Stargirl: Porcupine Necktie–Chapter 7

by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl Caraway lives life on her own terms, but when she moves to a new town her unique personality rubs others the wrong way. As the school year goes on, Stargirl is torn between staying true to herself and fitting in.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Porcupine Necktie–Chapter 7, Chapters 8–15, Chapters 16–25, Chapter 26–More Than Stars

Here are links to other works by Jerry Spinelli: Maniac Magee, Milkweed
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. flourish
    a showy gesture
    But then, with a dramatic flourish, he whipped off the tie and draped it around my neck.
  2. slouch
    assume a drooping posture or carriage
    I turned to the senior slouching behind me.
  3. strut
    walk in a proud, confident way
    And now the girl was standing, slinging her bag over one shoulder and marching among the tables, strumming and singing and strutting and twirling.
  4. absurdity
    a message whose content is at variance with reason
    Hillari wagged her head at the absurdity of the question.
  5. hoax
    something intended to deceive
    He did the marquee thing with his hands: “Hot Seat Uncovers Faculty Hoax!”
  6. variant
    something a little different from others of the same type
    There were individual variants here and there, of course, but within pretty narrow limits we all wore the same clothes, talked the same way, ate the same food, listened to the same music.
  7. outrageous
    greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
    Several times in those early weeks of September, she showed up in something outrageous.
  8. serenade
    sing and play for somebody
    Every few days in the lunchroom she serenaded someone new with “Happy Birthday.”
  9. hover
    hang in the air; fly or be suspended above
    A single word seemed to hover in the cloudless sky over the school: HUH?
  10. sleazy
    morally degraded
    Kevin often said he wanted to be a sleazy talk show host, and he wasn’t kidding.
  11. conceive
    have the idea for
    We conceived Hot Seat together and convinced the faculty to let us do it.
  12. vague
    lacking clarity or distinctness
    I had some vague feelings, but the only one I could identify was a warning: Leave her alone.
  13. hypothesis
    a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations
    In time “Hillari’s Hypothesis” (so called by Kevin) about Stargirl’s origins gave way to other theories.
  14. amok
    wildly; without self-control
    She was homeschooling gone amok.
  15. flit
    move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
    She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl.
  16. aviary
    a building where birds are kept
    I observed her as if she were a bird in an aviary.
  17. trek
    make a long and difficult journey
    We trekked all over Mica, past hundreds of grassless stone-and-cactus front yards, through the Tudorized shopping center, skirting the electronics business park around which the city had been invented a mere fifteen years before.
  18. veer
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    After a while she veered from the highway.
  19. stifle
    smother or suppress
    I stifled an impulse to call after her, to warn her... of what?
  20. yammer
    talk or complain incessantly
    She said she had no intention of yammering and bouncing in front of empty bleachers (which was usually the case).
  21. seldom
    not often
    Mouthwise, he was her opposite: he seldom opened his.
  22. monumental
    of outstanding significance
    That Parr was a worthy subject precisely because he did nothing, because he was so monumentally good at doing nothing?
  23. ambition
    a cherished desire
    He went on to say he wanted to become a male model, his ultimate ambition was to be on the cover of GQ.
  24. disdainful
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    he had that disdainful model look down pat—and suddenly I could see it: the jaw square as the corner of a cover, the chiseled cheeks, the perfect teeth and hair.
  25. reign
    rule or have supreme power
    I thought then that Wayne Parr would always reign as our grand marshal.
  26. gape
    look with amazement
    The cheerleaders gaped from the sidelines.
  27. hoist
    raise
    She plucked it off the tee and danced with it, spinning and hugging it and hoisting it into the air.
  28. converge
    move or draw together at a certain location
    The officials blew their whistles and began converging on her.
  29. lopsided
    having one side lower or smaller or lighter than the other
    They even formed a small, lopsided circle.
  30. linger
    leave slowly and hesitantly
    They seemed to linger on the field, drawing out their notes, waiting.
  31. antic
    a playful, attention-getting act done for fun and amusement
    seeing what bizarre antic she’d be up to
  32. loom
    appear very large or occupy a commanding position
    Also, I think we were all waiting to see the outcome of an event that loomed larger and larger with every passing day.
  33. smirk
    a smile expressing smugness or scorn instead of pleasure
    Hillari gave a satisfied smirk and walked off.
  34. blithely
    in a joyous, carefree, or unconcerned manner
    She went straight to the food line, blithely smiling as usual.
  35. extinct
    no longer in existence
    Open the kitchen cabinet where the peanut butter was kept and you were face to fossil face with an extinct fox.
  36. morbid
    suggesting the horror of death and decay
    Archie was not morbid; he was a paleontologist.
  37. proximity
    the property of being close together
    He chose his home for two reasons: (1) its proximity to the high school (he wanted to be near kids; he had none of his own) and (2) “Senor Saguaro.”
  38. certify
    authorize officially
    He was not certified to teach in Arizona, but that did not stop him.
  39. pendant
    an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry
    The pendant was a small fossil bone strung on rawhide.
  40. exotic
    strikingly strange or unusual
    I said it with wonder, for I had imagined something more exotic.
Created on Mon Mar 02 20:59:22 EST 2015 (updated Tue Jul 17 09:59:03 EDT 2018)

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