A-wing – one of the sections into which Isla Huesos High School is divided. Allegedly only “college-bound” academically and athletically gifted students are enrolled in A-wing.
Coffin Fest – Every year before Coffin Night, a street in Isla Huesos is closed to hold a festival to celebrate those who died but were not given proper burials — John Hayden and others whose coffins were lost in the Great Hurricane of 1846, which destroyed the island’s cemetery. Some say it also memorializes the people whose bones were found by the Spaniards in the 1500s, causing the island to be named Isla Huesos, or Island of Bones.
Coffin Night – An event held only on the island of Isla Huesos during the high school’s Homecoming. A coffin is constructed by the senior class and hidden somewhere on the island. The junior class then attempts to find the coffin. If they do so, they are allowed to burn the coffin on the fifty yard line of the school’s football field. This means the junior class has “burned” the seniors. If the juniors fail to the find the coffin, the seniors are said to have “buried” the juniors.
D-Wing – one of the sections into which Isla Huesos High School is divided. Only members of the New Pathways counseling program for “troubled” students are enrolled in D-wing. Looked down on by most “A-wingers.”
Isla Huesos – Southernmost island off the tip of Floridawhere Pierce and her mother moved from Westport, Connecticut several month earlier. Discovered in 1500s by the Spanish. Name means Island of Bones. Tourist attraction, visited by large number of cruise ships.
New Pathways – a program at Isla Huesos High School for “troubled” students who are not academically inclined and may need more attention or counseling than average students. Classes are held in the school’s “D-wing.”
