With the Fire on High

With the Fire on High

by

Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High: 116. Prom Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Emoni and Malachi have seen each other every day and they keep kissing, but there’s no pressure for anything else—and they haven’t talked about long-distance yet. ’Buela steps in front of the TV and asks if Emoni is going to be home today with Angelica and Babygirl, but Emoni says Angelica and Laura are busy getting prom outfits together. ‘Buela asks Emoni when she’s getting her outfit together and refuses to let Emoni change the subject. Emoni says Malachi asked her, but they don’t have the money and she doesn’t want to go. She’d rather stay home and watch Jennifer Lopez movies. This is what Emoni does. Malachi goes to prom and leaves early to see Emoni. They slow dance as Babygirl and ’Buela clap. 
’Buela wants Emoni to have what she sees as a normal high school experience, which means attending the prom. But as Emoni has made clear time and again, she’s not a normal high schooler—she’s a parent, for one, and she’s less interested in classic rites of passage like going to prom. Advocating for herself and getting exactly what she wants on prom night, though, shows Emoni that she can make her life look like how she wants—she just has to tell people what she wants.
Themes