A Likely Story: "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto

Here, the adjective is used in a positive way to describe the students wanting to do something. But the word also has a negative tone that connects to unpleasant emotions such as fear or worry (see the definition and example sentence for "nervous").

Here, the adjective is used in a hopeful and positive way to describe how Victor wants to look to Teresa. He is focused on saying something smart, but in the past, being clever was more about doing something skillful with one's hands. The word also has a negative tone that can describe someone who is interested in himself and in tricking others to get what he wants.

The verb can also mean "be in charge of" or "watch and direct" but these definitions do not apply here to Victor because he is not in a leadership position. Just being in a position where he could catch the eye of the girl he likes is considered a victory. The verb can also have a negative tone similar to "clever" ("achieve something by means of trickery"), but the example sentence describes a straightforward action towards the simple goal of being noticed.

The Old French "porter" means "to carry." A portly person carries a lot of weight around, and as the example sentence suggests, carries his body in an ungraceful way. Compare the description of Teresa's walk to Mr. Lucas's waddle ("walking with short steps tilting from one foot to the other").

The definition for the noun contains the adjectives "earnest" and "conscientious"--which suggest honest, hard work. This seems to be the opposite of the example sentence's description. But Victor's pretenses and disguises are meant less to trick Teresa and more to avoid embarrassing himself. And he is working hard to look like he's not working hard to get her attention.

The definition is not a perfect fit for the example sentence, since Victor is not trying to frighten the teacher or the class. He is the one who is frightened of making a fool of himself, so that is why he is desperately trying to pretend that he knows French. He might have been better off if he had tried connecting to "bluff" as an adjective, which means "bluntly direct and outspoken but good-natured."

Compare with "embarrassed"--both adjectives connect to shame, and both describe Victor. But the definitions and roots show that there is often a difference in where the shame comes from (although here, it is from the same situation). The French "embarrasser" means "to block" so a person who is embarrassed has often been affected by someone else, while "sheepish" comes from the observation of sheep as having shy, easily led, stupid, and awkward natures.

"Bouquet" is a fitting word here to describe Victor's feelings, because it 1) comes from the French (although it originally meant "little wood"); 2) develops the image of "rosebuds" (which were figuratively used to describe Victor's blushing red face); 3) foreshadows what Victor might be literally giving to Teresa soon.