All Dressed Up, No Prom to Go To

Like Cinderella, Emily Appleton dreamed of going to the ball and dancing with her Prince Charming. But the pandemic spoiled everything.

Mila Contreras-Godfrey, Katie Reisig, Gwyn McLear and Melina Bertsekas, high school seniors graduating from Beaver Country Day School, walk through Larz Anderson Park while posing for photographs in their prom dresses, in Brookline, Mass., May 22, 2020. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi

BOSTON—Like Cinderella, Emily Appleton dreamed of going to the ball and dancing with her Prince Charming. But the pandemic spoiled everything.

Now, all the high school senior in South Shore, Massachusetts, can do is stare at the dark blue prom dress hanging in her bedroom since December, and commiserate by phone with schoolmates who are also facing an uncertain future during the pandemic.