Girl’s Perspective

Senior Makayla Jones steps out of her red Matrix Toyota with her sister, freshman Kennie Jones at the Arlington Parks Mall. Pressing their hands against the gold handle bar on the door, they walk into Dillards. Walking to the Clinique counter, senior Bailey Campbell and junior Liz Evans were seen getting their makeup done. One makeup consultant looks up and smiles at Makayla.

“We’re running a bit behind on schedule,” the consultant said. “We’ll be right with you.”

With chatter and faded electronic music in the background, Kennie chats with her sister about her plans to move to Arkansas after graduation. After waiting for 25 minutes, the consultant, Susan, arrives with brushes in hand.

“What brings you to Clinique?” Susan said.

Because Makayla went into the process of getting her makeup done without a clue, Susan asks her what she would like to be the main focus. Makayla informs her she would like her eyes to pop with her red dress, so Susan briefly leaves and returns with a pallet of various eyeshadows. Dabbing on black powder onto Makayla’s eyelids, Kennie looks apprehensive.

“Does it look okay?” Makayla said

“It looks really good.” Kennie said.

“Okay, good,” Makayla said. “I was worried.”

Once Susan finishes with a smokey eye and eye liner on both lids, Makayla acts jubilant as she glances in the mirror.

Next, Susan squirts Clinique rinse-off foaming cleanser mousse on a cotton ball and dabs onto her cheeks, forehead and chin.

“How’s your skin feeling?” Susan said.

“It feels really clean,” Makayla said. “Refreshed.”

Susan reaches over to the white counter top to grab a Q-Tip. She carefully drags it across Makayla’s face to test the foundation color. Once Susan finishes applying the foundation, Makayla looks into the mirror and dances in her chair of excitement. Soft bristles from a brush rub against Makayla’s cheekbones as Susan applies blush.

“I got a really natural blush, so your eyes could be a nice feature,” Susan said.

To finish the makeup, Susan draws an outline of Makayla’s lips with a red lip liner and then applies Passion Pop lipstick onto Makayla’s lips. Kennie and Makayla get up and head to the registrar to purchase her touch-up lipstick for later.

“Have fun tonight,” Susan said.

Makayla waves goodbye and walks out of the store to head to her car. Once they get into the car, Makayla describes how she was nervous about telling Susan to make her eyes the focus.

As they walk up the driveway, their dad greets them with a big grin.

“You look beautiful,” Makayla’s dad said.

Kennie, Makayla and their dad move to the kitchen to discuss the process of getting her makeup done.

“I was kind worried when she got out five million different colors out [of eyeshadow],” Makayla said.

Friend Janae Peirson arrives a few moments later to do Makayla’s hair for her. She reaches into her Vera Bradley bag and pulls out a plastic bag of colored rubber bands.

“I’ve been practicing on my friend’s hair all week,” Janae said. “Then I realized her hair was way too thick, so I practiced on another friend’s [hair] for a few days.”

Moments later, boyfriend, senior Garrett Baas shows up in a black tux, red vest and white shirt. He smiles once he sees Makayla with her face ready. She well then grabs a brush to loosen any tangles in her hair. Shortly after, Makayla’s grandparents enter through the doorway. Janae continues to focus on her job as hairstylist and begins to fish-tail braid the right side of Makayla’s head. Within a span of about 10 minutes, Garrett’s mom, dad and stepmom arrive. The room slowly grew noisier and more crowded.

“Looks like you’re busy,” Grandma Jones said.

Makayla walks away from the mass of people residing in her kitchen to her room. She slips her dress on with Kennie in shock.

“You look like a rockstar,” Kennie said.

With a wide grin, Makayla steps out of her room and enters her living room. As she makes eye contact with Garrett, he begins to smile and compliment her.

“You look beautiful,” Garrett said.

After the waves of compliments and congratulations, the two travelled to the aforementioned tunnel of greenery for pictures and final goodbyes.

Boy’s Perspective 

Senior Garrett Baas walks to his red Chevy Malibu. Backing out of his driveway, Garrett careens through his small neighborhood. After a few stoplights, he makes it to Rustic Rose Floral and Gifts, a small flower shop, to pick up a red corsage to give to his date, senior and girlfriend Makayla Jones.

Pulling his outfit out of a dark closet, he starts first with the black pants, then the white dress shirt. He pulls his red vest and jacket over his arms. Finally, he grasps the red bow tie from his closet. He reluctantly ties the bow perfectly just to make Makayla happy. The bright red bow matches Makayla’s bedazzled red dress.

Through winding, narrow back-roads and tunnels of greenery, Garrett makes his way up Makayla’s driveway on a dusty dirt road driving cautiously so his car remains clean from his carwash. He enters through the door greeted by her father and sister, freshman Kennie Jones.

“Your boutonniere is on the counter,” Makayla said.

Garrett opens the plastic container and pretends to put boutonniere on his lapel. Garrett then explains what happened when he picked up her corsage.

“They gave it to me, and it was white with red instead of red with white,” Garrett said. “I felt bad for telling them to fix it.”

Amongst the chatter of the room, the tension builds to see Makayla to step out of her room with dress and makeup finished. At this point, family members and friends surround the couple. Parents, grandparents and siblings all begin to make a crowd around Makayla as she shows off her bright red dress for the first time.

The exuberant expression on Garrett’s face shows his nervousness starting to wash away as he sees his date ready for prom.

“You look beautiful,” Garrett said.

After the waves of compliments and congratulations, the two travelled to the aforementioned tunnel of greenery for pictures and final goodbyes.

Gallery • 9 Photos

(Mia Trahan)