Flipped

by Wendelin Van Draanen

befriend

Owed him big-time.

handicap,

wickedest

halfhearted

tidal-waving

doubted it big-time.

dwell

get a grip,

I find it really helps to clear the mind,

subtle

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss….” He turned

to me. “But every once in a while you find someone who’s iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”

quaint

Spare

Sitting in that tree was seriously philosophical to her.

transcended

“To be held above the earth

and brushed by the wind,” she said, “it’s like your heart has bee...

people need things around them that lift them above their lives and make them feel the miracle of living.

chucked

started taking over the pit of my stomach,

it scared the Sheetrock out of me.

thereof.

decipher.

gasped,

I felt sorry for my father. I felt sorry for my mother. But most of all I felt lucky for me that they were mine.

But if chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one’s universe, then I was well on my way.

“There’s nothing like a head-strong woman to make you happy to be alive.”

heap

“only with people it’s sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.”

being friends with her requires fanning the flames of a wildfire ego.

sheer,

crushed

lurched.

there was a tornado inside me, tearing me up from one end to the other.

“Get beyond his eyes and his smile and the sheen of his hair—look at what’s really there.”

fluttering

hose

spigot

hose him down

forth

uneasy.

scoundrel.

overshadowed

muttered,

glare

wimp

wiped off

secrecy?”