Lust

Yes, love does not mean having sex with every guy you see, but somewhere in her mind, the seed was planted that " If you go out with them, you sort of have to do something (306)." This misconception that was planted there, leads her to believe that in order for a boy to like you, or care about you, or love you, you must give them what they want, or expect first.
             During the time period in which the narrator's promiscuous behavior took place, our society was obviously a different world. Some young women in today's society do have these same misconceptions about lust and love, but it was obviously a bigger issue then than it is now. "The joke was that the school doctor gave out the pill like aspirin. He didn't ask you anything. I was fifteen. We had a picture of him in assembly, holding up an IUD shaped like a T (307)." This shows you that society recognized the problem, but instead of trying to do anything to stop it, they supplied the girls with birth control and then just looked the other way. "The headmaster told me he didn't care what I did but Casey Academy had a reputation to uphold There are twenty acres of woods on this campus If you want to smooch with your boyfriend, there are twenty acres for you to do it out of the public eye (309)." This just goes to show that society caused this misapprehension of lust and love; they led young women to believe that in order for a man to provide for them and love them, they must do what makes the man happy, therefore, if sleeping with him is what makes him happy, then that is what they have to do.
             For boys, the promiscuity isn't such a big deal, in fact, for them it's as if they have a new accomplishment under their belt each time. For girls however, its different, " It's as though a petal gets plucked each time." Eventually, the girls come to realize and admit to themselves that what they are doing is wrong, but by this time it may be too late to get out of the routine they had going.