When I Was the Greatest: Chapters 13–16

by Jason Reynolds
In his debut novel, award-winning writer Jason Reynolds tells the story of Ali, a teenager who tries to stay out of trouble in his gritty Brooklyn neighborhood. But when one of his friends is attacked, Ali is drawn into a real fight — with real consequences.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–9, Chapters 10–12, Chapters 13–16

Here are links to our lists for other books by Jason Reynolds: The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, Long Way Down, Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gladiator
    a professional fighter
    But after MoMo's party I was sure half the hood thought I was some gladiator.
  2. sluggish
    lacking energy, quickness, or alertness
    "Malloy? You in there?"
    "Yeah, I'm in here," his voice, sluggish and scratchy, came from inside.
  3. musky
    resembling the smell of a deer secretion or odorous perfume
    I could smell the cigarettes and musky liquor breath from outside.
  4. gauze
    bleached cotton cloth of plain weave used for bandages
    It looked like a plastic toolbox, but it was full of boxing stuff—tape, gauze, Vaseline, scissors.
  5. unravel
    become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers of
    "Hairline. Nothing too crazy. I'll wrap it. It'll heal itself." Malloy started unraveling the gauze.
  6. lollygag
    loaf about and waste time; dawdle
    Doris was known for having spies on the block, clocking my every move whenever I was on punishment. If it looked like I was stalling, the neighbors would snitch, and she'd jump down my throat and tack on another week for lollygagging.
  7. circulate
    cause to move around
    One of those cheap plastic white fans sat on the sill, spinning, circulating hot air from outside, inside, and from inside back out.
  8. overpower
    defeat by superior force
    The smell of breakfast was now overpowered by the suffocating but fresh smell of ammonia and bleach.
  9. assign
    delegate a task to
    Then she would've cracked a joke about it taking me a million hours to do forty-five minutes' worth of work, which is why Doris assigned it to me.
  10. wrath
    intense anger
    She was famous for remembering something that she forgot to yell at you earlier, and dropping the wrath right back on you.
  11. thug
    an aggressive and violent young criminal
    He told the dudes that if they was gonna talk that mess, they had to leave—that his shop wasn't no thug meet-up spot.
  12. seldom
    not often
    He very seldom took off his hat, if ever, so I had never noticed his scalp peeking through.
  13. cope
    come to terms with
    Some people out there feel like when life gets tough, they can't cope, and next thing you know, crazy things happen.
  14. scandal
    a disgraceful event
    A few hours later Jazz was taking her usual midday nap, the scandal of soap opera playing in the background, probably providing her with dreams no eleven-year-old should ever have, and I was sitting on the couch just waiting for something to happen.
  15. devastating
    physically or spiritually destructive
    I didn't know what that something was going to be. Maybe a devastating phone call from my mother saying she got word my father was dead, killed by some punks in Brownsville.
  16. deadbolt
    the part of a lock that is engaged or withdrawn with a key
    Somewhere between the television saying "I thought you died in the car crash" and "I love you too much to let you marry him," I heard a key being pushed into the deadbolt.
  17. tension
    a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense
    The heaviness of the room, the tension, the fact that John hadn't said nothing about anything yet, broke me.
  18. ghetto
    a poor densely populated city district
    My father just stood there, all cool, telling the story with his thumbs tucked in like a ghetto cowboy.
  19. negotiate
    discuss the terms of an arrangement
    And that's when I told them that I ain't come for no beef, but that I came to talk. To negotiate.
  20. swerve
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    She was all over the sidewalk, swerving and yanking every which way, the plastic bag handles flapping in the wind like white flags.
  21. pitiful
    inspiring mixed contempt and sorrow
    Noodles started folding up those pitiful leaves like he folded up his comic book pages. Clearly, he had a syndrome too—a folding syndrome.
  22. seduce
    lure or entice away from duty, principles, or proper conduct
    The smell of barbecue sauce was seeping from the window upstairs, seducing the whole hood.
  23. dissect
    analyze by breaking down into components
    Noodles continued to dissect all the stuff he thought was deep about comics, and how when he draws them, he adds tattoos and jewelry and stuff like that to make them more current.
  24. gape
    look with amazement
    "What is that?" John asked, gaping at Needles.
  25. resort
    have recourse to
    Shoot, if my mother didn't come back out there, Malloy probably would've resorted to his old faithful and offered Needles a drink.
  26. warily
    in a manner marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    He watched her warily as she slowly stepped closer, the yarn and needles in her hand.
  27. hunch
    round one's back by bending forward
    He stood all hunched over in front of his brother, holding yarn and needles, his whole body heaving.
  28. heave
    rise and move up and down, as in waves
    He stood all hunched over in front of his brother, holding yarn and needles, his whole body heaving.
  29. bawl
    cry loudly
    He just stood there in front of his bawling brother, face-to-face.
  30. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    First of all, we never had barbecue chicken that night. Because of all the ruckus outside, Doris forgot all about it and damn near burned the whole house down.
Created on Sun Jun 24 20:29:04 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Oct 31 10:55:49 EDT 2018)

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