from the students and had spent the morning preparing for it.

But as he walked into the hall, his eyes glued to the floor, he noticed the students around him were quiet. Coby looked up, and that’s when he saw it.

They Come For Him

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Three cheerleaders stood before him with posters akin to the one he’d made for Lizzy. They were all asking him to prom. Unsure of what was happening, Coby took a step back.

But from his left, five more cheerleaders appeared, each with their posters. Another five emerged on his right. Coby looked around, remembering the pain he’d endured three days ago in this same hall. What was happening?

What Did They Want?

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As the 13 girls all cornered him, Coby had no idea what they wanted from him. Were they here to humiliate him even further?

He had already had his heart broken by Lizzie’s cruel rejection just a few days earlier – the last thing he needed was more ridicule from all the girls on the cheerleading team.

A Plan

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The truth is, Coby was right. The girls were all there because of what had happened on the previous Friday. The video of Coby’s rejection had circulated around the whole school – everybody knew about it.

The 13 cheerleaders knew that Coby’s promposal hadn’t gone according to plan, so they decided to do something about it.

Their Goal

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“You’re loved, and worthy, and awesome,” the head cheerleader said. “And we all want you to be our date to the dance,” another chimed in, wrenching a gasp from Coby.

Coby took a shaky step forward. The head cheerleader held out a hand to him, and he reluctantly took it. The rest of the cheerleaders came and hugged him as a group. His eyes teared, but there was no pain this time around.

Kindness

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Alyssa Buckley explained how she had approached the other girls after seeing how crushed Coby was. “Let’s get a group of girls together and ask him [to the dance] to show him that he’s loved and worthy and deserves to be going to homecoming with somebody,” she explained in an interview.

So, that’s just what the 13 girls did. They approached Coby in the hallway where he had been so humiliated, brandishing signs like the one he had made for Lizzie.

Caring

Facebook – Dakota-Nelton

So, just as Coby had demonstrated the “bravery” that encompassed his school’s motto, the cheerleading squad stepped up to demonstrate the “care” part.

They wanted Coby to attend the dance, and they didn’t want him to have to do it alone. The signs they held were an ironic nod to his previous promposal disaster. But how did Coby feel about it?

Making Things Better

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The actions of the kind girls on the cheerleading squad had the desired effect on Coby. “I felt like one of the popular kids in school, which I’m really not,” he said of the heartwarming gesture.

But what gave the girls the amazing idea to approach Coby and ask him to the prom as a group in the first place?

National Bullying Prevention Month

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According to the media outlets that interviewed the girls about their kind gesture, the cheerleading squad was inspired to perform an act of kindness for Coby because it was National Bullying Prevention Month.

After they had seen how the other students had humiliated him, they needed to come up with a plan to disapprove of all the students who had jeered at him.

The Last Laugh

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As the girls approached Coby, they attracted a lot of attention from the other students. A crowd quickly formed in the hallway, and everyone gasped and shrieked when the girls strode up to him.

No doubt, they all thought there would be a repeat of the drama that had occurred on the previous Friday, but they were wrong.

Caught On Camera

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Just like before, the students watching everything unfold whipped out their phones and started recording, hoping for some kind of juicy altercation.

But when the cheerleaders’ intentions became clear, jealousy rippled through all the boys in the crowd. Coby wasn’t just going to the prom with one pretty girl – he was going with 13! He got the last laugh in the end.

First 13 Dates

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Of course, Coby accepted the kind group of girls’ invitation. And the irony that his first date wouldn’t be with one girl, but 13 wasn’t lost on the teenager.

While he practiced slow dancing with all the girls, he quipped: “It’s weird how the first date is with so many girls at once.” But Coby wasn’t the first boy to be humiliated during his promposal, and sadly, he certainly won’t be the last.

Horribly Wrong

YouTube – Patrick Smith

Another student’s promposal went horrendously wrong, humiliating him in front of an entire stadium of people.

In April 2015, Patrick Smith was excited about prom, but the way he went about asking the girl he wanted to go with was anything but private. And her reply wasn’t what he had been expecting at all.

Public Humiliation

YouTube – Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith, a student in Park Ridge in New Jersey, asked a girl named Jen Malespina to go to prom with him during a sports event at his school.

He walked onto the middle of the field and approached Jen. Nervous with so many eyes on him, he stammered: “Is there any way you would wanna come to prom with me?”

Over The Loudspeakers

YouTube – Patrick Smith

Patrick’s promposal was within earshot of the microphone, so it rang out over the loudspeakers. So, it wasn’t just Jen who heard it, the entire crowd who had assembled to watch the event heard it too.

As if everyone in the stands hearing his promposal wasn’t bad enough, Jen’s response was not positive at all.

Thousands Of People

YouTube – Patrick Smith

You see, unbeknownst to Patrick, Jen had already agreed to go to the prom with someone else. To his horror, she turned him down in front of the entire stadium of 2,000 people.

And, if his rejection being on public display wasn’t bad enough, there was footage from multiple angles that recorded his blunder as well.

Cruel Teenagers

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Of course, Patrick’s disastrously awkward promposal went insanely viral. And, because teenagers can be extremely cruel, the humiliating event took years for Patrick to live down.

As long as there are high school students, there will be viral promposal fail videos. At least Coby was lucky and got the last laugh in the end.