The Boyfriend Auction

In a cramped dorm room, Cassie juggles five online boyfriends at once, sweet-talking each of them through voice calls while her roommates watch with awe and envy. When all five men demand to meet her on the same night, Cassie refuses to choose and instead stages a boyfriend auction, selling each suitor to the highest bidder among the girls in the room.

Tara, Regina, Valerie and Becca each pay for a man, leaving only one profile unclaimed. Bridget, mocked for her dark skin, heavy monolids and poverty, has just been slapped by Cassie and told she is too hideous to deserve anyone. Still, she stands and asks, in a small voice, whether she can buy the last one.

Cassie's answer is a sneer, and the room's laughter strips Bridget bare. Yet the auction is only the beginning of what her idle question set in motion.