Charlotte wrote this list of nine goals when she was 13, planning to cross off each item before high school graduation. She’s completed four, including making the honor roll and scoring high on the SAT. However, she is not student council president, nor has she gotten her driver’s license. She also wants to plan a “magical” prom, get a promposal from a prospective date, and celebrate Senior Week with her best friend, Kassie.

Charlotte describes prom as the most significant night of a teen’s life, and she lists many ways in which the night can go wrong. She believes that it can take only a millisecond for tragedy to strike, referencing the horror movie Carrie, in which a high school girl is bullied and humiliated and then doused with blood at her own prom. For Char, prom is a rite of passage, the culmination of four years of stress and her final chance to be a teen. She is student council vice president and has created a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation detailing her idea for a prom theme: “Around the World in One Magical Night.”

Today, Char is ready for school, though her mother is running late, as usual.