What If It's Us: Chapters 22–32

by Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera
Arthur and Ben couldn't be more different. Arthur, a Jewish teenager from Georgia, is in New York City for a summer internship that he hopes will help him get into an Ivy League college. Ben, a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, is attending summer school so that he can avoid repeating 11th grade. Find out what happens when a series of coincidences brings these two together.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–11, Chapters 12–21, Chapters 22–32, Chapter 33–Epilogue

Here are links to our lists for other works by Becky Albertalli: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Leah on the Offbeat

Here is a link to our lists for another work by Adam Silvera: They Both Die at the End
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. kosher
    food that fulfills the requirements of Jewish dietary law
    Mrs. Seuss leans forward. “Oh, please don’t worry! We don’t keep kosher.”
  2. fend
    try to manage without help
    She was an afterschool teacher, so I would have to fend for myself when I got home.
  3. consultation
    a meeting to discuss a particular question or topic
    I’ve done a dozen consultations and not been hired yet, and it’s really taking a toll on me—on us.
  4. sensory
    involving or derived from the senses
    “I’m taking a sensory motor break.”
  5. twinge
    a sudden sharp feeling
    I don’t even see him in the distance. I bite back a twinge of disappointment and shoot him a quick text.
  6. unperturbed
    free from emotional agitation or nervous tension
    On one hand, here’s Ben, late, yet again, and obnoxiously unperturbed about it.
  7. lanky
    tall and thin and having long slender limbs
    “I heard someone threw up,” says a lanky guy in glasses.
  8. immaculate
    without error or flaw
    But I follow Ben inside the theater, where there’s an immaculately made-up blond woman at the will call window.
  9. arbitrary
    based on or subject to individual discretion or preference
    “Yeah, well, if they’re going to set an arbitrary time to claim—”
    “It’s not an arbitrary time. That’s how this works. We were late.”
  10. thorough
    painstakingly careful and accurate
    But here’s the funny thing: he kind of is the world’s most thorough tour guide. He’s not exactly taking the long route, but he has a story for everything we pass.
  11. tousle
    disarrange or rumple; dishevel
    And there I am, center screen, tousled dark hair and button-down and a bow tie.
  12. avatar
    a new personification of a familiar idea or person
    It’s actually somewhat creepy how much my avatar resembles me. I know a little bit about this game, mostly because Jessie loves it, but the level of detail catches me off guard.
  13. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    There’s a dragon sculpture in the foyer and a light-up dance floor in Dylan’s room, and also the entire backyard is an amusement park, with a roller coaster and a carousel and a Tunnel of Love.
  14. flashy
    (used especially of clothes) marked by conspicuous display
    I don’t have the money to buy him something flashy, but my parents don't really drop bank on gifts either.
  15. blistering
    extremely hot
    And Hudson is the only one staring at his desk, deep in thought, while everyone gets excited over the first rain of this blistering month.
  16. disposal
    the power to use something or someone
    If I suck at homework when I have the internet and textbooks at my disposal, then I’m going to completely fail when it’s just me and the blank page.
  17. catastrophic
    extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin
    “Arthur, please, hear me out. This looks bad. Catastrophic. But I promise you that I love—”
  18. impromptu
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    It’s just Jessie, swooping in for an impromptu FaceTime.
  19. bare bones
    (plural) the most basic facts or elements
    The lobby’s kind of bare-bones—no couches, not even a bench.
  20. subtle
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    “I mean, we didn’t know, but we figured. You’re not really subtle...about anything.”
  21. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    “Richard Harris was perfectly cast. Pure Dumbledore. Demeanor, appearance, delivery, everything.”
  22. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    Dylan raises a skeptical eyebrow. “The court rules that you can only have an opinion on Harry Potter casting if you’ve been a fan longer than a year.”
  23. deposition
    a pretrial interrogation of a witness
    Mom’s driving upstate tomorrow morning for a bunch of depositions and meetings.
  24. disorient
    cause to be lost or confused
    So, that’s a little disorienting—it’s like catching Valjean and Javert holding hands. But maybe my parents really are a Saturday-night-on-the-sofa kind of couple.
  25. onslaught
    a rapid and continuous outpouring
    “The onslaught of selfies is really important; if I go two minutes on Instagram without seeing your face, I’d probably forget what you look like.”
  26. behold
    see with attention
    Say the worst things and yell your voice raw and destroy everything you love until, lo and behold, the monotony of work is a relief.
  27. monotony
    the quality of wearisome constancy and lack of variety
    Say the worst things and yell your voice raw and destroy everything you love until, lo and behold, the monotony of work is a relief.
  28. counterpart
    a duplicate copy
    Last night my Sim counterpart gave flowers to Sim Arthur and got rejected...
  29. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    “My loves!” Dylan’s voice is raspy, and kind of hot.
  30. cliche
    a trite or obvious remark
    “I had to come back. Our last words to each other were trash and we would’ve been some bad cliché, and I’m too iconic for such nonsense.”
Created on Thu Dec 13 12:26:29 EST 2018 (updated Mon Dec 17 15:25:09 EST 2018)

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