How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Look, I'm not sure exactly/what happened here, but you/are everything to me. Even/if you weren't, you have/to realize you can't get a guy all worked up, then/tell him to stop. It's not fair." (23.37)
Note to guys: Girls get worked up, too, it's just that there are all kinds of shame attached to female desire. This is one more kind of societal pressure to negate who you really are and what you really want.
Quote #8
For the first time ever, the love we/made was unhurried. It's good slow,/he said. Do you like it this way? I did/but wondered just when he'd decided/that, and how. Still, I didn't dare ask/him. Instead I just let him. (26.70-72)
Violation of the female body is a major thread that runs through the narrative of Perfect. Kendra does a lot of "just letting him" throughout the book, despite what she herself actually wants. (Do you think she even knows what she wants, or what she enjoys sexually?)
Quote #9
I told her everything—how I had kept/my virginity until I needed to be sure./How I teased Sean. Challenged him,/even, only to change my mind. (33.34)
Cara feels a lot of guilt about other people's choices. Just as she couldn't have changed what Sean did, though, she couldn't have changed what Conner did, even if she'd told that he was sleeping with his teacher.