How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
One of the last times I cried was when Tommy and I had sex for the first time […] It hurt so much and Tommy was stoned and not even paying attention to how I tried to slow him down and there was some stupid commercial for a diet pill on the car radio. (5.23)
That Deanna noticed what was on the radio shows that she definitely wasn't as into the sex as Tommy, despite the nasty rumors that swirl about her. She wasn't really paying attention; she wasn't really getting into it. Remembering this is one way to remind herself she's not really skanky (like so many people say)—she was just doing what she had to do to keep a guy around.
Quote #8
We'd walk home together […] and I'd tell her about sex […] I'd tell her all that and help her decide. I'd be a friend. (5.106)
Instead of helping Lee decide, Deanna abandons her to make her own decision. Would Deanna have chosen to have sex with Tommy if someone had had the conversation with her she wants to have with Lee?
Quote #9
He liked to remind me about that all during the next months when I would say we should stop doing what we were doing. "Hey," he'd say, "you started it, remember?" (6.110)
Everything Tommy does and says to Deanna is, on some level, a power play. Making someone else feel shame and obligation is a prime way of taking away their power.