During the last week of Audrie' Pott's life, her California high school quad was an agora of final judgment. A curvaceous sophomore in the cool-girl's uniform of skintight top and super-short skirt, she looked the same as always, but inside she was quivering with humiliation. Every cluster of students she passed was snickering. Girlfriends were shunning her. Guys congregated around phones, smirking. Everywhere she turned, she was sure that i-pads, i-phones, Palms and Treos glowed with the horrid, ineradicable proof of her shame. Home was no escape. Facebook messages pinged into the inbox, stinging like snapped rubber bands.

"shit went down ahah jk i bet u already got enough ppl talking about it so ill keep it to myself haha ..."

"honestly like really no joke everyone knows... ."

"u were one horny mofo."

On the last day of her life, a Monday, the reputational apocalypse was at hand. There was no way out.

Sexting, Shame and Suicide: A Silicon Valley Tragedy. Read it online here.