Dear Justyce: List 4

by Nic Stone
In this companion novel to Dear Martin, a teenager in a juvenile detention center tries to make sense of his life by writing letters to an old friend.

This list covers Part Two, from June 14 to Snapshot: Two Young Men on a New (to Them) Playground.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
35 words 92 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. arson
    malicious burning to destroy property
    Which makes Justyce think of something else: last he heard, both of these guys had been arrested for arson.
  2. enshrine
    hold sacred
    Despite Jared’s apparent comfort—Justyce swears he hears him say “So about the Halloween thing...” as he’s headed up Martel’s ancient Kemet- enshrined hallway—Jus really has to focus to keep his heart rate from climbing to the speed of instant death.
  3. expressly
    with a clear or definite meaning or purpose
    He did his research on gang exit strategies and discovered a number of...troubling things. (Jumped in/stabbed out came up a few more times than he’s expressly comfortable with.)
  4. clad
    wearing or provided with clothing
    He’s in his personal papasan just as Justyce expected him to be, but clad in all black today.
  5. forge
    move ahead steadily
    He forges ahead instead.
  6. outlandish
    noticeably or extremely unconventional or unusual
    He knows what he says next will either create a solid foundation for his outlandish request or give Martel every reason in the world to call the request outlandish.
  7. backfire
    return with an undesired effect
    Hope this doesn’t backfire...
  8. awry
    away from the correct or expected course
    Martel cuts Jus a look that lets him know he definitely, 100 percent does not want a single solitary thing to go awry.
  9. disenfranchised
    deprived of the rights of citizenship, as the right to vote
    I have a hunch you’ll be able to expound and make the numerical concepts relatable to the disenfranchised populations I intend to serve, Quan can imagine Doc saying.
  10. bane
    something causing misery or death
    Is it for unnecessary burden? Bane of his existence?
  11. delineated
    represented accurately or precisely
    Stuffed to the edges with delineated dates and details and costs.
  12. ledger
    a record in which commercial accounts are recorded
    The ledger has a total.
    What Quan owes a man who now wants nothing to do with him.
  13. severance
    a personal or social separation
    And while Quan was certainly shocked—and he’ll admit, hurt—to receive one of Martel’s famous "severance statements,” what’s really got his goat are the numbers.
  14. monetary
    relating to or involving money
    Because if he’s in monetary debt to Tel, he’s gotta be in some kinda debt to Tay.
  15. forefront
    the position of greatest importance or advancement
    He hates it, but that damn ledger keeps shoving Quan’s least-favorite questions right to the forefront of his consciousness:
    WhylsAnyoneHelpingHim? WhyDoesAnyoneCare?
  16. reckoning
    a time or act of being held accountable; a settling of accounts
    How’sHeSupposedToPayAnyoneBack? WhenWillThe Reckoning Come?
  17. disgruntled
    in a state of sulky dissatisfaction
    Snapshot: Two Boys, an Attorney, a Teacher, and a Disgruntled Guard in a Conference Room
  18. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    She presses Play, and Quan watches, rapt, as a dude that both is and isn’t him morphs, over the course of three visits to the small room where he was questioned, from a young man with resolve to a little boy who just wants to be left alone.
  19. persona
    an image of oneself that one presents to the world
    “I was right, dawg!” Jus says, his suited persona slipping.
  20. invoke
    summon into action or bring into existence
    “LaQuan, every time you stepped into that room, you invoked your right to remain silent,” Attorney Friedman says.
  21. flagrant
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    We expect to hear back on that motion re: the confession any day now, and once the court rules to suppress it—deciding not to would be a flagrant miscarriage of justice—the state will have nothing to go on.
  22. protocol
    code of correct conduct
    Ma'am, your presence inside the cell is a violation of protocol—
    “Sir, this young man is in distress, which I think is a fairly top-notch reason to suspend your protocol for a few minutes,” the female voice says.
  23. subside
    wear off or die down
    “The paralysis will subside shortly, and I’ll be here.”
  24. celerity
    a rate that is rapid
    As soon as they’ve exited and are out of view, Quan snatches his jumpsuit from where it’s plopped in a heap of wrinkly tangerine fabric on the concrete floor and pulls it over his drawers and tank top. Socks on with utmost celerity, as he learned from Doc, then his feet are in his sandals.
  25. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    He’s already crossed the threshold into the cellblock common area.
  26. expedite
    speed up the progress of; facilitate
    Also heard back on my request for an expedited trial date.
  27. bate
    moderate or restrain; lessen the force of
    Attorney Friedman: The trial is going to be...
    Quan: [Bated silence.]
  28. suppressed
    kept from public knowledge by various means
    Attorney Friedman: DA said with a suppressed confession, no murder weapon, and no witnesses, they don’t have much of a case. You’re getting out of here, LaQuan.
  29. obsolete
    no longer in use
    Doc also made Quan open up a checking account on his eighteenth birthday and taught him how to use checks even though the practice is basically obsolete.
  30. nostalgic
    unhappy about being away and longing for familiar things
    “Let’s talk about something else since I can tell your ass is gettin’ all nostalgic...”
  31. vicinity
    a surrounding or nearby region
    “Quit cussin’. There’s babies in the vicinity.”
  32. copacetic
    completely satisfactory
    “So how are you, dawg? Everything copacetic?”
  33. acclimate
    get used to a certain environment
    Right after his release, Quan moved in with Doc and his husband to spend a little time getting reacclimated before going back home.
  34. lapse
    pass into a specified state or condition
    The boys—young men, really—lapse into a steady silence.
  35. jeer
    a mocking or contemptuous remark
    Which is the only reason they can finally hear the angry jeers from the fourth and fifth graders beneath them.
Created on Wed Nov 11 12:09:19 EST 2020 (updated Thu Nov 12 14:51:03 EST 2020)

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