A La Center High senior was suspended from school Wednesday for strapping a fake bomb around his waist in a stunt to ask a girl to prom.

The situation caused a short-lived scare among administrators until they confirmed the prop wasn’t a real weapon and the student, Ibrahim Ahmad, was not making threats. Nonetheless, the stunt landed Ahmad with a five-day suspension that will keep him from going to the school’s prom on Saturday night.

Ahmad said he felt pressure to go all out in asking his would-be date to the big dance.

“In ‘promposals,’ you’re supposed to go big,” he said. “It’s kind of a trending thing now, too, where everyone just asks in a really creative way.”

So during lunchtime, Ahmad strapped a paintball vest to his waist and filled the open pockets with red paper tubes attached to red wires, a prop made to look like explosives. And he stood up on the stage in the cafeteria holding a sign that read: “I kno it’s A little Late, But I’m kinda…THE BOMB! Rilea, Will U Be My Date To Prom?”