Picture Us in the Light: Chapters 7–12

by Kelly Loy Gilbert
High school senior Danny Cheng is grappling with his identity as an artist, the death of a classmate, and a painful crush on his best friend. When he finds evidence that his parents are hiding a painful secret, his determination to uncover the truth will change his life forever.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 2, Chapters 3–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–20, Chapters 21–28
40 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. modifier
    a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb
    “The worst part is, I know I’m always bad with dangling modifiers,” he says as we’re heading to the rally court for lunch, talking loud over the echo of all the footsteps and conversations in the concrete hallways outside the math wing.
  2. contour
    form the outlines of
    He’s holding his books against his waist, and it contours all those lines of muscle in his arm.
  3. impeccable
    without error or flaw
    He’s soothing for a while, and then—he has impeccable instincts—knows just when to pivot into joking around again, teasing her about the time she made wristbands with the solubility rules printed in five-point font sophomore year when we all took Honors Chem.
  4. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
    I was lying awake last night thinking about all these convoluted ways to try to lead into it, but really probably the easiest thing to do is just say, Hey, I hope you know I really care about you, and I hope things with us are okay.
  5. genial
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    Harry looks up at her from where he’s sitting on the steps, putting up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, and says, genially, “Where’d you go?”
  6. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    But I think there’s something to be said for when it’s just moments like this, too, the mundane ones that you can’t talk about with anyone else because they don’t matter all that much.
  7. ether
    a medium that was once thought to fill all space
    Who does Regina text now about those stupid things that don’t matter enough to tell anyone else, when she sees twin puppies on a walk or when a pair of shoes she’s been eyeing go on sale or when she reads a mildly interesting article and wants to talk about a single line in it—is it Harry? Or do they just wither in the ether?
  8. absolution
    the act of being formally forgiven
    That saved me in that moment, I think, that absolution.
  9. cajole
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    We put out one paper a month and it’s mostly Regina running everything, assigning stories and cajoling local tutoring companies and restaurants into buying ad space, badgering everyone not to write stories directly in InDesign and to remember hairline framing around photos.
  10. blatant
    without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
    But that’s a different thing than blatant, public rebellion.
  11. exude
    make apparent by one's mood or behavior
    I’ve always both admired and worried about the breeziness she exudes in front of other people even when we’re circling around everything that happened.
  12. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    It’s an omen, perhaps, a banner unfurled over you to declare that your life, too, will be marked by fractions, divided into pieces of a whole.
  13. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    He keeps breaking into incredulous giggles, then trying to make himself sober and solemn again, especially when the nurses or doctors sweep into the room.
  14. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    Before Christmas break we have a group video project in Spanish, which I hate for the tediousness of the editing but like for the excuse to hang out with people I wouldn’t otherwise.
  15. subjunctive
    relating to a verbal mood used for hypothetical acts
    I spend a week at Ruby Lau’s house after school darting around in a Harry Potter costume we appropriated from her little brother and saying we hope for dinner Hogwarts will serve cacahuetes (we all found the word irrationally satisfying to say freshman year, all find excuses to work it into our dialogues still) to hit our four examples of the subjunctive tense.
  16. haphazardly
    without care; in a slapdash manner
    The picture’s carefully angled and there’s a moat of emptiness surrounding it, separating it from all the papers and photos and two crumpled sweaters tossed haphazardly onto the desk.
  17. apnea
    temporary cessation of breathing, especially while sleeping
    My dad’s always been a noisy sleeper—he has mild sleep apnea—and I’m grateful for it tonight.
  18. stave off
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    Back in my room I make myself imagine she’s still awake, reading or thinking about her garden or watching the night pass by so I can stave off the dark primal fear of being the only one up.
  19. infuse
    fill, as with a certain quality
    Christmas this year dawns cold and clear, a sharpness infused into the whole world.
  20. tamp
    press down tightly
    I wanted something new to submit to the 30 Under 30 show and I also wanted to forget about it altogether, but the deadline was coming up and I couldn’t tamp down that force of how badly I wanted it and so I gave up a few days ago and sent in the pieces from my portfolio I thought had the best shot.
  21. balmy
    mild and pleasant
    It’s legitimately balmy in here.
  22. extremity
    that part of a limb that is farthest from the torso
    There’s a cold feeling that starts in my stomach, spreading out to my extremities.
  23. abject
    most unfortunate or miserable
    He’s too polite to say he would view that as complete and abject failure, but he would, obviously.
  24. reconcile
    come to terms
    My hope that they’ve reconciled fritters into nothing.
  25. consequential
    having important effects or results
    “He’s fine,” my dad says sharply. “Don’t waste time worrying about it. It’s not consequential.”
  26. garble
    distort or make false by mutilation or addition
    I garble something unintelligible, still half-trapped in sleep, and my dad whispers, “Wake up.”
  27. bleary
    tired to the point of exhaustion
    If my eyes weren’t so bleary, I bet I could see his breath in the dark.
  28. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    Your parents first meet in college, at Wuhan University, a castle-like building with green roofs on a campus teeming with trees, like a green-jeweled island among Donghu Lake and the Yangtze River.
  29. heedless
    marked by or paying little attention
    When she’s home with you you whimper, unmoored, until she scoops you from the vast, heedless universe and wraps you safely in your mei tai.
  30. befall
    become of; happen to
    Your mother imagines all the fates that might befall you, and recognizes that at least one of them will.
  31. ledger
    a record in which commercial accounts are recorded
    “We’ll have—” She frowns at a line in their ledger, pulling the checkbook up closer and squinting.
  32. flippant
    showing an inappropriate lack of seriousness
    Something hot stirs in my chest—the kind of flippant way he says it, maybe, like he knows anything at all about bankruptcy loans.
  33. tawny
    having the color of tanned leather
    We pass through the hills on 280, the grasses all tawny and golden from their winter deaths.
  34. expansive
    of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scope
    These used to be the best moments, that wide open space where the whole page was possibility still, where it could be anything at all before I narrowed it into one thing only. I miss how alive and expansive it always made me feel.
  35. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    I tilt the pencil and arc wide swaths of lead to color her ever-present eye shadow, lightly stipple in the dark circles under her eyes she always tried to makeup over.
  36. stipple
    make by small short touches, as in paint or ink
    I tilt the pencil and arc wide swaths of lead to color her ever-present eye shadow, lightly stipple in the dark circles under her eyes she always tried to makeup over.
  37. tacit
    implied by or inferred from actions or statements
    I can name the exact tacit negotiation taking place in the way they look at each other: which of them it will be to break the news.
  38. palpitation
    a rapid and irregular heart beat
    “Daniel, we’re moving. You’re already accepted to RISD, so—” Another heart palpitation, this one so hard I feel it down to my palms.
  39. cede
    give over
    If they decide to go, they will cede you to the abyss.
  40. coy
    showing marked and often playful evasiveness or reluctance
    He peers at you, confused—disaster can be coy to reveal itself—and then understands.
Created on Thu Jan 23 16:11:02 EST 2020 (updated Fri Jan 24 11:54:21 EST 2020)

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