Twenty-Four Seconds from Now: Chapter 6

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
25 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. wrench
    a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt
    He grabbed his wrench and went on wrenching whatever he’d been wrenching.
  2. pulpit
    a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
    Laughed at the way he said blessed like he was on the pulpit.
  3. obviously
    unmistakably
    “We in the being with category. Obviously.”
  4. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
    My added incentive is the after-church date where I get to watch a movie with my girl.
  5. proposal
    something suggested, as a plan or assumption
    Mr. Sanchez had just accepted our proposal to change the format of the yearbook, from a book to a website.
  6. fed up
    thoroughly disgusted with or annoyed at something
    It started with a shaky- voiced phone conversation, Aria telling me her mother was fed up with the barking.
  7. concentrate
    direct one's attention on something
    Telling me her mother also said her little sister, Turtle, couldn’t concentrate on her singing with all that yapping, and that voice was a more important investment than Aria’s snuggles.
  8. condition
    an illness, disease, or other medical problem
    “Poor little guy only barks because he has a nervous condition from previous trauma!”
  9. obnoxious
    causing disapproval or protest
    But still, Aria had to get rid of her ugly, obnoxious fur-bro.
  10. exposure
    the act of allowing light to reach film in a camera
    “Then just let me get one of Jeremy,” he said, turning the exposure wheel.
  11. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    They all, by chance, met in the foyer where me and Aria and Jeremy were.
  12. perplexed
    full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment
    I asked, now even more perplexed.
  13. intimate
    marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity
    “Intimate?”
  14. tenderness
    warm compassionate feelings
    “And I know that because I’ve felt it with your mother. There’s a tenderness you’re offering her. A tenderness she offers you. And, from what I know now, there ain’t much in this world sexier than that.”
  15. happenstance
    an accidental event that seems to have been arranged
    Maybe by happenstance.
  16. thread
    a fine cord of twisted fibers used in sewing and weaving
    “Took me forever, but I made all this from a fuzzy blanket my dad got from the thrift store. Made the pearls with thread and white corn kernels. She’s perfect.”
  17. metropolitan
    relating to or characteristic of a large urban area
    “What? She’s Marian Anderson. The first Black person to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.”
  18. highlight
    move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent
    “As a matter fact, I was thinking maybe we could take a couple pictures of you in here. That way we could highlight our lives outside of high school.
  19. telescope
    a magnifier of images of distant objects
    The cardboard tube I used to pretend was a telescope.
  20. frantically
    in an uncontrolled manner
    He looked around the room frantically before spotting the team, and waddled as fast as he could to the table to sit with them.
  21. blase
    nonchalantly unconcerned
    “My mother made me look at college applications,” Dodie said, all blasé, like college was just another thing meant to take up his precious time.
  22. divvy
    separate into parts or portions
    “All we need to decide tonight is how to divvy up responsibilities. Who gon’ do what?”
  23. brainstorm
    try to solve a problem by thinking intensely about it
    And this wasn’t really the best place to brainstorm because I was trying to pay attention to all them while also listening for bingo.
  24. disintegrate
    break into parts or components or lose cohesion or unity
    They disintegrate in her mouth.
  25. delicate
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    The point is, Dorian’s neighborhood looks like a neighborhood of delicate castles.
Created on Wed Mar 19 07:13:56 EDT 2025 (updated Mon Mar 24 19:07:16 EDT 2025)

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