Speak [ paqes 8O - 12O )

Summary :
Melinda finds an empty abandoned janitors closet in school, she decides that she is going to use the closet for her own personal use. There is a mirror in the closet that Melinda can't stand to see, since she can't take it down, she covers it with a poster. Melinda makes the closet a comfortable place for herself. Melinda continuously says that she wishes she can confess everything, that would explain her actions. Melinda's Spanish teacher fiinaly spoke English to the class telling them if they didn't do their work that she would give them a detention. Melinda didn't want detention so she did her work which was to conjugate five verbs. She chose: to translate, to flunk, to hide, to forget, and to escape. All the words can relate to Melinda. In Meliinda's history class the teacher opens a debate about Immigration and such, the class gets into a big argument, resulting in Melinda's lab partner leaving the room.

Quote :
"The first thing to go is the mirror." (Anderson).

Reaction :
Melinda is not comfortable with lookinq at herself, if the first thing she wants out of her closet space is the mirror. Not only is she not comfortable looking at hersekf but she isn't comfortable with herself. She feels pain everytime she looks into the mirror. It makes her think about that night at the party where she had to call the police, for an unknown reason, which has scared her.