Chapters 12-14 Summary and Analysis

Melba is daydreaming about her 16th birthday when she is confronted by a boy. The boy grabs Melba's arm and twists it up behind her back like a cop would do to criminal who is being arrested. There are other boys approaching Melba and she is afraid. Suddenly Melba remembers a phrase she was taught: "If a fellow's got so little manhood he'd hit a woman, it's up to that woman to relieve him of what a few morsels of his masculinity remain." Melba kicks the boy in the groin and gets away. Once at homeroom, Melba approaches two boys that heckle her everyday and tells them that she plans on being at school the next day and the next day after that.

The nine students are continuously covered in the media. The articles written about them included many...