Julia beat the odds when she escaped the kidnapper who hunted her in the woods for two terrifying nights that she can't fully remember. Her best friend, Liv, was in the woods, too. When Julia got caught, Liv ran away; now she's anorexic, and hooking up with an addict with an explosive temper-- is Liv punishing herself for getting away? It's one year later, and a dead girl turns up in those same woods. The terrible memories resurface, and Julia realizes...

"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless--an outcast--because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her.