Over the course of the year, Melinda feels alienated from almost everyone around her. As she is just starting high school, had she not been traumatized, she might have made friends and enjoyed some of the social activities. However, she is an intelligent and very creative person who had already considered herself different from other children; some of the problems she experiences at school are distinct from her trauma and recovery. During the year, her distance from her authentic self is shown through her disregard of her appearance as well as her frequently feeling unwell.

Melinda gets to know a teacher and a few students who have a strong sense of self and express their individuality. Her gradually improving relationship with the art teacher, Mr. Freeman, allows her to express her own creativity. Seeing how he has adapted as an artist and a teacher to the conformist environment of the high school also helps her learn that such adaptation is possible. The long-term art project involving a tree is a key vehicle for her expressiveness and personal growth, as well as an element of her recovery. Her lab partner, David, offers an example of principled action through maintaining his position, but not vocally complaining, during a disagreement with a teacher.

In contrast, she sees most of the teachers and students as overly preoccupied with social conventions or devoid of imagination. Melinda rejects not only the authority of the teachers but the premises of the kind of education they promote. The students are organized in cliques, into which she is not welcomed. She finds their concern, even obsession, with joining the right group both unfathomable and appealing. Melinda comes to realize that she had previously been susceptible to this kind of peer pressure and that Andy is a predator who took advantage of her sensitivity as well as sexually assaulted her. As her own self-esteem improves, she spends less time thinking negatively about her peers.