Twenty-Four Seconds from Now: Chapters 1–2

by Jason Reynolds
This novel, told in reverse, is a sweet and tender look at teenage male anxieties about love.

Here are links to our lists for the book:
List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6
15 words 149 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. severe
    very bad in degree or extent
    What I look like being worried about some stringy-haired mutt with an underbite severe enough to double as a bottle opener?
  2. classic
    a creation of the highest excellence
    For some reason...I’m still jammed in this bathroom, having a square-up and a stare-down with you like we enemies in a cowboy flick or a hood classic, which are basically the same except for the color of the characters and the hats they got on.
  3. frame
    a structure for encasing or holding a picture, mirror, etc.
    You just some picture stuck in the metal frame of the medicine cabinet mirror, curling at the corners.
  4. dazzling
    amazingly impressive
    She looks dazzling. That’s what I told her, and no lie, when I said it, her face became a diamond.
  5. anticipation
    an expectation
    But the anticipation of that ring makes that last minute the length of the entire night.
  6. wholesome
    characteristic of physical or moral well-being
    Not some wholesome smile like Gammy’s and not a fake I’m-just-trying-to-be-nice smile either.
  7. playfulness
    a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement
    About pattern and playfulness.
  8. platform
    a raised horizontal surface
    It’s decorated with a platform bed, low to the ground, with one of those headboards that look more royal than relaxing.
  9. desperation
    hopeless recklessness
    And the fact that we’d fooled around there so many times feels like a miracle now that I think about it, and like an act of desperation now that I really think about it.
  10. norm
    a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical
    But after a while, out became the norm.
  11. eventually
    after an unspecified period of time or a long delay
    Eventually, the only thing the two of us could think about whenever we were making out was, how we could make in.
  12. funky
    having an offensive or unpleasant smell
    And in my sister’s car—funky with vanilla tree—on a backstreet when my mother was asleep.
  13. rendezvous
    a date or meeting with a love interest
    And at our friends’ houses, using parties as excuses for rendezvous.
  14. process
    a particular course of action intended to achieve a result
    Taking off our clothes—at least the first layer— was a simple process without snags or holes.
  15. seamless
    perfectly consistent and coherent
    Seamless choreography.
Created on Wed Mar 19 04:51:48 EDT 2025 (updated Mon Mar 24 19:06:16 EDT 2025)

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