Positive Influences In Melinda's Life

As teenagers, we all get influenced quite easily. Sometimes in a positive way, and sometimes in a negative way, but all in all, we get influenced by the people that we associate with. Those people tend to be your friends and sometimes you may not want to speak up or tell your friends something personal. You are afraid to lose them or are afraid of what they’ll think about you when they find out. Our whole society is based on the “trends” where people who are more socially known (celebrities, popular kids at school etc.) tell us what to do and if we don’t then we are known as outcasts. Melinda was going through this exact same problem. She was too afraid of what people would think of her, so she didn't speak up, wasting a year where she could have been happy instead of being upset and constantly scared.
Part of Melinda’s “problem” is that she is constantly quiet, never opening up about herself or …show more content…
The kids were pushing her away because “it wasn’t cool” to be her friend. She called the cops at an end of summer party which caused people to act rudely towards her. They assume that she called the cops because it got too much for her to handle when in reality it was because she got raped in the woods outside and didn’t know what to do (136.3). Also, the kids seem to pick on her for non-valid reasons. For example, one girl’s brother got arrested and lost his job and was harming Melinda, but another girl had no reason what so ever and was unnecessarily harming her (27.7, 28.1, 29.2). The police are seen as a safe place when you are a victim, they are people who can really help you in times of desperate need, but when you aren’t the victim, calling the cops is seen as a crime. Especially at our age, at parties, dances, concerts, etc. it is seen as a crime and you will be exiled and isolated because you never truly know what else could be happening (drugs, alcohol