The chapter "four letter word" deals a lot with trust. J.D. had taken Alice into an area where no one was around to supposedly go swimming. While they were alone, the words "rape" and "sex" were brought up. This scared Alice.
"Alice sat on the grass eying J.D. warily and thinking about the meaning of the word "rape". She tried not to guess why he'd introduced this term in the first place, flashing it like a concealed knife, then studying her reaction to see what she would do. Does this scare you? he's asked. Are you afraid of me? Whatever trust she'd had in him had vanished. She felt he'd broken the rules- the delicate, fragile set of rules which had been established between them (216).
This paragraph talks about how just mentioning those unknown words to Alice, her whole perspective on how she viewed J.D. was changed. She is now terrified of him. She knows the word "rape" is something ugly and un-wanted. She also knows it happens to unsuspecting young girls who are in similar situations to herself. I think she realizes right then that it might not have been a good idea to get so close to J.D. Yet at the same time, she is still so trusting of him.
"Ahead of her was open space, no path at all, just a hope that if she put one foot in front of the other, it would lead her back to New York City. Alice planned it all out- her walk to the road, her discovery of the gas station, her contacting the police, her delivery to the bus station, her return home. And then she did the opposite. She let her feet take her wherever they led, and she went wherever they wanted her to go" (223).
Even though she gets frightened by J.D. saying these things, she still feels like there is something different about him. It may not say which way she is deciding to go, but it seems a bit obvious to me.
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