Speak

At the beginning of "Speak" the author, Laurie Anderson, describes a lonely teenage freshman. This girl sits alone on the bus, the school assembly, and lunch. Her old "clan" totally left her. Her little clan was made up of 5 girls. Nicole, Ivy, Jessica, and the bestest of her friend Rachel. They all just left. But Rachel definitely went from best friend to mortal enemy. Possibly. The first day they see each other after about a month, Rachel basically lets her know how she feels. "Her eyes meet mine for a second. "I hate you," she mouths silently." Apart from Rachel we meet another character who will probably make her year the worst. (Reminder I call the character, her/she, because we still don't know the name.) the new character is the social studies teacher, Mr.Neck. No, that is not his name, but he had a "whistle around a neck thicker than his head."  which is why she nicknamed his Mr.Neck. He just met her and he already thinks she's trouble just because, she didn't sit down right away and because she was walking to the bathroom without a pass. He didn't even care that she had food thrown on her. She just started high school and it was already a mess. 

I just began the book and she's already facing challenges. First off her best friends ditched her at the beginning of high school, and secondly she doesn't talk to anyone at all. At her first bus ride to school, no one sat with her. "As we leave the last stop, I am the only person sitting alone." This shows just how lonely she is. Besides being physically lonely, she is also emotionally lonely. She is afraid of doing things wrong. She is afriad she will mess up on the first day of high school. "I know enough not to bring lunch on the first day of high school. There is no way of telling what the acceptable fashion will be." But almost right away she finds herself in the biggest high school nightmare. She was "nailed" with food. She ran out the cafeteria just to find herself getting in trouble for walking around the halls without a pass. The first day of high school was tragic.