The internal conflict of the protagonist

The internal conflict of the protagonist is that she was raped but she doesn't tell anyone about it. She acts different at home but she doesn't want to tell her parents who see a change in her. The significance of the passage is that now we know why in the story when she starts high school she is afraid of the guy she keeps calling IT, Andy Evans. On page 97, in the novel Speak, Andy Evans is holding out a doughnut to her and asking her if she wants a bite. He is obviously teasing her and she makes it obvious to him that she's scared when she runs away from him so quickly. Also in the beginning when she joins Heather at the Marthas table, while he is flirting with one named Emily who is interested in him, he comes over and starts playing around with Melinda's ponytail. The author's purpose is to show us from the beginning that Andy Evans has something to do with Melinda's behavior. We know this is the author's purpose because the author show's through Melinda's actions like calling Andy It and getting very uncomfortable around tells us there is something we don't know about him yet in the story. The effect this has on the reader is making them want to read on. The reader will want to find out more about who "IT" which is what Melinda calls him in the beginning of the story before revealing his name, what he's done to her to make her loose her friends and start off high school depressed and hated by people who barely know her.