Dear One Direction, Will You Go to the Prom With Us?

YouTube never fails to invent new purposes for itself, be it chronicling the on-air flubs of live newscasts or capturing the candid antics of pandas.

Now, the video sharing site has found another function—asking teen idols to prom.

Four high school seniors—Margaret Jones, Michelle Mackin, Katia Confeiteiro and Nicole Russell—from The Ursuline School in New Rochelle have a goal: show up to prom with the boys of One Direction on their arms.

The United Kingdom boy-band found their start on The X Factor as individual singers but swiftly rose to stardom as a band, playing around the world——along the way.

The girls' enterprise kicked off earlier this year, half in jest.

"We joked around about it first," Jones said. "But we started actually campaigning for it in March."

The girls began surreptitiously, slipping the band's manager notes at a Z100 radio appearance. Mackin forked over a prom flier, and Jones penned a missive telling them how fun it could be.

Next up was the Today Show, where the girls inked their messages on cardboard signs and held them aloft, each one asking a different member out as a date.

Though the band has five members—Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis—none will have to go stag, or be left home alone. Jones has graciously volunteered to accompany both Louis and Liam, the two members with girlfriends.

"I'll take the ones who are taken," Jones said. "We'll go as friends."

The girls had their first in-person meeting with One Direction the same day as their Today Show capers. After waiting in a lengthy queue at a J&R Music World signing, the girls passed along more invites, and cupcakes.

But it's not as glamorous as it sounds, they insist—Jones, Mackin, Confeiteiro  and Russell had to camp out overnight to secure standing room, fending off intoxicated revelers to simply catch some shut-eye.

"We were in the city for 24 hours," Confeiteiro said.

"We were disheveled," Jones added, noting the troop was kicked out of the New York Public Library for dozing inside.

Still, the adventure was a success.

"We handed them paper that read: 'Prom?'" Mackin recalled. "They all said yes, but we only had five seconds to talk to them."

The girls, however optimistic, consider that day's acceptance more of a nicety; they're holding out for a more official okay. 

The Ursuline ladies followed with YouTube videos of them making their case for prom, and performing a One Direction song on the beach. And though YouTube comments have a rap for being nasty, the majority of responses have been positive.

"Well, except for one that says, 'My ears are bleeding,'" Mackin said.

(Besides, they included an insurance policy: a caveat under the video reads, 'Be warned—we're no Celine Dions!')

These more concrete efforts—spending the night on a NYC sidewalk, producing choreographed videos—have been supplemented with a steady stream of tweets.

"We have a Twitter, and it's up to over 1,000 followers," Jones said. "People re-tweet what we say, so there's a better chance of One Direction seeing it."

And while their endeavors haven't been noticed by the five singers just yet, the ladies have garnered plenty of media attention, appearing in The Huffington Post and The Daily Mail, and snagging an interview on Hello Giggles, a website started by dotty actress Zooey Deschanel.

And what if One Direction does say yes? Jones says Ursuline's staff is okay with bringing the boy-band to prom, but also acknowledges the stunt, if successful, would be the night's centerpiece.

"We're fine with that," the four note.

They'll have earned the spotlight, though—Jones says the undertaking has come with a fair amount of teasing from friends.

"We walked into French class and our friends were watching the video, tears streaming down their faces from laughing so hard," she said.

As of Thursday, the girls have 15 days until the May 11 prom. But if the pop stars can't clear their schedules, the girls may have to find other dates.

'We'll scrape something together," Jones said.

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Check out the girls' website here.