Punk 57

Ryen writes an angry letter to Misha, upset that she hasn’t received a letter from him in three months. She’s worried about him and maintains her promise to never stop writing. She wishes she had copies of her old letters to him to relive their correspondence and remember the lyrics they wrote together. She worries about the future, as high school is ending and college looms. She hopes to hear from Misha, at least one last time.

Ryen and Misha have similar home lives. Misha and his little sister live with their dad because his mom abandoned them as children, while Ryen and her older sister live with their mom because her dad abandoned them. Ryen considers Misha her best friend. She doesn’t want to search him up or go to his house yet because they’d promised not to. Ryen likes that Misha is perfect in her head. She’ll hold out as long as it takes for him to write back.



Words cover Ryen’s walls. She’s written many excerpts and lyrics from letters she’s exchanged with Misha. She doesn’t invite anyone over to see it because she worries they wouldn’t understand. Ryen is a cheerleader now, but her peers shunned her during her younger years.

Ryen sneaks out with her friends, Lyla and Ten. Ryen doesn’t always like them, but it is better than being lonely and friendless. They go to The Cove, an abandoned theme park. Lyla teases Ryen about Trey. Trey isn’t Ryen’s boyfriend, but he’s the popular jock in school, and he’s been pursuing Ryen. She’s done her best to keep him interested while not letting him get sexual. Lyla warns Trey will find someone else if Ryen doesn’t give him what he wants. Ryen suspects Lyla might sleep with Trey, even though Lyla has a boyfriend, J. D. Ten mentions that a young jogger died on the road they’re driving a few months ago. Ryen recalls that she was from Misha’s town. She asked if Misha knew her in one of her many unanswered letters.

At The Cove, Ryen meets up with the rest of her friends, and they wander through the abandoned theme park. Ryen teases Trey, inviting him to chase her, and she and Ten hide in the tunnels below the park. They’re surprised to find lights on and a seemingly inhabited room. The word Alone is written on the wall. Before they leave, Ryen tears a page full of lyrics out of a journal, wanting to examine the writing more.

The next morning after cheer practice, Ryen overhears that the school is working to install cameras to catch the person who has been sneaking in at night to leave anonymous messages with spray paint for months. The messages have captured the student body’s attention.

Ryen fights through an asthma attack until she can get to a private location because she doesn’t want her friends to see her inhaler. Ryen’s first class is art, which she enjoys but won’t let her friends know because she worries about the ridicule. A familiar, rough-looking new student sitting at the table next to Ryen distracts her.

Trey flirts with Ryen about prom and jokes about taking her to a taco truck instead. Ryen quickly deflects by saying she’ll be at the prom with Manny. Manny is the quiet emo student who sits at their table. He tries to keep to himself, but Ryen brings unwanted attention to Manny, who remains quiet as Trey continues to taunt him and makes antigay remarks. Ryen feels guilty for making Manny a bullying target but doesn’t speak up. The new student angrily drags Manny’s chair to his table and moves Manny’s things without a word. Ryen is shocked because no one ever stands up to her group. She finally recognizes the new student as the guy she met at the warehouse party. 

Ryen works on an album cover for Misha. She won’t tell anyone about Misha, and she hopes no one will ask what she’s drawing. She worries that talking about him will make him more real, and it will hurt more if he’s gone for good.

At lunch, Ryen’s friends speculate about the new guy, whose name is Masen Laurent. Ten thinks Masen has been leaving the graffiti. Ryen says the graffiti has been going on for months. Trey jokes about stealing Masen’s file. Trey’s stepmother is the principal, so he gets away with everything. Ryen doesn’t like this plan and decides to get to know Masen another way.

Ryen sits on the table in front of Masen and flirts with him. She says she remembers him from the party and invites him to the drive-in. Masen remains unnervingly quiet. Ryen asks if he’s into girls. Just as the principal scolds Ryen for sitting on the table, Masen pulls Ryen into his lap and holds her there. He licks her neck, tells her he likes girls, and says she tastes like shit before dumping her onto the floor in front of the cafeteria.

Ryen’s encounter with Masen leaves her shaken for the rest of the day, and social media is full of photos, videos, and memes of the incident. Ryen isn’t typically challenged by guys like Masen, and she hasn’t been embarrassed like that since she was a child. After school, Ryen’s locker has been ransacked, with her belongings spilled into the hallway. The word “EMPTY” is written on the door, but nothing is missing.

Ryen goes home to shower but finds Masen waiting in her bedroom. Ryen tries to make him leave, but Masen is combative and insists Ryen has his belongings. Masen threatens to hold Ryen’s private journal hostage until Ryen gives him his things back. Ryen tries to take the book back, but she and Masen tumble onto the bed, with Masen landing on top of her. He threatens her with scissors and muses about plastering pages of Ryen’s journal all over the school. Ryen realizes the lyrics she stole from The Cove were Masen’s. Masen snips a small lock of Ryen’s hair. Ryen reaches under her pillow and shoves Masen’s lyrics back at him. Masen insists Ryen also took a necklace, but she didn’t. Ten must have taken it. She promises to get it back. Masen says he’ll keep her journal as insurance. Masen compliments Ryen’s room and suggests she be more real with the people at school, so they stop talking behind her back. When he’s gone, Ryan notices he wrote “FRAUD” on her door.

Ryen retrieves the locket from Ten the next morning. Ryen doesn’t reveal that Masen broke into her room. Ryen peeks into the locket and finds a folded piece of paper with the words, “Close your eyes. There’s nothing to see out here” written on it (70). Those words seem familiar to Ryen, but she can’t place them. She wonders about the locket’s significance to Masen.

Masen shows up in Ryen’s English IV class. Ryen makes loud, pointed comments about the material they’re reading, to the approval of her peers. Feeling back on top after yesterday’s embarrassment, she grills her teacher over the books’ subject matter. Masen points out the contradictions in Ryen’s criticism, as Ryen used to like Twilight, which contains similar subject matter. He presses her and gets the entire class on his side, humiliating Ryen again.

Ryen hides in the locker room while she puffs from her inhaler to calm down. It’s been years since she had an asthma attack induced by social panic. She doesn’t understand what Masen’s problem is or why he’s targeting her. Ryen flashes back to fourth-grade recess when the cool girls shunned and bullied her. 

Ryen meets Masen in the parking lot after school. She hands over the locket, but Masen says he doesn’t have her book. He enjoys making Ryen angry. He tries to drive off, but she holds onto his truck. She warns him that no one messes with her. Ryen threatens to call the police on Masen’s hideout. Masen agrees to return her book tonight.

Misha tries to write to Ryen, but he can’t find the words. His sister, Annie, died the night he met Ryen, and he hasn’t been able to write since. In his letter, he rants about his complex feelings toward Ryen, wanting to hurt her because she’s all he has. His writing turns mean, and he lies about trashing all her letters because she never meant anything to him. Misha feels too guilty to continue, but he is upset that Ryen doesn’t appear to be the person she is in her letters. He tries to reconcile the Ryen he knows with the Ryen at school. At the end of the letter, he writes that he misses her and then burns the letter. Misha realizes the cheerleader she wrote about resenting was herself.

Misha hasn’t been active with his band since Annie died, but he still hangs out with Dane. He’s also grown distant from his dad. Staying at home feels suffocating with both their grief, so Misha lives at The Cove. Misha and Annie’s estranged mom did not show up to Annie’s funeral.

Misha and Dane sneak into school. Misha steals a file that belongs to Annie from the principal’s office. As they pass the locker rooms, Misha overhears Trey and Lyla having sex. Misha wonders how long they’ve been having sex behind Ryen’s back, and he’s relieved that Trey isn’t having sex with Ryen. Misha finds Ryen teaching swimming lessons at the pool.

Misha returns Ryen’s diary, and they banter. Misha admires Ryen’s cold, wet body. He tries to delay Ryen from going to the locker room, so she won’t yet discover Lyla and Trey’s betrayal. Misha feels the need to protect Ryen even if he doesn’t like her very much. He offers to walk Ryen out instead, but Ryen doesn’t trust him because he’s so cruel to her. Misha points out that someone is breaking into the school to vandalize the place regularly, so she needs to be careful, but Ryen isn’t afraid. Ryen is standoffish and curses at Misha. Angry, Misha throws her into the pool. When Misha gets back to the truck, Dane gives him a hard time for letting Ryen wind him up.