Kristen Thomas and De'Chara Moore put on their "Sunday best" on Friday for the Mesquite High School Senior Breakfast, but it just wasn't good enough.
The seniors were turned away by school administrators for violations of the district's famously strict dress code.
"No, you can't come in," is what Thomas said school officials told her.
Students said as many as 20 people were not allowed into the event.
The two girls said they added sweater and shawls to their outfits to cover tops that otherwise would have been out of dress code.
Thomas said she went as far as to pin her sweater to her dress to make it one piece, but it wasn't good enough.
"I was just like, you know, this can't be happening. Maybe I'm dreaming. But it was actually true," she said.
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The invitation included special instructions that told students to wear their "Sunday best."
"I could go to church like this with no problem at all," Moore said.
"I'm sure that if I was to go into church like this, I'd get, 'Kristen, you look nice,' not, 'Why is she wearing that? That isn't church appropriate,'" Thomas said.
Mesquite Independent School District officials declined to discuss the matter but released a statement through spokeswoman Laura Jobe that read, "The Mesquite High School Senior Breakfast is an optional school-sponsored event. As with all school events, the rules for attire for the breakfast were presented to students and staff several times prior to today. More than 400 students chose to meet the expectations and enjoyed a wonderful event this morning."
But the part of the incident that rubs Thomas and Moore the wrong way is that they were not sent home on dress-code violations. Instead, they were allowed to stay at school.
"They didn't send us home," Moore said. "They told us to go to class."
