Ask the Passengers: Chapters 1–15

by A.S. King
After her family moves to the insular small town of Unity Valley, Astrid feels unable to open up to her parents and confused by her relationships with her friends — so she explores her feelings by imagining conversations with passengers in the airplanes that fly overhead.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–15, Chapters 16–31, Chapters 32–44

Here is a link to our lists for Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. reciprocal
    concerning each of two or more persons or things
    I don’t care if they don’t love me back.
    This isn’t reciprocal.
  2. humanities
    studies intended to provide general knowledge and skills
    Motion is impossible. That’s what Zeno of Elea said. And though I’ve disagreed with the idea every day this week in humanities class, sometimes I think I know what he meant.
  3. candid
    informal or natural
    I had to take some candid shots of the usual suspects: Football practice. Cheerleading. Hockey team running their laps.
  4. chiffon
    a sheer fabric of silk or rayon
    When I hear them talk like this, I close my eyes and picture Kristina in a blue chiffon dress that poufs out right below her knees, pearls and satin heels.
  5. assess
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    They assess your outfit, your hairstyle, and they garble what you say so it comes out ugly.
  6. garble
    distort or make false by mutilation or addition
    They assess your outfit, your hairstyle, and they garble what you say so it comes out ugly.
  7. quaint
    attractively old-fashioned
    I used to think the two-hundred-year-old redbrick buildings were so cute, you know? I used to think the cobblestone town center was quaint.
  8. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    The quiet room is technically the foyer. In our house, you pronounce that correctly. Foy-yay, not foy-er.
  9. protractor
    drafting instrument used to draw or measure angles
    Then he walks in the front door to find me pretending to poke my eye out with a protractor.
  10. whim
    a sudden desire
    For the record: The last time Mom took me shopping on a whim was never.
  11. modest
    humble in spirit or manner
    “Everyone wants to be in the paper!” Mom says. “And it’s not like it’s the Times. No need to be modest.”
  12. ergonomic
    designed to maximize workers' comfort and efficiency
    “Hey, that was my favorite stapler. It was ergonomic,” he says.
  13. rhetorical question
    an inquiry that is not supposed to be answered
    "Did you really just say that?” It's rhetorical, that question. I know what he said.
  14. compulsive
    having obsessive habits or irresistible urges
    Humanities class is a little like a shield I can put on every morning that will protect me from people like Aimee Hall and her pack of gossiping, tennis racquet-hugging compulsive hair-straighteners.
  15. beget
    have children
    “There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.”
  16. intern
    someone who works for an expert to learn about a job
    I could have stayed with friends of the family and interned in New York at some publishing house, as Mom suggested.
  17. bay
    a compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose
    There is nothing else like the sound of a walk-in freezer’s door opening. It’s a loud clunk of the huge handle followed by an air-suck sound. It’s a big sound. Like something circus equipment would make. Logger sounds. Or those science-fiction bay doors on spaceships with air locks.
  18. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    The swirling white air dances around the caged freezer lightbulb, and she pushes me right up against the dappled stainless-steel wall and kisses me with both her hands braided into my hair.
  19. stickler
    someone who insists on something
    Plus, her mom is a bit of a stickler about phone minutes, and Dee only gets fifteen dollars’ worth a week.
  20. nitpick
    be overly critical; criticize minor details
    “Last time I dated anyone, she just nitpicked me about him anyway.”
  21. inadequate
    lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task
    I’m thinking about Dee. About how inadequate I feel.
  22. exhilarating
    thrilling or invigorating
    But now all I can think about is Dee and how this all started. How she told me how gorgeous I was. How flattered I felt. How exhilarating it was to be wanted.
  23. loophole
    an ambiguity that makes it possible to evade an obligation
    This is why I doubt. It’s the loophole. It’s the question no one ever wants to ask.
  24. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
    I know about two hours into the flight home that I have to leave John. Call it a moment of clarity.
  25. galumph
    move around heavily and clumsily
    "It’s Saturday...let’s go somewhere fancy!” Mom says after galumphing downstairs from her office at ten after five.
  26. instinctive
    unthinking
    I jerk up and instinctively guard my abdomen.
  27. pendant
    an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry
    She’s wearing Mom’s prized jewelry—the diamond teardrop earrings and pendant. Stuff Mom saves for bigwig parties and award ceremonies in the city.
  28. bigwig
    the most important person in a group or undertaking
    She’s wearing Mom’s prized jewelry—the diamond teardrop earrings and pendant. Stuff Mom saves for bigwig parties and award ceremonies in the city.
  29. snub
    reject outright and bluntly
    Why would she snub a nice boy like Jeff Garnet?
  30. leprosy
    communicable disease characterized by wasting of body parts
    “I just don’t understand why people here talk about it like it’s leprosy,” she says. “I hope you’re nice to them, Ellis.”
  31. stint
    an unbroken period of time during which you do something
    ...three stints in rehab and so much debt I went bankrupt.
  32. baffled
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Kristina could go back to meeting Donna at McDonald’s or the parking lot out by Freedom Lake and double-dating with Justin and Chad on Fridays like always, and I could go back to keeping my secret love for Dee stowed away in the deepest regions of my baffled heart.
  33. gravitate
    move toward
    Upon noticing this, I become so self-conscious that I can’t stay on the dance floor, so I gravitate toward the edge, where people are standing around drinking, talking and watching.
  34. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    We slink down in the car seats, and I put my feet on the dash.
  35. affix
    attach to
    Where it didn’t mean I have to affix a label to my forehead so people can take turns trying to figure out what caused it or what’s wrong with me.
  36. paella
    saffron-flavored dish of rice with shellfish and chicken
    Oh, God. It’s her crazy ultimate paella with every shellfish known to man in it.
  37. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
    On Tuesday in humanities we learn about Socratic paradoxes.
  38. defy
    elude, especially in a baffling way
    It was about making people think. Because the only way to disprove something that defies common sense is to ask why.
  39. fluctuate
    be unstable
    I fluctuate between being...scared and totally geeked out with excitement.
  40. plethora
    extreme excess
    Plus, she’s overly friendly with her plethora of more popular friends.
Created on Thu Apr 25 15:29:30 EDT 2019 (updated Thu May 02 10:06:45 EDT 2019)

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