Melinda Sordino Sparknotes

14-year-old Melinda Sordino (Kristen Stewart) starts out her freshman year in high school struggling on the first day. She doesn't have any friends to hang out with, and appears awkward and uncomfortable when speaking to others. Throughout the day, she is pointed at by many students and is repeatedly called a "squealer". A series of flashbacks reveal that she called the police when at a house party during the previous summer. Her real reason for calling 9-1-1 was that she was raped at the party by a senior student, Andy Evans (Eric Lively), but while on the phone, she was unable to talk to the police about what happened, and when the police arrived, she did not report the rape. The party was crashed, causing mayhem and everyone to flee from the police.

When her parents see her report card, they prompt her to see Mr. Neck (Robert John Burke), who tells her to write an essay on any history topic. After refusing to read her paper aloud to her class, she gets sent to the office of the school principal.

Melinda is nice to a new student named Heather Billings (Allison Siko), who claims to be Melinda's "friend", but Heather soon abandons Melinda when the chance for social advancement arises. The only other student with whom Melinda has a positive experience is her lab partner Dave Petrakis (Michael Angarano), who has successfully managed to keep from affiliating himself with a clique.

As the year progresses, Melinda begins a painfully slow recapture of her confidence, with some help from Dave and her art teacher Mr.

Freeman (Steve Zahn). Her former best friend Rachel Bruin (Hallee Hirsh) starts dating Andy, and as the only other person who knows about the event, Melinda fears that Rachel will suffer the same fate. Melinda finds Rachel at the library and tells her the truth about what happened at the party by writing it on paper. At first Rachel refuses to believe her, thinking Melinda is lying and calls her "sick", but comes to realize the truth by confronting Andy. After Rachel begins to tell other people what happened, Andy threatens and begins to attack Melinda. He corners her and forces her to tell everybody at school that the incident is false, and she struggles to get free. They are found by one of her old friends and a group of girls. Mr. Neck sees Melinda walking away from the scene and asks what was going on, but Melinda doesn't

respond.

On the way back from the hospital after being treated for her injuries, Melinda rolls down the window of the car, breathing in deeply. She finally finds the strength to tell her mother the truth about what happened at the party. Although it is clear that Melinda will still need time to fully recover from her ordeals, this is a significant and empowering event in her life, as she finally finds the courage to speak.