A typical chick flick portrays high school dances as nights where moms help their daughters get ready by their bedroom mirror for hours. The boy presents flowers at the front door, before he awkwardly meets the girl’s parents then walks her to his car. At the dance, the girls sip punch as they nervously hope that a guy will ask them to slow dance, and if they are lucky, give them their first kiss. Although this description may somewhat resonate with the high school memories of our parents and teachers, times have surely changed for us.

But some status quo changes began before our parents’ time as well. Our generation is not the first to flip the roles of guy and girl. The Sadie Hawkins dance, where traditionally the girls invite the guys, was introduced in 1937 in Al Capp’s comic strip Li’l Abner. That morning of November 15, comics fans read of a homely woman named Sadie Hawkins whose father created a day where she and other unmarried women raced to pursue bachelors for marriage. Some could say this strip inspired the feminist movement. No one can deny that this provided an excuse for girls to select their date to treat to dinner and to ask to dance.

With any new role comes new pressures. But today, those pressures are not like the movies, Senior Lily Siwak says. “The guy doesn’t ring the doorbell and meet your parents, and there isn’t a limo to pick up the two of you”. At CHS, the most time and effort is put into planning how to ask one’s date.

“Guys are pretty creative sometimes”, Siwak says. Often, however, they find a girl’s help useful in asking her friend. Siwak carried stacks of sticky notes around homecoming time, writing “Hc?” on each during school hours, so that the guy could cover his potential date’s car with them.

Some girls use “pranks” to ask their dates to Peppers as well. Pranks may involve fake-outs such as a mock detention slip or parking ticket. Other asking methods also involve putting the guy on the spot. Almost every year, someone hangs a huge banner on the commons or makes a personalized announcement on the speaker or GNN daily news. According to Junior Richard Hollocher, there is no stage fright involved there. “Guys like it when girls do something that’s embarrassing for both”, he says, “like walking into class wearing a pepper costume”. Many guys are enticed by a scavenger hunt or another interactive method, and most are happy to receive something edible. Hollocher also admitted what the anonymous surveys elucidated; that is, that guys like when girls do something romantic.

Of course, this may depend on the relationship of the pair. Freshman Luca D’Agrosa thinks that the timing of Peppers around Valentine’s Day may be significant. “It makes it more romantic” he says, “and there are more opportunities to be creative”.

“To have a date for Peppers is to have someone to share the night with, whether it’s romantic or just as friends”, says Hollocher. In other cases, “your date is who you stand next to in pictures”, says Siwak. Date or no date, most people go to the dances with a group of friends. Some students that go single can mingle with many friends, and others may meet their future date on the dance floor.

Often, friends coordinate with each other so that everyone who wants a date asks one. According to Siwak, the girls stress more about finding a dress on time, then inviting a guy that is taken. Others keep it a secret, for the element of surprise. For them, there may be more pressure. Hollocher believes that girls and guys feel equally nervous around Peppers and Homecoming, respectively. The concern is that the date is already asked. But D’Agrosa does not think it causes much of a stir for guys around Homecoming. “I think there’s more competition between girls asking a specific guy”.