Danielle’s:

Reading this had brought back so many repressed feelings of mine. I had not seen any of what
happened coming, although I feel like I should have; nothing about the title or the first few
paragraphs seemed like it would be a lighthearted read. It felt absolutely painful, shocking and I
just feel disgusted and violated—almost as if I was Eva on that swing. What’s even more
enraging is seeing a male classmate of mine joke about what had happened in that specific part.
Then, I think to myself: of course it would be funny to you. Oh, what I’d do to not just think to
myself and raise my voice instead. But I don’t want to make him feel embarrassed. After all, it is
just a harmless joke. So, I didn’t say anything. Like Eva, all I did was giggle weakly.

“I smiled—certain that I had not lost anything. Though I have yet to find out what I gained.”

Eva went through such a traumatic experience. I definitely hate the idea of that even happening
to girls at that age, then having to ‘grow up’ and forgetting about it. She carried this with her
subconsciously her whole life, and it, without her knowing, influenced her decision. She cannot
change this, and that’s what makes it so horrific. What I absolutely love about this line, though,
is that it recognizes virginity as a social construct; it gives having sex for the first time an
unnecessary pedestal. I can imagine anyone who had sex with someone who they didn’t end up
with and felt terrible about it, I can imagine someone’s first time being bad and now they think
sex is horrible. This gives sex a more positive meaning: gaining an experience, and not at all
losing anything, contrary to popular belief.

Wenzy’s:

The text made me realized how important it is to think about the decisions you make, and
sometimes you have to make the bad ones to learn from it and become stronger. It was definitely
a good read because it was not only realistic but it was also relatable, well obviously I can’t
relate to it but I have friends who had similarities with what Eva went through. The text was also
really unpredictable, it caught me off guard in a lot of parts in the story. But overall I realized
how important it is to find yourself first before you love someone.

“I smiled—certain that I had not lost anything. Though I have yet to find out what I gained.”

I think that this is a very empowering statement from Eva, saying that sex is not everything; that
she had not lost anything but she does not also know what she had gained from that experience.
If I was on Eva’s shoes, I would probably say the same thing just to keep it interesting. In
general, we can relate how life works into that statement, that life is a constant guessing game
and you have to grind everyday and just hope that you’re becoming a better version of yourself
as each day passes.