Significant aspect of the novel

The significant aspect of this novel is that the main character is not telling anyone about what happened to her. She won't tell anyone about the party even when they ask her to Speak and she had a chance to tell her parents and everyone what happened. In the end she finally tells and life seemed to be improving already for her. I think that the moral of the book was to speak because if Melinda had spoken in the first place and said why she called the police at the party she would have started out with a better life in high school and she probably wouldn't even have to be dealing with Andy Evans again, Rachel would have still been her friend, and she wouldn't be acting all depressed and sad. Her grades would have probably been better and her relationship with her parents too but she let Andy Evans just ruin that for her. Melinda's whole story just shows how important it is to speak what you know or are feeling. In the end she does finally speak up when she says "I said no" to Andy Evans on page195, but at least she finally spoke up for herself.