Melinda is the quiet kind. The kind that doesn't really speak much in class or talk to people. But it wasn't always like that. She used to have friends. She used to have her own school clan. People used to not mind being around her or sitting with her. Key word: used. Ever since some party at the end of summer where she called the cops, she has to keep to herself or risk being laughed at, teased and being sneered at. All that happens anyways but at least she can pretend to ignore it if it isn't done right to her face.
Melinda is also scared of things at times. The thing that she is afraid of the most though is IT. I think the reason she called the cops at the party is IT. But that's just a guess. IT is Andy Evens. He did something to someone, it may have even been her, but whatever it was, it has Melinda shaking in her skin every time she see's him. And there is no one she is willing to talk to about it. Her best friend will barely even look at her due to what happened at the party with her calling the cop's and everything. So, she just stay's quiet.
Someone might think that a best friend will stick their best friend no matter what. But Rachel pretends that Melinda never existed. And now Melinda has no one to talk to about what happened at the party. She can't really talk to her parents. They're so wrapped up in their own fights and their own problems that they don't even notice Melinda's. They kind of just leave her to her own accord even though she's only 14. Melinda even says "At first, Mom was pretty good at preparing dinners in the morning and sticking them in the fridge, but I knew it would end. I come home to a note that says "Pizza. 555-4892. Small tip this time" ". She has one friend though named Heather. Heather encourages her to try new things like go to prep rally's and try to join this elite group in school called the Martha's. But Melinda is just not that into it. She goes along, but she's not completely there.
Melinda is also the kind of girl who has had to grow up fast due to family issues. Like I said before, her parents are always fighting. And according to Melinda, she herself was the only thing keeping them together. Because of those fights they don't really pay attention to Melinda's life. And her mom get's way caught up in her work. It was only a few years before when her and her mom and dad went apple picking and she remembers "The sun warmed my hair, and a wind pushed my mother into my fathers arms, and all the apple picking parents and children smiled for a long long minute". It's like in just those few years, she and her parents have become different people. A change took place that changed her to the person she is now. And I hate the fact that this new person, has to fend for herself all by herself.
