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Students
Melinda Sordino
Melinda Sordino
The protagonist, 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.- Author Avatar: 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.
- Break the Cutie: Starts off already broken and much of the story is dedicated to her attempts at recovering.
- Broken Bird: She was once a cheerful and sociable straight-B student before the rape. Afterward, she becomes withdrawn and miserable, her academic performance suffering as a result. Making it worse is that she refuses to fully acknowledge what has happened to her due to her guilt.
- The Cassandra: When she tries to tell her former friend Rachel about Andy's sinister intentions, Rachel doesn't believe her.
- Character Development: 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 start recovering from her trauma.
- Deadpan Snarker: Very much so.
- Stepford Snarker: A large part of her dark sarcasm stems from her emotional pain and trauma.
- Good Victims, Bad Victims: 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 more than a bit tipsy on top of that).
- Nice Girl: Despite her prickly demeanor, Melinda is ultimately a compassionate person.
- Perpetual Frowner: She pretty much never smiles. Understandable given her circumstances.
- The Quiet One: After the rape, she becomes withdrawn and barely speaks to anyone.
- Self-Harm: Her lip-biting. In a few instances, she makes herself bleed doing this. She also marks up her arms a few times.
- The Stoic: Big time, to the point of seeing how long she can go without speaking.
- Troubled Teen: Starts off 9th grade depressed and angry, outcast from her peers due to calling the cops at a Wild Teen Party, and soon enough, stops speaking entirely. It's later revealed she was raped at that same party.
- With Friends Like These...: Rachel abandoned her after she called the police to the end of summer party. Heather also takes advantage of Melinda's talents in order to get noticed by the popular clique of girls, and ultimately drops her like a hot potato when she had reached her goal.
Andy Evans
Andy Evans
Melinda's rapist, a popular jock at Merryweather High.- Big Bad: Being Melinda's rapist and a serial sexual predator.
- Dirty Coward: 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 has no idea how to react as soon as Melinda shows the ability to fight back against him.
- Evil Is Petty: He will occasionally taunt girls he assaulted in the hallway.
- Eye Scream: In the movie, Melinda fights him off in the finale by throwing paint cleaner in his eyes.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: He's a good looking athlete with male model features and a reprehensible sexual predator.
- Faux Affably Evil: Puts on the front of a Big Man on Campus to hide his sinister intentions.
- For the Evulz: He clearly enjoys the fear that he instills into Melinda as she has to see him every day, making it his goal of reminding her about what he had done to her.
- Handsome Lech: Notorious for sleeping around with several girls. However, the further that we get into the novel, it is revealed that he is not just that.
- Hate Sink: He's an unrepentant predator who takes advantage of his good looks and superficial charm to get what he wants while escaping culpability.
- Insane Troll Logic: 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. This is sadly truth in television and how many real-life rapists and predators justify their actions.
- It's All About Me: He isn't happy when Rachel calls him out as a predator in front of everyone during prom and claims that he could get any girl he wants to sleep with him willingly as a feeble attempt at dispelling Melinda's accusations.
- Jerk Jock: A very dark example.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed. It's revealed in the sequel Catalyst that while at most he got a slap on the wrist (and no jail time) for what he had done to Melinda as well as to other girls, he was still made to register as a sex offender and the assault is permanently on his record, and everyone knows about what he's done to his victims, so he didn't get off completely scot-free.
- Lack of Empathy: He never expresses even the slightest remorse for his crimes or gives an impression that he sees the women he goes after as anything more than existing for his pleasure.
- Never My Fault: He attacks Melinda for ruining his reputation. He never considers if maybe it was his own fault for, you know, being a rapist.
- Paper Tiger: Despite being an athlete and in good shape, he's totally useless in a fight against anyone who can defend themselves against him.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: While there are plenty of bullies and other assorted jerks at Merryweather High, he's the worst of the bunch. Indeed, when Rachel publicly called him out for his predatory behavior at the prom in full view of several people, that was the first blow to his reputation.
- Sadist: He enjoys sexually assaulting girls and tormenting them afterwards.
- Serial Rapist: The Bathroom Stall Graffiti in the girls' restroom reveals that Melinda wasn't Andy's first victim, nor would she have been the last.
- Slasher Smile: Sported one while raping Melinda at the party.
- The Sociopath: He starts off as seemingly just another typical Jerk Jock 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. He also uses his superficial charm to get away with it and has absolutely no remorse nor does he even think what he's done is wrong, convincing himself that they wanted it and acting like he's the victim when Melinda exposes his true nature.
- Teens Are Monsters: While most of the adolescents bully Melinda, Andy is ultimately the worst that the school has to offer.
- Villainous Breakdown: Angrily confronts Melinda in the janitor's closet and attempts to rape her again out of revenge for ruining his reputation.
Heather
Heather
The new girl at school who befriends Melinda briefly.- Be Careful What You Wish For: 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 it would be.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She seems like a friendly person, but is really a manipulative and self-serving backstabber.
- The B Grade: Her grades slip to B's when she's stuck having to do all the menial "gopher" jobs for the Marthas.
- Entitled Bitch: Despite dropping Melinda the moment things were looking up for her, Heather still felt that Melinda would help her with the prom decorations by trying to appeal to her friendship with her. Needless to say, Melinda refuses.
- False Friend: While it was never that genuine to begin with and only came about due to convenient circumstances, she initially began as Melinda's only friend due to being the new girl at school (and thus, had no knowledge of the police call Melinda made), but she had bigger aspirations. When the opportunity to become part of a more popular clique reared its head, she jumps at the chance and severs her ties with Melinda.
- Kick the Dog: To permanently break off her friendship with Melinda once she's gotten in with the Marthas, she gives back the friendship necklace that Melinda got her, inside a Valentine's Day card.Card: Thanks for understanding. You're the sweetest! Good luck!!!
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ditching Melinda as soon as The Marthas invite her to join their clique comes back to bite her in the ass when she's assigned to do the decorations for the upcoming prom and due to extenuating circumstances, has no one around to help. She tries to get Melinda on board, but 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 and subsequently taking Melinda's place on the social ladder of being the most hated student at school.
- New Transfer Student: She's the new girl at Merryweather High.
- Social Climber: Wants to be popular and cool.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappeared from the final chapter of the novel, most due to her hiding out at home to avoid getting torn apart by her schoolmates for the embarrassingly bad job she did at the prom decorations.
Rachel Bruin
Rachel Bruin
Melinda's former best friend.- Ambiguous Situation: While the epilogue reveals that Rachel called and left Melinda a message to apologize to her, it is uncertain as to whether or not Melinda would forgive her, let alone on whether or not they can rekindle their friendship.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Tries to change her name to "Rachelle" because it sounds more sophisticated.
- False Friend: Knew Melinda for years, only to disassociate herself with her when Melinda called the police.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: 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 starts going out with a boy from Portugal after breaking up with Andy.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She has this when she realizes that Melinda was telling the truth when Andy makes her uncomfortable with his hot and heavy behavior at the prom.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Once high school starts and she begins hanging out with the European exchange students, she becomes arrogant and insufferable. Ivy even disparagingly calls her a bitch while venting about her to Melinda.
Ivy
Another former friend of Melinda's who joined the artists' clique.
- Ambiguous Situation: 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 for Rachel's increasingly haughty attitude, it's possibly the former.
- Meaningful Appearance: Wears multiple colored Sharpies in her bun as a reflection of her artistic personality.
- Nice Girl: As we find out later on.
- True Companions: Later in the story, when she and Melinda begin genuinely rebuilding their friendship, especially in comparison to Melinda's relationships with Rachel and Heather.
Nicole
Another former member of Melinda's old clique of friends, the Plain Janes, who became a jock.
- Ambiguous Situation: Like Ivy, it isn't really clear as to whether she was avoiding Melinda because the latter is a social outcast or if she was avoiding her due to being wrapped up in her own life.
- Big Damn Heroes: Is the one to break the closet door down with her teammates to find Andy trying to rape Melinda in the climax.
- Defeat Means Friendship: A downplayed example during her and Melinda's tennis match - although Melinda lost, it was a close game and Melinda earns Nicole's respect as a result.
- Even the Girls Want Her: She seems to be admired by other girls for her athletic prowess.
- Lovable Jock: Is a tough and competitive athlete, but is otherwise a good person.
- Odd Friendship: The best way to describe her friendship with Melinda later on.
- Passionate Sports Girl: She's good at sports, displaying a talent for tennis and lacrosse.
David Petrakis
David Petrakis
Melinda's classmate and lab partner. He's one of the few people that don't ostracize her.- Beware the Nice Ones: He's a nice guy but he's hardly a doormat. When Mr. Neck goes off on a xenophobic rant in the middle of class, David is among those who are not afraid to stand up against this.
- Implied Love Interest: Vaguely implied. It's more prominent in the book, with a few cute moments on Valentine's Day and a mention that David watches her when he thinks she doesn't notice. For rather understandable reasons, though, it never really goes anywhere beyond a friendship.
- Nice Guy: He's one of the few people who are actually nice to Melinda from the start and doesn't care about what happened at the party.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Gives Melinda a pep-talk after her attempt to get some extra credit in Social Studies class goes badly, encouraging her to speak up for herself.
The Marthas
The Marthas
A group of girls at Melinda's school who follow everything related to Martha Stewart. 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.- Alpha Bitches: They're pretty popular but are not very nice.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The way Melinda perceives them. Going by their treatment of Heather, she wasn't entirely off the mark, as they appear nice, friendly, and charitable, but are actually pretty mean.
- Girl Posse: An all-female clique of rich girls.
- Villain with Good Publicity: They are all pretty catty and cruel but their charity work and helping out on projects gives them a good image.
Adults
Mr. Freeman
Mr. Freeman
Melinda's dramatic and eccentric art teacher.- Cloudcuckoolander: Downplayed but he's quite eccentric.
- Cool Teacher: For the most part, he plays this role to Melinda, as he lets her be herself in his class, but, generally, he regards his students as people and so treats them as such.
- The Confidant: To Melinda, later on.
- Hippie Teacher: This is more apparent in the movie but the way he teaches his class makes him this.
- Nice Guy: Without a doubt, as he's one of the few teachers that genuinely get through to Melinda.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Some art teachers (and students) might be put off by Melinda's art projects but he's more accepting and patient with her, encouraging her to open up and letting her trauma out.
Mr. Neck
Mr. Neck
Melinda's history and social studies teacher.- Jerkass: Less so than the other characters but he's one for his politics and how he teaches his class.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He expresses sincere concern for Melinda after Andy's second attack, showing he's not totally heartless.
- Pet the Dog: Despite their adversarial relationship, he expresses genuine concern for Melinda in the finale, even using her first name for the first time in the film.
- Politically Motivated Teacher: Much of his lessons tend to involve some of his own personal politics and biases. It's clear he doesn't much care for immigration and he's quick to shoe-horn them into his lessons.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: "Villain" may be putting it on strong, but his xenophobic viewpoints are hardly savory.
Hairwoman
Hairwoman
Melinda's English teacher whose hair covers her face.- Cool Teacher: She tries to be this but she fails and her students find her boring or annoying at best.
- Eyes Out of Sight: It can be inferred that she has these, as the reason she's called "Hairwoman" is that her hair covers her face.
- The Faceless: Well, she has a face, her hair just covers it.
- Important Haircut: In the chapter aptly titled "Hairwoman No More", she cuts it short and gets new glasses as well. Melinda even wonders if she had some big lifestyle change to prompt this.
- No Name Given: She's only called "Hairwoman".
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Didactic?: In-Universe, she is obsessed with every little possible symbol that can be found in The Scarlet Letter.
Ms Keen
Ms. Keen
Melinda's Biology teacher.- Reasonable Authority Figure: In the sense that she's one of the few teachers that get through to Melinda, though not directly.
Principal Principal
The principal of Melinda's school
- Adults Are Useless: He means well but is clueless as to how to reach out and help his students.
- No Name Given: His first name isn't said and we can assume "Principal" is his last name.
The Guidance Counselor
The guidance counselor who tries to help Melinda with her trauma.
- Adults Are Useless: Downplayed. She can see that something is wrong with Melinda, but because she's a guidance counselor and not a therapist, she can't really be effective.
- No Name Given: She's referred to by her job title.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: She tries to help and can see that something is seriously troubling Melinda, but she doesn't quite have the ability to help a student with problems like Melinda's.
Mom and Dad
Melinda's parents.
- Adults Are Useless: Played With - Melinda certainly 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, their "uselessness" is also kind of justified if only because Melinda never told them what happened.
- Awful Wedded Life: 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. As Melinda starts to slowly improve and come to grips with her problems, the strain comes off a bit and their relationship seems to get better.
- Parents as People: They do care about their daughter but, due to their obliviousness, they don't really see that Melinda needs help.
- Unnamed Parent: Besides their last name, their first names aren't given. In the movie, the mother is named Joyce and supplementary materials name the father Jack.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Mom works a lot and is often busy at her job managing a clothing store, while Dad sells insurance and has a somewhat more flexible schedule.
