Clash of the Titans
- People have been noticing that Melinda has been skipping school, so a meeting is arranged with Mom, Dad, Principal Principal, the guidance counselor, and Melinda.
- They can't understand why Melinda won't talk or explain herself to them.
- Principal Principal wants to know why Melinda had good grades, good attendance, and good behavior last year, but not this year.
- Mom thinks Melinda is acting out to make her parents notice her. Dad thinks the school has done something to hurt or change Melinda.
- The counselor asks Mom and Dad if they have "marriage issues" (55.16).
- Mom curses; Dad tells the counselor to "visit that hot, scary, underground world" (55.17).
- Next, Mom and Dad say they are sorry for losing their cool.
- Melinda imagines the scene as if it's a musical and her parents are singing show tunes. The thought makes her giggle. Her mom wants to know what's funny about the situation.
- Dad says her "slacker attitude" (55.22) must be something she's learned at school.
- The counselor tells Mom and Dad that Melinda's friends, Meg Harcutt, Emily Briggs, and Siobhan Falls, are "very nice" girls (55.23). Principal Principal agrees that those girls are nice.
- Principal Principal asks Melinda if those girls are, in fact, her friends.
- Melinda wonders how they can be so blind. Can't they see she doesn't have any friends at all?
- Melinda "ha[s] nothing," "say[s] nothing," and "[is] nothing" (55.25).
- She considers taking a bus to Arizona.