What You Worried About At Your '90s School Dance

School wasn't always the best time. But when the school dance came around, well, even the worst high school experience was injected with a little bit of hope. If you didn't have to concern yourself about a date (you already had one, were going solo or just with your friends, the latter of which was encouraged where I went to school), then a '90s school dance could be the perfect thing to take your mind of homework, grades, or any other terrible school politics. But that's mostly just because your school dance had its own unique set of worried that superseded all your other worries. Put that together with your unique '90s social anxieties, and you'd literally not think of anything else for weeks.

Once you'd got past the weeks of stressing about your school dace, there were things you worried about when you were actually at the dance, too. Things like the perfect school dance playlist, and whether your outfit was showing enough midriff, or whether your purple lipstick was smudged across your face were all deep concerns at your dance in the '90s. So take a little trip down memory lane and remember these 12 worries you had at your school dance as a kid in the '90s.

1. That The Elaborate Plot Some Bet Your Crush Had Made About You Would Be Revealed

You'd seen too many movies. As much as you intellectually knew Hollywood plots were stupid, there was still part of you that was kind of scared you'd get to your dance only to find out, in a series of unfolding, dramatic events, that your crush/date had made some kind of bet about you that led you to this very difficult moment. Although the silver lining would be that your crush would have fallen for you in the process...

2. That You And Your Class Didn't Have A Good Enough Choreographed Dance To A Fatboy Slim Song

One thing every dance needed in the '90s was a choreographed dance. Having the perfect one brought high stress to every '90s dance scenario.

3. That You'd Forget The Steps To The Steps' "5, 6, 7, 8..."

Worse than not having a good enough dance? Forgetting the steps to an already famous one.

4. That The Girls On One Side-Boys On The Other Side Dance Floor Split Would NEVER END

As much as you were never going to be the one to bring the boys and the girls together, you still worried excessively about the fact that the boys on one side and girls on the other split would never, ever end. Thankfully, that was rarely, if ever, the case.

5. That Your Romy & Michelle Hairstyle Would Lose Its Volume

All the sweating and dancing was NOT good for vertiginous hairstyles.

6. That You Were Spending More Time In The Bathroom Gossiping With Your Friends Than Tearing Up The Dance Floor

Going to the bathroom in huge groups to gossip was FUN, of course, but there was always part of you that wondered if you were missing out on some precious action time out on the d-floor as you and your friends dusted your chests with powdered shimmer in the bathroom.

7. That You'd Mess Up Your Dance When It Was Your Turn To Go In The Middle Of The Circle

One thing that always happened at school dances in the '90s was that a circle would form, and everyone would take a shot at dancing solo in the middle of it, sometimes with glow sticks. The thought of messing up your moment was TERRIFYING.

8. That Your Hair Would Get Stuck In Your Super Sticky Lip Smacker Lip Gloss

All that super sticky lip gloss was a nightmare for hair flicking. Getting it stuck in your lipgloss would just make your hair all gross and globby. Real problems.

9. That You Accidentally Rubbed Your Eye Smudging Blue Eye Shadow Across Your Face

Makeup worries in the '90s were rough, especially because smudging blue eyeshadow across your forehead was something you couldn't easily bounce back from.

10. That Your Gelled Fringes Were Starting To Lose Their Crispiness

Sweat + hair gel = not the style you started with.

11. That Your Body Glitter Was Getting On Your Crush During The Slow Dance

As important as body glitter was to getting a date, it was also super embarrassing to realize that after a slow dance, they were covered in it too. And a surefire way to get their parents asking some prying questions...

12. That You'd Jump The Wrong Way In The "Macarena"

There was nothing more mortifying at a '90s school dance than jumping the wrong way to everyone else at the turn of the chorus in "Macarena". NOTHING.

Images: Buena Vista Pictures; Giphy (6)