Studying Vocabulary

I was inspired to write this short story while perusing lists of odd vocabulary words.  I'd tell you what the word is, but that might spoil the story.  You'll know the word when you see it. That's all I can tell you.  Enjoy!

Studying Vocabulary

Open textbooks littered the kitchen table, but that didn’t stop Savannah and her best friend Will from binging on snacks.  An open package of Oreos was perched on Will’s calculus book, and Savannah’s bag of potato chips sat beside her vocabulary worksheets.

She reached into the bag only to have her fingers scrape the bottom.  A thin film of oily residue coated her fingertips when she withdrew her hand.  “Darn it,” she mumbled.  “There’s only a tittynope left.”

Will spluttered, and Oreo crumbs flew from his mouth, coating his homework.  “What?  There’s a  . . . what?”

“A tittynope,” Savannah replied with a smile.  “It means ‘a small residual of something that is leftover.’”  She held up the vocabulary sheet from which she’d read the definition.  “I’m studying my vocabulary like I’m supposed to be.”

Will looked down, noticing the mess that he’d made of his work.  “I hate you.  There’s no way you weren’t trying to get a reaction out of me.”

She shrugged.  “It’s just one of the many reasons why I love vocabulary.”