Deanna Lambert is an outcast at school, who deals with bullies, has family problems, and just wishes she could take back her past like many other in the world.
In my book, "Story of a girl", by, "Sara Zarr", Deanna Lambert was caught up in her so called love life. At thirteen years old, she was dating Tommy Webber. A guy who was almost out of high school, apparently was the boyfriend of an eight grade girl. Without thinking, Deanna disappears with Tommy. One day, she got caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing in the back of Tommy's car with Tommy.
For a eight grade girl's reputation to be ruined, all you need is a scandalous moment, and a school full of people who love to gossip. The secret was between Deanna, Tommy, and Deanna's father. But of course, secrets like those find their way out to the world to haunt you. If a 17 year old is caught in the back seat of a car fooling around with a 13 year old girl, you can't expect people to forget about such a thing.
At that age, everything seems so difficult. You feel misunderstood, and you feel like you life will end. At some point in your life, you will feel insecure whether it's about you facial features, body, or just your self in general. Some people deal with middle school drama, but some just get caught up in the situation. There are also people, like Deanna Lambert who, believe they can accept it. But, Deanna has all of these feelings. She's holding in everything going on in her life. The bullying, the gossiping, the hatred, the past, family, school, work, and Tommy, will eventually get to her and she will open up with a scream.
"This is the thing: Pacifica is a stupid small town with only one real high school, where everyone else knows everyone else's business and the rumored never stop until some other kid is dumb enough to do something that makes a better story. But my story had the honor of holding the top spot over two years running. I mean, a senior getting caught with his pants down on top of an eighth grade girl, by the girl's father was pretty hard to beat" basically, Deanna accepts here that, that is what happened and can not take it back. She expects people to not talk to her, and probably thinks that, that is how her life was supposed to be like. I think this because, she doesn't exactly complain or directly wishes she was somebody else. She just deals with things, and her life goes on.
Deanna faces her ex boyfriend daily. The guy that changed her life, stands by her everyday, playfully taunting her while making pizzas. Deanna's bravery stands out here. Instead of crying, she stands up for her self, and show that she has moved on. I believe that she does this because, she does not want to show any weakness torwards Tommy or anyone else. "Tommy leaned on the cash register and watched me. "You're not even going to say hi to me, Dee Dee?", his voice shot through me. It's amazing, the things your body will do just when you don't want them to: heart speeding up, fingers aching." Deanna doesn't want to admit that she is actually scared.
Deanna's character relates to the lives of lots of 16 year old girls in the world. High school and middle school girls, suffer through the pressure to be perfect. Popularity is something that girls would kill for, but what exactly does it mean to be popular? It seems like if you are popular, you have lots of friends and you are loved by everyone. But, popular means something different in some other people's perspective. People see popular as, being pretty, having lots of stuff, dressing in a certain way, and talking to certain people. I think this is because of what people see in the media. People watch movies like, "Mean girls", and see that popular people are mean so that's how they have to be. But that's not at all what being popular has to be all about.
All of this is normal but in the end, most of the middle/high school drama won't mean anything to you when you are an adult. The desire to be popular is something that you leave behind as you grow older because you learn that it doesn't matter at all. Respect on the other hand, is something that all people deserves.
