Sixteen-year-old Grace Salter moves from Adeline, Kentucky to Prescott, Oregon after her family was run out of town over her preacher mom's newfound liberalism. At her new high school she befriends the misfits Rosina Suarez, a lesbian second-generation immigrant who works in her uncle's restaurant, and Erin DeLillo, an aspiring marine biologist with Asperger's. Grace's new friends tell her the story of Lucy Moynihan, the former inhabitant of Grace's house, whose family left town after she was gang raped by three popular boys and then severely bullied for trying to report it. The three girls form an anonymous group to fight the misogynistic culture at Prescott High.
The Nowhere Girls contains examples of:
- Abandoned Warehouse: The Nowhere Girls hold their first meeting in a school library, but switch to an empty warehouse Rosina found after a girl suggests via email that they pick someplace more private.
- Angry Collar Grab: Rosina's mami angrily grabs the front of her shirt after Principal Slatterly falsely accuses her of being a drug addict.
- Attempted Rape: Eric Jordan, one of the rapists, pins Erin against the lockers and roughly grabs her crotch. She wants to resist, but is unable to move or cry out. Then Eric hears a security guard's walkie-talkie and lets go for fear of being caught.
- Blackmail: Slatterly threatens to report Rosina's abuelita as The Illegal, and send health inspectors to her uncle's restaurant if she doesn't tell her everything she knows about the Nowhere Girls. Rosina holds firm, but afterwards tries a lot harder to stay out of trouble.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Erin is sick of talking to Grace about what happened to Lucy, so she says, "Did you know that otters rape baby seals?"
- Character Tics: Erin rubs her hands together to relieve anxiety. Her mother nags her to have quiet hands, but Erin knows that if she couldn't relieve pressure that way, she'd have a meltdown.
- Cut Himself Shaving: Otis Goldberg overhears two of the rapists talking about the time they raped a drunk girl in another city. When they see him eavesdropping, they chase him down and beat him up. He tells his parents he fell off his bike.
- Dedication: "For us."
- Drugs Are Bad: Principal Slattery (further) alienates Rosina from her mother by telling the latter that Rosina is "on drugs".
Rosina: I haven't done a drug in my life!
- Dumb Struck:
- Erin goes nonverbal for two days after Eric sexually assaults her.
- In her backstory she went nonverbal for two weeks when Casper Pennington raped her.
- Eating Lunch Alone: Before the Salters left Adeline, Grace became as much of a pariah at school as her mom was at church. Her "friends" refused to sit with her, so she ate lunch in the gym bathroom.
- Eyes Always Averted: Erin never looks people in the eye. When she has to look someone in the face, she looks just below their eyes so they can't tell she's not actually making eye contact.
- Flipping the Bird: A girl tells her friend, "Don't get too close to the freak table" as they walk past Rosina, Erin, and Grace's table. Rosina flips them off and says, "Fuck off, pod people."
- Go to Your Room!: Trista's father punishes her for her involvement with the Nowhere Girls by installing a new doorknob on her room that locks from the outside. She's only allowed out once every two hours to go to the bathroom. Her mother brings her meals and prays with her.
- I Have No Son!: Rosina's abusive mother threatens that if she gets one more phone call from the principal (who is trying to intimidate Rosina into betraying the nowhere girls) she will disown her.
- Internet Jerk: Grace makes the mistake of reading "The Real Men of Prescott," a blog run by one of Lucy's rapists, which sends her down a rabbit hole of manosphere websites full of men who anonymously trade rape tips.
- Limited Wardrobe: Every day Erin wears a flannel shirt, a T-shirt, and soft baggy pants. Her mom doesn't understand why she sets out tomorrow's outfit every night before bed when her outfits are all the same.
- Lysistrata Gambit: The Nowhere Girls organize a strike on all sexual activity, from intercourse to kissing, until the boys at Prescott High start behaving better. The strike is meant to get the attention not of the rapists, but of the boys who allow the rapes to continue through their silence. Enough of the girls go along with it to make the popular boys unhappy.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Principal Slatterly questions Erin about who stole the other students' email addresses, thinking Rosina put her up to it. Slatterly is talking down to Erin, so Erin goes along with it, pretending not to know what an email address is and asking Slatterly if she can wear a shiny red cape when Slatterly says she can be "a hero." Slatterly leaves in frustration.
- Police Are Useless: All the powerful adults in Prescott know each other, including the rapists' parents. As a result, Chief Delaney refuses to take the accusations seriously and does everything he can to shut the Nowhere Girls down. Luckily the sheriff of Fir County, where Cheyenne lives, takes the accusations seriously and is able to pressure Prescott law enforcement into bringing the rapists to justice.
- Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Rosina decorates her room with vintage posters of bands from The '90s. Her favorite is Sleater-Kinney.
- Punch a Wall: Rosina punches a locker because she's upset about Slatterly's blackmail. Erin asks, "What'd that locker do to you?"
- Rape as Backstory: Erin had to not only change schools but move across the country after Casper Pennington raped her when she was 13 (he was 16). After some effort she convinced her parents and the prosecutors to drop the charges against him because she froze in terror rather than saying "no" while he raped her, and the statutory rape charges that were filed are insulting to her because they imply that, due to her age and Asperger's, she lacks the agency to consent - they define her as a passive victim.
- Really Gets Around: Amber Sullivan was molested by her Creepy Uncle at age ten. Afterwards, she felt like she wasn't allowed to say no and her body was only good for one thing, so she had sex with almost any boy who asked. Now her reputation for promiscuity has made her possibly the least popular girl in the entire school.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Rosina's abuelita has rapidly advancing dementia. She thinks Rosina is her daughter Alicia, who never made it out of Mexico. At one point she repeatedly bitch slaps Rosina because she looks like Alicia, but is not her, and Abuelita thinks she's a demon.
- Self-Harm: After Erin is almost raped, she runs home, bangs her head against the wall, and hits herself. Her golden retriever Spot puts himself between her head and the wall, gently tugs her hand away from her head, and sits on her.
- Spiteful Spit: After Lucy's rape, Rosina spat on Eric's nose. He just laughed, called her a spic dyke, and walked away. After that, Rosina decided caring was a waste of time.
- Stress Vomit: After Cheyenne tells Erin, Grace, and Rosina her story of being raped, she runs into the bathroom and vomits.
- Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Erin notes that her crush Otis somewhat resembles Wesley Crusher. That's a bonus, because Star Trek: The Next Generation is her favorite TV show.
