I gripped the lapels of the heavy white terrycloth. I opened my arms, pushing the fabric back.

The heavy robe slid off my shoulders, down my arms, and pooled into a bright white halo around my ankles on the hot concrete.

I stood in the blinding midday sun, wearing nothing but the tiny neon-pink string bikini.

The reaction was instant, violent, and absolute.

A collective, massive, horrified gasp rippled through the crowd of two hundred teenagers. It was a visceral, guttural sound of pure shock. Someone near the back dropped a glass bottle; it shattered loudly against the patio stones, the sound echoing like a bomb.

The aggressive, mocking chant didn’t fade away—it evaporated instantly, obliterated by a heavy, sickening, deathly silence.