A study was conducted to describe and compare the oral responses of three adolescents to two short stories and two textbook selections and to identify their general expectations for reading and responding to fiction and exposition. Three tenth grade girls were interviewed about their family lives, interests, preferences for and experiences with reading, general expectations for fiction and exposition, and experiences with whole class and small group discussions. Individual responses were collected and tape recorded following the readings and following small group discussions. Analysis resulted in the following generalizations about the three readers' responses and expectations: (1) each girl had a preferred pattern of response common to both the short stories and textbook selections; (2) purpose for reading informed all other general expectations for fiction and exposition; (3) establishment of text-specific expectations was central to responses to short stories, but not to textbook selections; (4) both text types were evaluated according to the match of a reader's general expectations and knowledge with text form and content; (5) all three girls benefited from the group discussions; and (6) each reader identified the strengths and weaknesses of the other girls' responses and examined her own responses in light of the others. (HTH)