Safe by Susan Shaw

When thirteen-year-old Tracy, whose mother died when she was three years old, is raped and beaten on the last day of school, all her feelings of security disappear and she does not know how to cope with the fear and dread that engulf her.
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I absolutely loved this book. The attack on Tracy is not graphically detailed, but the emotions and trauma she feels after are very vivid. You can feel the anxiety she has when left alone, the desire to cling to her father and the despair she lives in now that she can no longer feel her mother's presence. Tracy has a long road ahead of her, one that she will not have to walk alone. Her father refuses to allow her to wallow in fear and pity. Tracy also finds comfort in her weekly piano lessons, lessons she used to dread and attempt to get out of, now bring her peace and help her find a new life. Tracy's expreience in the orange car causes her to try to pull away from her friends and it almost succeeds. A frightening event will bring her back to her friends, her father and even back to the mother she lost so many years before.