Undercover Latina: Chapters 14–20

by Aya de León
As an agent of the International Alternative Intelligence Consortium, fourteen-year-old Andréa Hernández-Baldoquín is assigned to befriend the son of a suspected terrorist in order to prevent a possible attack somewhere in the southwestern U.S.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–13, Chapters 14–20, Chapters 21–28, Chapters 29–35
40 words 17 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rakish
    marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness
    BaguaNi was sitting on a treasure chest with a crown tilted at a rakish angle.
  2. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    I sat down, feeling a little forlorn with my starter deck.
  3. protocol
    code of correct conduct
    “Are you asking as a mom or a colleague?” I asked.
    She laughed. “Both. Let me return to the protocol. Anything time-sensitive?”
  4. impulsively
    in a hasty way; without caution or planning
    Impulsively, I dug in my binder pocket for the napkin drawing he had made of me at the pizza place.
  5. alias
    a name that has been assumed temporarily
    Search photos to see if you can find a clearer picture of John Summer—so far, we only have the license photo and the video clip, but if we can find more, they'll be able to do a wider search of mug shots and see if he's been operating elsewhere under an alias.
  6. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    Mom told me that part of spycraft was patience. Don’t burn out your adrenaline when nothing is happening.
  7. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    She gave a wry smile. “You know, the master race calls.”
  8. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    She had the I-don’t-care sullen teen thing down.
  9. quell
    suppress or crush completely
    After we’d settled into the game, I got off to a strong start in the seventeenth century, sending reinforcements from Spain to quell her slave rebellion.
  10. leach
    use a liquid to dissolve out or remove a substance
    I tried to defend myself, but she had the cards to leach the superpowers from my villain and get her superheroes to full power.
  11. preempt
    take action to prevent someone else from acting
    “Dang!” I said, playing my Electrical Storm card, hoping to preempt her next strike.
  12. prominent
    conspicuous in position or importance
    Sometimes one has a deck that features one of the superheroes more prominently.
  13. lucrative
    producing a sizeable profit
    “And lucrative,” Imani said. “Guaranteed sales of four packs per table, plus the hourly drink minimum. These cafés clean up during tournaments.”
  14. spleen
    a large oval organ between the stomach and the diaphragm
    “She’s got the chest room for lungs, but no room for a kidney or liver or, like, a spleen. Not that I know what a spleen does.”
  15. usher
    accompany or escort
    We stood up, and he ushered us to a table with a pair of white guys who looked like they might be in college.
  16. spontaneous
    said or done without having been planned in advance
    You’re not allowed to address your partner directly. Which you didn’t. However, if you have that kind of spontaneous talking five times in a game, the other team can submit a grievance.
  17. grievance
    a complaint about a wrong that causes resentment
    You’re not allowed to address your partner directly. Which you didn’t. However, if you have that kind of spontaneous talking five times in a game, the other team can submit a grievance.
  18. appease
    make peace with
    The other team looked appeased.
  19. synergy
    the working together of two or more things to produce an effect
    But Imani was too close to winning, and with a Synergy card, she put together all our present-time superheroes.
  20. contract
    squeeze or push together
    His mouth contracted into a tight lipless line.
  21. concede
    acknowledge defeat
    “Dude,” said the guy who had conceded. “I told you, keep up the offense.”
  22. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    He had played one earlier in the game that weakened us considerably, but we had fought our way back up.
  23. in tandem
    with cooperation and interchange
    “We want to play in tandem with you if we ever go to a tournament with superteams,” Ramón said.
  24. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    By now, I had gotten used to some of the rhythms of high school. Long periods of quiet when students were in class, punctuated by loud, raucous passing periods where students exploded out of classrooms and moved through the hallways in waves.
  25. stupor
    a state of being half-awake
    “The Trance,” said Kyle. “That card puts all the opponent’s superheroes into a stupor for two turns.”
  26. stellar
    distinguished from others in excellence
    He explained that this card was stellar if you also had the New Moon Runaway card, which he did have.
  27. cue
    a reminder for some action or speech
    “May I use your bathroom?” Imani asked.
    That was my cue.
  28. talisman
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
    The Initiation card stayed on the table, faceup, like a talisman.
  29. inundate
    overwhelm or fill quickly beyond capacity
    Once again, we tried “dad” and “father,” but there were too many hits. We also tried “John” and “Summer” but were inundated by the random ways that they came up.
  30. arduous
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    The two of us began the arduous process of investigating every hit on the search terms.
  31. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    Kyle asked tentatively, “What’s wrong?”
  32. improvise
    perform without preparation
    “I don’t remember him. I just remember my mom being really sad when I was little.” I was improvising.
  33. determine
    shape or influence; give direction to
    “Just...like, being in a family can affect a guy. The way he turns out. Like sort of...I don’t know...determine what type of man he turns out to be.”
  34. conservative
    resistant to change
    “Was he, like, conservative?”
    “He was kind of a back-to-nature guy,” Kyle said. “Really off the grid.”
  35. stricken
    affected by something overwhelming
    Kyle looked stricken. “I’d never go to that,” he said. “Maybe that’s cool in LA but not here.”
  36. uprising
    organized opposition to authority
    “Kyle is crushing my uprising,” I said.
  37. radicalize
    make more extreme in social or political outlook
    Had John Summer shared any of those ideas with Emily when they were together? Or did he get radicalized after he left this family?
  38. hearty
    without reservation
    Emily turned to me and said they were having lasagna for dinner. She asked if I wanted to stay. I heartily agreed.
  39. befuddled
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    “Wait,” I said. “You dated Kyle’s dad?” I was going for befuddled, but I said it loudly and clearly.
  40. surveillance
    close observation of a person or group
    I tried to convince myself I was spying on him as part of the assignment, but I knew this was the surveillance of a girl who was almost but not quite kissed.
Created on Mon Nov 13 09:40:10 EST 2023 (updated Tue Nov 14 11:28:44 EST 2023)

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