After the Eaton fire, they didn’t think prom would happen. Now these teens are ready to dance

How were you and your family affected by the Eaton fire?

I was awake [on the day of the fire], making sure that it wasn’t getting close to us, and once the smoke started coming to our house, I was like, “We have to leave” because I have a younger brother. He was 2 years old at the time and the smoke was going to really impact him. So we got packed up. We got our dogs. My brother has two parrots, so I had to put them in a crate. My dad’s cousin offered us a place to stay in North Hollywood and it was perfect. We had a bed, we had a couch, we had a stove and a shower, so we were like, “It’s perfect.”

We stayed for like a month and I wasn’t able to go to the first week [back at] school, so I was really behind and I missed my friends. I had to get rid of a lot of my stuff, but I’m glad that we’re all safe and I was able to stick with my family. Almost all the houses in front of my house are not livable and now there’s a family living in a trailer on my street in front of their house, since there’s nothing left.

Tell us about your outfit.

I was going for school colors, trying to play it safe. So like a dark color and then I wanted glitter, but it was just solid fabric, so I just sprayed a whole bunch of glitter on it.

We visited Altadena Girls and I was able to get expensive, high-end beauty products and new makeup, and I was so happy. It made me focus on something else, rather than all the stuff I lost.

How does it feel to be at prom?

I am so happy. I have been looking forward to this day to spend with my friends. I feel like it’s such a huge milestone because my parents didn’t go to prom. My dad didn’t graduate high school. My mom graduated from a continuation school, so it’s really big that I’m able to get here today and have their support as well.