Injunction: Writing From a Photo

This one's a pretty simple technique for kicking off some free
writing: just enter a word at random into Google Image Search, then let
your writing be inspired by the first image that comes up. Here, I
typed in the word "photo", and the first image was this rather
unfortunate prom picture.

The '94 Prom

I met her as she fitted me for shoes at the shoe store: she was white,
but had a black name. A friend at work said her nipples were green, but
I refused to believe him. Sadly, however, I wouldn't get the chance to
prove it either.

We "dated" for a good two weeks, which included a marathon SAT study
session while watching Seinfeld, making out on her sister's
couch, and a very bad steak dinner at the strip mall at my house. It
should have been obvious she wasn't into it.

Nevertheless, the prom came along. The cutest girl on the track team
all but begged me to take her, but I turned her down in favor of the
shoe store girl with the black name. Big mistake.

Things were fucked from the very first moment I picked her up in the
family mini van. The mini van was the "nice" car at the time, the other
option was The Tank, a full-size station wagon with faux wood panelling
and mismatched hubcabs. I gave her a rose, she pouted and stared
straight ahead. I put on her favorite Billy Joel tape, she leered out
the window and said nothing.

In the line up to the front door at the resort where the prom was held,
guys my age were brimming with horny tension. Hotel rooms had been
lined up, condoms secretly purchased, stashes of beer tucked away in
coolers for later. 5 happy couples sat at our table, but all she talked
about was lacrosse practice.

She had an early 6am practice the next morning, she insisted, and would
have to leave soon. I told her I loved her. She leered back and spat up
her steak.

An hour later, the soon-to-be class valedictorian drove her home. I
danced with an ex-girlfriend and passed out with a wine cooler in my
lap while watching Poetic Justice in my buddy's basement three
hours later.