History Characters / Speak

* AwfulWeddedLife: Their marriage isn't a happy one, however, this is mostly due to the strain of not knowing how to help their daughter and the differing natures of their jobs.

[[folder: Melinda Sordino]]

[[folder: Andy Evans]]

[[folder: Heather]]

-->'''Card''': Thanks for understanding. You're the sweetest! Good luck!!!

[[folder: Rachel Bruin]]

[[folder: Ivy]]

[[folder: Nicole]]

[[folder: David Petrakis]]

[[folder: The Marthas]]

[[folder: Mr. Freeman]]

[[folder: Mr. Neck]]

[[folder: Hairwoman]]

[[folder: Ms Keen]]

[[folder: Principal Principal]]

[[folder: The Guidance Counselor]]

[[folder: Mom and Dad]]

[[/folder]]

* DirtyCoward: He only goes after girls he thinks can't defend themselves. When he's caught in the act by a group of athletes who can certainly overpower him, he becomes a pleading wreck. He also becomes reduced to a pleading wreck as soon as Melinda shows the ability to fight back against him.

* ForTheEvulz: He clearly enjoys the fear that he instills into Melinda, making it his goal of reminding her about what he had done to her.

* TheSociopath: He starts off as seemingly just another typical JerkJock who bullies Melinda for no apparent reason, but it is later revealed that he had a prolific history of sexually assaulting and raping high school girls, and refuses to view it as rape rather instead attempting to convince himself that he was free to have any girl he wanted. It’s heavily implied that he has a full-blown addiction to rape and assault, to the point where he’s incapable of interacting with girls in a non-sexual way.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. It's revealed in the sequel ''Catalyst'' that while at most he gets a slap on the wrist (and no jail time) for what he had done to Melinda as well as to other girls, he is still made to register as a sex offender and the assault is permanently on his record, not only that he's pretty much gonna get doxed for being a rapist and everyone knows what he is now, so he didn't get off ''completely'' scot-free.

* {{Sadist}}: He enjoys assaulting girls and tormenting them afterwards.

* TheSociopath: He starts off as seemingly just the typical JerkJock who bullies Melinda Sordino for no apparent reason, but it is later revealed that he had a prolific history of sexually assaulting and raping high school girls, and refuses to view it as rape rather instead attempting to convince himself that he was free to have any girl he wanted. It’s heavily implied that he has a full blown addiction to rape and assault, to the point where he’s incapable of interacting with girls in a non sexual way.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Ditching Melinda as soon as The Marthas invite her to join their clique comes back to bite her in the ass when she was assigned to help with decorations for the upcoming prom. Melinda refuses to help her, thus leaving Heather alone to do the decorating. Unsurprisingly, she does a terrible job with the decorations, leading to her being kicked out of the clique.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Disappeared in the final chapter of the novel most likely as a result of hiding out due to the embarrassment she received for the bad job she did at the prom decorations.

* PassionateSportsGirl: She's good at sports, displaying a talent with tennis and lacrosse.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's a nice guy but he's hardly a doormat. When Mr. Neck goes off on a xenophobic rant during the middle of class, David is among those who are not afraid to stand up against this.

A group of girls at Melinda's school that follow everything Martha Stewart related. The three senior members are named Meg, Emily, and Siobhan. Heather joins them later on but quickly sees that membership isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

* AdultsAreUseless: Melinda seems to think so, as they haven't gotten their daughter any help since her rape and Mom thinks that Melinda's behavior is a cry for ''attention'', not necessarily ''help'', while Dad sort of gets the idea. However, this is invoked because she hasn't told them what happened (or the full depth of what happened).

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Mom works a lot and is often busy at her job managing a clothing store, while Dad sells insurance and gets more freedom.

* TheSociopath: He starts off as seemingly just the typical JerkJock who bullies Melinda Sordino for no apparent reason, but it is later revealed that he had a prolific history of sexually assaulting and raping high school girls, and refuses to view it as rape rather instead attempting to convince himself that he was free to have any girl he wanted.

* TheCassandra: When she tries to tell her former friend Rachel about Andy's sinister intentions and Rachel [[CassandraTruth doesn't believe her]].

* DirtyCoward: He only goes after girls he thinks can't defend themselves. When he's caught in the act by a group of athletes who can certainly overpower him, he becomes a pleading wreck.
** For that matter, he becomes a pleading wreck even before that, as soon as Melinda shows the ability to fight back against him.

* TheSociopath: Is manipulative, superficially charismatic, values his reputation above all else, and is completely remorseless of how he had raped and harassed female students.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He expresses sincere concern for Melinda after Andy's attack, showing he's not totally heartless.

* InsaneTrollLogic: In the climax, when he corners Melinda in the janitor's closet, Andy tries to claim that all of the other girls he had assaulted and/or harassed were practically asking for it, so, therefore, he is not a rapist.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. It's revealed in the sequel ''Catalyst'' that while at most he gets a slap on the wrist (and no jail time) for what he had done to Melinda as well as to other girls, he is still made to register as a sex offender and the assault is permanently on his record, not only that he's pretty much gonna get doxed for being a rapist, so he didn't get off ''completely'' scot-free.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: She seems like a friendly person but is really a manipulative and self-serving backstabber.

* BlindingBangs: It can be inferred that she has these, as the reason she's called "Hairwoman" is that her hair covers her face.

* HollywoodNerd: A mild example - he's a good student but does have a decent social circle and doesn't appear to be picked on by anyone.

* TroubledTeen: Starts off 9th grade depressed and angry, outcast from her peers due to a calling the cops at a WildTeenParty, and soon enough, stops speaking entirely. [[spoiler: It's later revealed she was raped at that same party.]]

* DirtyCoward: He is a total coward who only goes after girls he thinks can't defend themselves, he didn't bother to fight back and devolves into a pleading wreck when caught in the act.

* EyeScream: Melinda fights him off in the finale by throwing paint cleaner in his eyes.

* InsaneTrollLogic: In the climax, when he corners Melinda in the janitor's closet, Andy tries to claim that all of the other girls he had assaulted and/or harassed were practically asking for it, so therefore, he is not a rapist.

* NeverMyFault: He attacks Melinda for ruining his rep. He never considers if maybe it was his own fault for, you know, being a rapist.
* PaperTiger: Despite being an athlete and in good shape, he's totally useless in a fight pr against anyone who defends themselves against him.

* AmbiguousSituation: It's not clear exactly what her relationship with Melinda was before the fateful party, especially since she wasn't there when Melinda called the police, as it's not spelled out if she was avoiding Melinda because she's unpopular or if they were friends and drifted apart. Given the friendly interactions that she has with Melinda later on, as well as her distaste with Rachel's increasingly haughty attitude, it's possibly the former.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's a nice guy but he's hardly a doormat. When Mr. Neck goes off on a xenophobic rant during the middle of class, David is among those who is not afraid to stand up against this.

* NiceGuy: He's the one of the few people who's actually nice to Melinda from the start and doesn't care about what happened at the party.

A group of girls at Melinda's school that follow everything Martha Stewart related. The three senior members are named Meg, Emily, and Siobhan. Heather joins them later on, but quickly sees that a membership isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

* BlindingBangs: It can be inferred that she has these, as the reason she's called "Hairwoman" is because of whatever hairdo she has covers her face.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: In the sense that she's one of the few teachers that gets through to Melinda, though not directly.

The guidance counselor that tries to help Melinda with her trauma.

* AdultsAreUseless: She cannot really help because she doesn't really understand. She tries but fails, as she's a guidance counselor and not a therapist.
* NoNameGiven: She's referred to as her job.

* DirtyCoward: He is a total coward, he didn't bother to fight back and devolves into a pleading wreck when caught in the act.

* DirtyCoward: He is a total coward, he didn't bother to fight back.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. It's revealed in the sequel ''Catalyst'' that while at most he gets a slap on the wrist (and no jail time) for what he had done to Melinda as well as to other girls, he is still made to register as a sex offender and the assault is permanently on his record, so he didn't get off ''completely'' unscathed.

* SelfHarm: Her lip-biting. In a few instances, she makes herself bleed doing this.

* AuthorAvatar: As the novel was based on Laurie Anderson's personal experiences of having been raped as a teenager and the trauma she faced, Melinda is naturally this.

* UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming: A self-inflicted example. Part of what hampers Melinda's ability to recover and move on is her refusal to fully acknowledge what happened to her on that fateful night because she blames herself for not being able to see straight away that Andy was taking advantage of her (never mind that she was barely 14 years old at the time and was [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy more than a bit tipsy]] on top of that).

TheProtagonist, a high school freshman who's been branded as a social outcast due to calling the police during a party in the summer where she had been raped.

* NiceGuy: Without a doubt.

* CoolTeacher: She tries to be this but she fails.

* HairDecorations: Wears multiple colored Sharpies in her bun as a reflection of her artistic personality.

* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the book, Melinda eventually finds the strength to open up, reveal her dark secret, accept what has happened to her, and is slowly able to recover from her trauma.

* TheQuietOne: After the rape, she became withdrawn and barely speaks to anyone.

* FauxAffablyEvil: He uses his popularity among his fellow students to hide his sinister intentions.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: She wanted to be part of the popular clique, but when she gets her wish, it turns out it wasn't as great as she thought.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She seems like a friendly person but is really a manipulative backstabber.

* ForeignCultureFetish: Once high school starts, she hangs out with the European exchange students, tries to speak French more (as well as being shown planning out a trip to Paris for summer vacation), and [[spoiler:starts going out with a boy from Portugal after breaking up with Andy]].

* AmbiguousSituation: While the epilogue reveals that Rachel considered calling Melinda up, it is uncertain as to whether or not Melinda would forgive her, let alone on whether or not they can rekindle their friendship.