PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Haddonfield Memorial High School student looking for an unconventional way to ask a girl out to the prom might have knocked it out of the park.
Jake Portella wanted to make sure that the way he asked Giulia Leonetti to go with him to the prom was memorable. He says he was brainstorming ideas with his friends and thought getting one of the Phillies players to do it would be incredible, because Leonetti loves the Phillies.
Portella knew that Bryce Harper happens to live near him, so he decided to knock on Harper's door cold. And Bryce agreed.
"I didn't come into it with high expectations,” Portella said, recalling his thoughts as he knocked on the first baseman’s door.
“So when I was going in, I wouldn't say I was extremely nervous … but once he agreed to do it, and we were actually on our way to the place, that's when the nerves started to kick in. I started to realize: ‘Wow. This is really happening.’”
Leonetti says she was in bed taking a nap when Portella came knocking. She says her mother answered the door first and then went upstairs to get her, and it caught her a bit off guard.
"She scared me very badly. I was so confused at what was going on,” Leonetti said. “I put on whatever. I run down the stairs … I had no idea that anything was happening that night, much less Bryce Harper at the front door asking for Jake to go to prom."
She says it took her some time to process what was going on.
"When I first opened the door, I immediately shut it. I just couldn't handle it the first time,” she said.
“So I had to reset for a sec, and I opened the door back up, and I'm immediately in tears — just immediately. I couldn't fathom that, you know, Bryce was standing right in front of me."
She said yes.
Jake had a lot to process, as well.
"I can't stress enough how quick this happened. Like, I was not expecting for me to knock on his door and for us to do it that same day,” Portella said.
“What I was planning on doing was … to schedule it in the next couple of days, but he was just like: ‘All right. Let's do it right now.’ Gets in his car, and we're already there, and I'm … I was just kind of in shock, myself. … I really got this to happen."
Portella says Harper was great to "work" with.
"Oh, my goodness. Like, you don't even know. He was so cool about it. It shocked me, because I hear stories about celebrities, famous athletes and stuff — like, how they'll be kind of cold to you. And the fact that he was very respectful, even though I came and knocked on his door, and then came out to do it — I can't stress enough how much I appreciate him to do that."
Not everything moves at a Bryce Harper pace, though. Portella and Leonetti will have to wait until June 14 for their prom.