Parents, kids and Andy

I agree about everything - the people and supporting network around Melinda should have handled her situation a lot better. They may not have known she'd been raped but the least they could have done was be sensitive about the change in her after the incident, as anyone who knew her in the slightest should have been able to tell something was wrong with her. Her ex-friends especially bothered me - didn't they think there'd be a good reason why she'd contact the police? Not to mention Andy deserved much more than he got, as you mentioned.

Trust me, people don't always notice or WANT to notice that there's something deeper going on. I went my entire high school career depressed and suicidal, I ditched school a lot, I did a lot of drugs, I hated myself, and I hated everything about life...one teacher emailed my mom once expressing that he was concerned about me, that's all.

My parents noticed, but they still don't know why and have never asked...because they don't want to know. Melinda's parents were clueless. In the book they don't have actual conversations, ever, they communicate through post-it notes on the kitchen counter. The only real dialogue they have together is when they are yelling at her about her grades. At one point Melinda scratches her arm with a paper clip, like a suicide attempt but even Melinda calls it pathetic. Her mom notices and gets her a book about how suicide is a cowardly weak thing to do, and tells Melinda that she doesn't have time for "this".

My friends noticed, and were thankfully there for most of it. But there was a full year that I got ditched by every single friend I'd ever had, just like Melinda, and it was rough.

As for the other kids in the school...LHA based the high school off the high school that we both went to...the cliques were not exaggerated and NO ONE floated between them successfully, like Ivy.


"Kristen, p***y to the wood. *beep* your guitar!" - Joan Jett rehearsing The Runaways @HereComesSun86