I was not fast enough.

Chapter 5 — Those Stains

“Look at that,” Gwen said, pointing at the screen, at my daughter’s skin.

“Those stains are in every single shot.

People are going to zoom in and ask what’s wrong with her.”

Maya’s smile vanished.

I watched it go, watched sixteen years of hard-won confidence begin to drain out of my daughter’s face in real time, and Gwen, who saw it too, who could not have missed it, kept going.

“If you know your skin looks like that,” she said, turning to Maya directly now, “why would you wear something so revealing?