Sitting in my uncle’s car outside Ridgeview High School, my eighteen-year-old prom date Georgia turned to me and revealed that her father had been secretly watching my every move for months.

My name is Brent, a twenty-year-old warehouse worker at Pryce Supply who took a job right out of high school to help support my single mother and younger sister Janelle.

My boss, Sheldon Pryce, was a decent man who trusted me with keys and alarm codes, but he frequently asked odd scenario questions about how I would handle difficult workplace crises.

When Sheldon asked me to step in as a last-minute prom date for his daughter Georgia in exchange for extra financial compensation, I agreed so I could help my mother buy a new washing machine and replace Janelle’s worn-out shoes.

Wearing my grandfather’s old funeral suit with extended sleeves and driving my uncle’s mustard-colored 1998 Buick that squeaked loudly on left turns, I picked Georgia up at her house while Sheldon frantically snapped dozens of pictures.

During the drive over, Georgia remained quiet and distant, leading me to believe she was embarrassed to be attending the dance with her father’s employee.

However, once we parked at the school, Georgia pulled out her phone and showed me a text message from her father that completely shattered my assumptions about the evening.

The text explicitly reminded Georgia not to make things too easy for me, uncovering a strange setup that Sheldon had designed long before we arrived at the dance.

Staring at the screen in my borrowed suit, I realized that taking my boss’s daughter to prom was not a simple favor, but rather the culmination of a months-long hidden test.