Content Warning: This story contains discussions of the Confederate flag and racial insensitivity.

Claire Williams is a 19-year-old college student. She spends her break in Florida living with her “almost stepmother,” Puppy, and her father. She regularly hangs out with Jackson, an 18-year-old “redneck” high schooler. Jackson buys her a bikini with the Confederate flag on it. Just before she leaves to go back to college, he takes a photo of her wearing it leaning against his truck and posts it on Facebook.

Waiting for her plane back to Dennis College, Claire checks her phone and sees that the photo has gained attention on Twitter. A Black hallmate of hers sent out the photo, which caused several students at Claire’s college to message her in anger and confusion. Claire considers how she did not wear the bikini to “bother Black people” but to annoy Puppy (55). As she turns off her phone, she thinks “fuck you too” to the girl who shared her photo (55).

When Claire’s parents were still together, they lived in Virginia. When she was six, their new neighbors—the Halls—moved in next door. They were a Black family with two young children: Angela, who was Claire’s age, and Aaron, who was one year older than them.