Melinda skips school for the first time when she doesn't hear her alarm in the morning and doesn't wake up on time; as a result, she misses the bus to school. Her mom then tells her that she must go to school regardless and that she'll have to walk.

On the way to school she decides to buy some doughnuts and comes across Andy Evans, who immediately notices her and starts to tease her, offering her a bite from his doughnut. Melinda feels anxious, runs away, and decides to not go to school that day. She walks around at first and then goes to the mall; she thinks about the past and how times were simpler when she was younger, and contemplates whether or not she should tell someone that she was raped and that she's not okay mentally. She spends the rest of the day at the mall until a security guard notices her and looks at her suspiciously and she leaves and takes a bus home.

After that incident, Melinda decides to skip school occasionally, because she doesn't feel good surrounded by people who obviously don't like her and don't care that much about her. She sometimes feels pressure and discomfort, so changing the environment every once in a while might actually be good for her mental and emotional state.