Can you: fake a proposal as a high schooler?

Like any avid YouTube fan, I've seen many hilarious fake marriage proposal pranks. Whether the proposal is done with a crazy flash mob scene on the streets of New York City or with a simple down-on-one-knee at a restaurant, it’s sure to get people’s attention. Right?
Well, I decided to test this theory with my own fake proposal. On Dec. 27, boyfriend senior Tyler Tanaka and I headed to Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose to put my plan into action.

We decided to keep things simple, just in case we made a fool of ourselves. You know, if anything were to go miserably wrong. Realizing that we didn’t exactly look like we were old enough to get married, we tried to ditch any “high-schooler” clothing, for a more mature look.
Sadly, the way we dressed was the only detail we thought about beforehand. With no prior plan on how to go about executing this prank, Tyler and I decided to just wing it.

We walked around the mall for at least two hours trying to get inspired for a creative proposal idea that would catch people’s attention. And it didn’t help that the mall is pretty much my second home; I got a little distracted halfway through, dragging him into various stores we passed by to just “look.”

After a tedious two and a half hours, we were hopeless. Our brains and feet ached and throbbed as we rested on a bench near the Haagen-Dazs stand. I had a sudden craving for their delicious Belgian Chocolate Chocolate ice cream when I just thought, “How about a simple ring-in-the-food/drink maneuver?” I knew this wasn’t the most romantic proposal ever, but at this point, I just wanted to get it over with. Don’t many girls get proposed to that way, anyway?

I don’t know if people actually used that idea; I had just seen this done in tacky chick-flicks. After I proposed this idea to Tyler (pun not intended), he agreed. He would buy me an ice cream cone and place the $3.50 ring bought from Claire’s 30 minutes prior in it.
After all that time spent walking around, I was hoping that we would get some reaction from bystanders.

Tyler bought me an ice cream as a I waited on the bench nearby. He came back and went on one knee and proposed. Anyone who knows me understands that I wouldn’t be able to act if my life depended on it. So I understood when Tyler started laughing as I attempted to act surprised and taken aback.

From the corners of my eyes, I tried to see if anyone stopped to notice us. And I was devastated when not one person glanced over.

Even though we didn’t think of a very elaborate or thought-out plan, I’ve concluded no, you cannot fake a proposal as a high schooler. Tyler and I, both disheartened and embarrassed from the failure of this prank, quickly got rid of any evidence and left the mall to get comforted by some Chipotle. I didn’t even get to eat the ice cream.