Homecoming is, in many ways, the quintessential teenage experience, according to most of the teen dramas I’ve seen.

The pre-dance photo-ops, the chance to dress up in fancy clothes, and the anticipation of the stifling hot air in the sticky gymnasium all come together to create an atmosphere of excitement.

The usual pre-dance rituals — dressing up, going out to eat with friends, preparing your feet to fit into a pair of heels for an hour and a half before they’re immediately exchanged for converse — are all made a little less formulaic with the idea of what’s to come.

Even finding ways to contort your body to avoid spilling any food onto the $100 pair of satin whatever-you’re-wearing becomes another source of hilarity rather than a tragedy waiting to happen.

And the long, chilly wait in the cold for half an hour — a improvement from last year’s wait time nonetheless — is nearly forgotten once the doors finally open to welcome students inside. I guess the promise of a good time is too strong of a lure to resist, no matter what it took to get there.

Additionally, the image of students walking into the middle of a school gym with their best clothes on looking to have a good time is downright comical.

Though I suppose the DJ, darkness, and dancing that’ll soon take place — but only after it takes a minimum 15 minutes for everyone outside of the middle to loosen up — makes up for the hilarity of the situation.

Despite its shortcomings, of which there are many, homecoming can be a genuinely fun event.

Even the thought of the gym filling up with noisy, sweaty students isn’t much of a deterrent when we’re all in there to celebrate homecoming.