All she could hear was her own blood, pounding. Thud-thud-thud. She sat at the table, staring at the cards. Sara squared the deck. She was smiling.
“You lost, Annie,” Sara announced.
The girls were eating it up. Anna hadn’t moved. She was gripping the edge of the table like it might save her. Stupid. Why did she say yes? Why had she taken the bet? Sara’s crowd was at the beating heart of campus social life, and Anna had been desperate to break into their circle. Now she’d lost the wager and owed them a forfeit. Sara finally tucked the cards back into their box.
Anna looked at Sara. Please. Please don’t.
“Can’t we just - I don’t know - something else?” Her voice barely held. “I’ll do your papers. Get your pizza. Clean your rooms...”
Back out - and by tomorrow she’d be the girl who couldn’t keep a bet. Sara would see to that. She always did. She’d be done. Socially dead. Sara grinned.
“That’s boring. But the little show you’re going to put on? That’ll be a riot. Chin up - you’ll be the talk of the campus!”
She leaned forward. “Tomorrow morning you walk to the square in a towel. And you do whatever we say.”
Her stomach clenched. The campus square. In broad daylight. The place was always crawling with students. She thought she might throw up.
“But... there’ll be so many people,” Anna said. Sara didn’t blink.
Jess leaned back in her chair, smirking.
“That’s the whole point, silly. The football guys might be out on the field. Now that would be something. You’ll have fans lining up.”
Lauren rolled her eyes.
“Oh, relax. It’s just a bet. Stuff like this happens on campus all the time - and worse.”
Anna’s mind raced.
“What if the towel falls off? I need something to hold it in place.”
Sara tilted her head.
“Hold it how?”
“I don’t know... somehow! So it stays on properly.”
“Are you already trying to weasel out?” Jess scoffed.
“No! I’m just... scared,” Anna mumbled.
“Well, what did you expect? That’s what makes it a real dare!” Sara exclaimed.
She scanned the table and fished several heavy binder clips out of the box.
“Here, these’ll do. We’ll clamp the towel with them. The springs are really stiff - they shouldn’t pop off. Then again... maybe they will. That’s part of the thrill!”
Anna looked at the clips. They wouldn’t change a thing and she knew it. She tried to say something - but Sara was already gone, the others right behind her.
“You’ll be fine. Might even like it,” Sara called back, and winked.
The door slammed. Anna sat there. The clips lay on the table in front of her.
* * *
She didn’t remember falling asleep. Maybe she hadn’t. Light in the curtains. Morning already. She’d been staring at the ceiling for hours. Someone started a shower next door. An ordinary morning. For everyone but her.
T-shirt, skirt, sandals. Her hands shook the whole time. Damn. How was she even supposed to change? Holding a towel with one hand while wrestling off clothes with the other - impossible. One move and the towel’s gone. She stood there too long. Then made herself start. T-shirt first. Pulled it over her head, slow. Then the bra. She reached back for the clasp. Straps off her shoulders - gone. She looked at the mirror without thinking. Breasts out, nothing covering them. She turned away fast - face burning. God. She didn’t do this even at home.
Last - the panties. She bit her lip, thumbs under the waistband, and pulled down. The fabric slid down - hips, knees, floor. She stepped out of them and froze.
Completely naked.
The air touched everything. Her stomach, her thighs, the space between them. She’d never felt so much of her own skin at once.
Her eyes darted to the mirror on their own - and she saw herself. All of herself. Bare shoulders, breasts, stomach, the dark patch of hair between her thighs, the slit of her pussy barely hidden beneath it... She expected shame. Shame came. But underneath it, her nipples had already tightened - from the cold, she told herself. Just the cold. She jerked her eyes away - but the picture was already there. If the towel goes - that’s what they’ll see.
“What the hell am I doing?”
The phone buzzed. Sara.
Ready?
Her fingers hovered over the screen. “No,” she typed. Deleted it. “Give me one more minute.” Deleted it. She sent a smiley and a thumbs-up. It looked pathetic.
Back into the T-shirt and skirt. Bra and panties stayed on the bed.
Twenty paces to the elevator. Anna walked as though heading to her own execution. Under the skirt - nothing. Every step let the draft from the vent slide up between her thighs and press against her bare pussy. Uninvited. Obscene. And her body responded - a flicker of heat she refused to acknowledge. She walked faster. She caught herself in the elevator doors - white face, tight mouth. Her nipples showed through the T-shirt. She immediately crossed her arms over her chest, trying to cover up.
Doors opened. Jake from her study group. Of all people. She saw his eyes go to her chest. Then lower. He caught himself a second too late.
“Um... You... okay? You don’t look so great.”
She got in. Couldn’t speak.
“Well...” She tried to smile. “I have to go through with a little bet. A bit nervous, is all.”
Jake’s face softened for a second.
“Riiight, okay...” He hit the close button and turned to the panel - very deliberately watching the numbers.
Anna pressed into the wall. Her cheeks were on fire. The doors opened again on the ground floor. She stopped at the glass entrance of the dorm and peered outside.
Please let them not be there. Please let this all be a dream.
No such luck. Sara and the others - right there on the steps, coffee in hand. Lauren was on her phone.
Sara saw her. Waved.
“Well then - let’s get this show on the road!”
Anna froze behind the glass. Maybe I could say I feel sick? Or just bolt? Why did I even come downstairs?
Sara swung the door open and hauled Anna outside.
“Wait, hold on... Where’s the towel? Let me go back and change,” Anna blurted, digging in her heels.
“Nope. The challenge has begun. You’re changing right here.”
“Yep,” Mia agreed. “We’ve been waiting long enough.”
Lauren finally looked up from her phone.
“Exactly. Don’t be such a pushover.”
She pressed the towel to her chest. Getting the T-shirt off with one hand - almost impossible. Nothing between her and everyone except a towel.
Mia rose from the steps and walked over.
“Well? Come on, strip.”
Her fingers wouldn’t work. She fumbled with the skirt. It dropped. The morning air hit her bare ass. A second later she felt it between her legs too - cold on her labia, shockingly intimate. Lauren was right behind her. Nothing under the skirt - she saw everything.
“Well, well. Came prepared, did we?” she remarked with an astonished smirk. “Walking around with your bare ass out? No bra either?”
Towel against her chest, she yanked at the sleeves. If it slips - that’s it. Everything out. Sara stepped behind her, gathered the edges, and pulled the towel taut.
“First clip... right here - just below the waist. Too low and it’ll fall off the second you try to walk.”
She snapped on the first clip. Click. Anna flinched. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The clips seemed to hold, but she didn’t trust them. One sharp turn, one stumble - and they’d fly off.
“All set.” Sara stepped back to admire her handiwork. “Everything’s in place. Time to move.”
Anna stood stock-still, frozen.
What if they pop off? What if…
“First rule, sunshine: under no circumstances do you touch the towel. Now walk straight past the library. Wave and shout ‘Hi!’ to the first person who comes out - loud enough for them to hear,” Sara instructed, tucking the skirt and T-shirt into a large gym bag.
Sara gave her a gentle push.
“Go on, get moving. Don’t keep your audience waiting. The show starts now.”
She stepped forward. Her heart wouldn’t shut up.
This was not a dream.
Before her lay the campus, full of students.