It starts innocently, with a “Streaks and Recents!” on Snapchat. Then it turns to subtle flirting. “You look pretty today,” he says and she blushes. She’s an underclassmen and now a senior is taking interest in her? It feels like her lucky day. Slowly, the snapchats start to change. He becomes more aggressive, persistent. “Send nudes?” He asks. She obliges.

“I’ve asked for nudes before,” tells a male underclassmen. “There’s nothing wrong with it if everyone consents and you don’t share them.”

1 in 4 teens send or ask for nudes, according to The Washington Post.

Next thing she remembers is seeing her body plastered on 800 phones circling around the school. The boys stare at her in class. The girls whisper in the cafeteria. “Who knew she had a rack like that?” the boys joke. “I always knew she was a whore,” gossip the girls. And now with one x-rated selfie, she’s done for.

“No I have never sent a nude, I will never ever send a nude, because you never know what would happen with those pictures.” Says a freshman boy. But his opinion will likely change when he grows up and goes to college.

Unfortunately for many, this isn’t just a story to grab attention. It’s happened, here at Hills. Students, especially female, are more likely to send nude or semi-nude photos and according to DoSomething.org, 55% of those who received photos share them with more than one person.

“Yeah, I’ve sent nudes before. I mean, I covered my face so technically no one knows it’s me but I have.” Says an anonymous senior girl.

This issue has become an epidemic. Pictures like this spread just like a disease; slowly at first then all at once. People catch the disease as it spreads, and it morphs into other things once received. Pity. Anger. Disgust. Attraction. It ranges. One picture has a different effect on everyone, and yet their emotions will come nowhere near to what this girl is feeling.

“You’re so stupid that if you send nudes everyone deserves to see them.” Says an upperclassman girl while rolling her eyes.

Now her body is going to be posted everywhere. On Private Snaps and on Finstas, people make comments. Did anyone notice the birthmark on her hip? What about the clothes in the background? Isn’t she embarrassed to be out like this?  

“People just show them no matter what is it, nothing is a secret, if you’re dumb enough to send it know that it will be screenshotted and everyone will see it. I see them all the time.” Criticizes another upperclassman girl.

Dirty. Shameful. Gross. Stupid. It may start off as confidence; when that boy that she sends that picture to tells her she’s beautiful, that she should send more – naughtier, that she’s perfect— nothing will feel better after she hits send. But then she gets the notification that he screenshot her snap, and it all spirals downhill.

“I think that at our age, nudes should not be sent, never be considered especially laws in place nowadays.” Says a senior boy when asked about taking and sending NSFW pictures.

What most people don’t realize is that the taking, sending, and sharing of nude photos in high school is actually illegal. As most people are still underage, this categorizes as child pornography.

“Bruh. C’mon everyone has sent an occasional pic – like you know,” jokes a junior boy.

No longer innocent, she cracks under the pressure of keeping things a balanced version of good girl and bad while the infamous screenshotter keeps a praised profile. Savage. Awesome. King. Stud. His collection grows at the price of her body and she is left paying for her new nicknames. Slut. Whore. Skank. Tramp.

“No I don’t send nudes, but “My Eyes Only” isn’t rated PG. I just think that sometimes things like Snapchat set us up for societal failure. How could you not cave into that password-protected temptation?”