An Acton teen who wanted "to just make a big splash," came up with a unique way to ask his burning question.

Jacob Hanley, a senior at Acton-Boxborough High School, invited his friend to prom by lighting the question on fire this week.
"He's a very creative guy and he was hoping to just make a big splash on, you know, how he wanted to invite his friend to the prom," said Ann-Marie Hanley, Jacob's mom. "So, he thought up several different ideas, but this is the one that came to the forefront."

"I've always had this idea just to like write, 'Prom,' in fire," said Jacob.

Jacob invited two friends, including his intended date, upstairs Tuesday night. When he excused himself under the pretense of going to the bathroom, he ran outside to put his plan in motion.

"He had a whole team of people in the driveway, all of his friends, waiting, and they were helping with lighting it up and so he left for the bathroom, and he went down and helped them out with lighting, you know, the 'prom' with the question mark. And then his idea to get their attention was to blast heavy metal music," his mom explained.

While it might seem like a bad idea for a variety of reasons, it apparently worked in this case -- Jacob's date said,"Yes," and the family didn't report any damage from the fire.

"I looked out the window. Obviously, as soon as I saw - first I just saw a glimpse of fire, and I was a little concerned, but then I saw the word spelled out, and I saw Jacob and all his friends," said Claire Langin. "This was much more than I was expecting, and I liked it."

"It worked pretty well," Jacob said.