Ask the Passengers: Chapters 16–31

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.
40 words 32 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    I sheepishly slide in next to Jeff, who immediately puts his hand on my knee.
  2. skepticism
    doubt about the truth of something
    “Yeah,” Jeff says. “I guess.” I can sense his skepticism.
  3. androgynous
    having both male and female characteristics
    “Anyway, you’d have never known if I didn’t tell you in the first place. You’d think I was still an androgynous bookworm.”
    “Hold on. You’re not an androgynous bookworm?” she asks, and pulls out her phone.
  4. affront
    a deliberately offensive act
    I didn't come back for his funeral because I'd made my mind up to never go home again...and because he never understood my need to move away, and took it as a personal affront.
  5. alienate
    arouse hostility or indifference in
    She said my alienating the family would one day seem foolish to me, as it did to her.
  6. garb
    clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion
    We’re both still in kitchen garb. I’m pretty sure I smell like shrimp veins.
  7. adornment
    decorating oneself with something colorful and interesting
    I hear Mom and Ellis clip-clop their way down the steps after sufficient makeup application and jewelry adornment.
  8. palpitation
    a rapid and irregular heart beat
    Getting through the door only causes me minor heart palpitations this time.
  9. default
    an option that is selected automatically
    I mean, not just by default because I am in love with Dee, but I feel like these people are my people or something.
  10. slur
    utter indistinctly
    “I’m fine,” she slurs.
  11. indifference
    apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions
    I don’t say good-bye to Dee and I don’t cry and I don’t feel anything but numb indifference.
  12. mortified
    made to feel uncomfortable because of shame or wounded pride
    I look down at Jenny, and she's partly smiling and partly mortified.
  13. mince
    cut into small pieces
    When I walk in, she’s mincing Dad into tiny pieces about putting a knife in the wrong drawer.
  14. acrid
    harsh or corrosive in tone
    Picture Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? That acrid, biting, accusatory tone she takes every time she speaks.
  15. vanity
    low table with a mirror where one sits while dressing
    When he gets in, he hovers over the warm radiator a minute and then looks at me and smiles and sits down on my vanity bench.
  16. speculation
    a hypothesis that has been formed by conjecturing
    ...I keep the speculation to myself and continue to reorganize my closet, which is what I’ve been pretending to do since she showed up at my doorway.
  17. finery
    elaborate or showy attire and accessories
    But though she’s pissed off right now and needs me to save her from the flying monkeys, there’s the “Mommy and Me” Ellis. The one who might drink too much wine while wearing Mom’s fineries and spill out whatever I say.
  18. theorem
    a proposition deducible from basic postulates
    I stare into space and picture those poor students still stuck up there in room 230, learning about triangles. I think about the theorems and the equations I will never have to do.
  19. prude
    a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum
    Astrid Jones is a prude.
  20. nonchalant
    marked by casual unconcern or indifference
    “Are you avoiding me?” he asks.
    “No, why?” I ask, completely nonchalant, as if I wasn’t hiding in the girls’ room two periods ago, waiting for him to pass by.
  21. decibel
    a unit of sound intensity
    You can tell she’s talking to a client because she puts on her New York City accent and talks about three decibels louder.
  22. antisocial
    shunning contact with others
    They are facing me but looking up to the stars. I look up too, and I get up to try and make conversation and not be an antisocial nerd.
  23. standoffish
    lacking cordiality; unfriendly
    As we walk out to the table, I ask my new friend, “Is it me, or is everyone at this party kinda standoffish?”
    “That’s just how they receive strangers.”
  24. agoraphobia
    a morbid fear of open spaces
    It means that maybe I will finally drive my pseudo-agoraphobic mother into full-fledged hiding.
  25. full-fledged
    having gained complete status
    It means that maybe I will finally drive my pseudo-agoraphobic mother into full-fledged hiding.
  26. oblique
    a diagonally arranged abdominal muscle
    “Ab...dominal external oblique muscles.”
  27. abominable
    exceptionally bad or displeasing
    “Abrupt, abominable abuse. That’s all she’s good for at times like this.”
  28. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    As I step over the threshold, I feel I am entitled to happiness, even if my best friend is acting weird and making me paranoid.
  29. unbeknownst
    without someone's knowledge
    As the cop moves on to Donna, who has, unbeknownst to all of us, a fake ID, it begins to dawn on me that I am completely up Claire Creek without a paddle.
  30. knack
    a special way of doing something
    The Houcks have a knack for that sort of thing.
  31. smarmy
    unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating
    She says it so smarmily. “Sorry to wake you, but your sister has some important news and I think you need to hear it.”
  32. reap
    get or derive
    I got caught. I’m sure it will be fun for you to watch me reap the consequences.
  33. nomenclature
    a system of words used to name things in a discipline
    “I think the proper nomenclature is gay club, Mom,” Ellis says.
  34. invoke
    cite as an authority
    “She didn’t know about anything,” I say. “Only me, Kristina and Justin knew. And maybe a few of their friends.” I figure invoking Kristina might help me.
  35. allegory
    a style in which characters and events are symbolic
    I lie in bed and pick up Plato’s Republic and skim the Allegory of the Cave as I seethe.
  36. seethe
    be in an agitated emotional state
    I lie in bed and pick up Plato’s Republic and skim the Allegory of the Cave as I seethe.
  37. ether
    a highly inflammable liquid formerly used as an anesthetic
    When I step out of the car, the gossip fog is like ether. I am instantly four times more exhausted than I was when I left the diner parking lot.
  38. afghan
    a blanket knitted or crocheted in strips or squares
    I curl up on the sheepskin rug and drape two knit afghans over my body.
  39. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    Even that one time with that weird vertigo, she worked.
  40. metaphysical
    pertaining to the philosophical study of being and knowing
    “We only want to know you’re okay, and if you’re lying to us, then we don’t know where you are.” He takes a bite of his chow mein and adds, mouth full and noodle hanging out one side, “Both geographically and metaphysically, you know?”
Created on Thu Apr 25 15:30:38 EDT 2019 (updated Thu May 02 10:34:48 EDT 2019)

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