'Oh, come on, you just _have_ to go'

I have been hearing those words quite frequently of late. Why? I will explain. I'm coming towards the end of my secondary school education (11-16, I'm not sure what the US equivalent is), and at the end of the final year, there is a 'prom', or in other words a semi-formal buffet dance affair which almost everyone goes to. Being a rational, scientifically minded person does not make school life easy, as ~80% of teenagers treat you as a different species. I'm generally well-liked by people, but I'm no socialite. By now you should be getting an idea of what I'm driving at!

In essence, I can think of many things that I would rather do than pay to go along to something I have next to no interest in (read, watch Star Trek/Doctor Who, surf the web, work on my time machine, etc.). People at school seem intent on persuading me to go, using arguments such as 'it's the last time you'll see everyone' (not true, there's a results day, and a trip for high achievers) and 'it's tradition that everyone goes' (it was tradition for about 1000 years to chop people's heads off and make a public spectacle of it...). To me the whole thing seems rather pointless anyway, and after about half an hour I bet most of the people will wish they are somewhere else! It seems to be the product of clique culture & traditionalism, things which I am decidedly allergic to! I wonder how many people have thought critically about whether they really want to go, rather than just thinking 'well everyone else/my boyfriend/my girlfriend/next door's cat is going, so I have to'.

I feel better for having that little rant!