Speak 101-198

Heather is the only person in the school that could kind of be considered Melinda’s friend, and Heather walks out on her. She wants to be in a popular clique, and Melinda’s dragging her down. Melinda still can’t seem to get her tree right that she’s been working on for art. She starts to go to this little closet as her safe haven. It’s in a place that no one ever goes to, so she can be alone in there. Melinda also finally tells the reader why she called the cops at that party. She was raped by IT. That’s how the book refers to him, anyway. His name is Andy Evans, and now he’s dating Melinda’s ex-best friend, Rachel. Rachel is just a freshman, and he’s a senior, so she thinks he’s the most wonderful thing in the world. Melinda sends her an anonymous note telling her that Andy raped someone, but she continues to go out with him. In the meantime, Heather tries to be Melinda’s friend again, but only because she needs help with something. For the first time all year, Melinda spoke up for herself, and refused to help Heather. She got stronger and braver every day. A few days later, she tried to confront Rachel and tell her why she called the cops at the party. When she told her, Rachel just got mad and said that Melinda was lying because she was jealous. On the last day of school, Melinda was cleaning out her little safe haven closet, and Andy walked in. He started beating her and tried to rape her again because she started a rumor that he was a rapist. She stopped him and called for help, and ended up being a hero at the end of the book. The very last line is Melinda telling her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, that she wants to talk about it with him.