Bonus Content

When Suzie Met Tyler: November Newsletter

  Summer.
            Wait, hang on. I can do that better.
            Summer!
            When all the teachers have to leave us alone. When the beaches are scorching hot, the water is cool and calm, and everything melts away under the force of literal, sheer happiness. Summer!
            I had it all planned out. First, I’d spend two weeks sunning myself on the beach, listening to only the most fluffy, upbeat, amazing songs, and then I’d go to camp where I’d cheer and play and compete my heart out. Then I’d go home and hang out in the glow of my awesome family until senior year stressed me out again.
            Except… that’s not what happened. Even though I put on loads of sunscreen, my pale, freckled skin got… well, the lifeguard called me a crispy critter, which was kind of rude, to be honest.
            I was just red. Like my hair.
            I took lots of hydrating baths and slathered myself in aloe, but sleeping was uncomfortable, and I couldn’t even hug my Aunt Peg without wincing when she visited from Italy.
            Which meant that by the time Mom and Dad dropped me off at Camp Follow the Leader, I was peeling. Now I looked like a redhead with a skin problem. It wasn’t exactly the joyful start I’d hoped for, but leadership camp was sure to be full of my people.
            And my people wouldn’t make fun of me, right?
            Wrong.
            No sooner had I lugged my matching pink suitcases into my new cabin than I ran into my first bunkmate. Tall and willowy and almost as pale as me, she looked like a model.
            “H-hey,” I said, aiming a winning smile at her as she settled herself onto her bottom bunk across from mine. “I’m Suzie. You’re in Squirrel cottage this year, too?”
            “Duh,” she grunted as she snapped a fitted sheet onto the mattress. She’d come with a whole bedding set, not just a sleeping bag and pillow like most of the rest of us. Note to self: totally bring more next year if they let me be a counselor.
            “I saw that we were teamed with the Hippo cottage,” I said in an upbeat voice. Maybe if I provided her with information, she’d like me.
            She lifted her blonde head and stared at me. “I know.”
            “Oh, okay—”
            “What happened to your skin?”
            I looked down at my arms like it was the first time I was seeing the great patches of skin that were falling away from my body. “I got a sunburn last week.”
            “Gross. Don’t you put on sunscreen?”
            I shrugged. Yes, darn it! Did she not see my pasty, pasty white skin and red hair?
            She breezed by me. “See you later, Zoey.”
            “It’s Suzie!” I called after her, but she’d already closed the cottage door.
            I slumped over on my crinkly pink sleeping bag. Now what? I shook my head. Now, it was time to enjoy summer camp. I knew this was where I belonged. That girl might like me. She might not. I wouldn’t let it change my summer. Last year had been amazing. I’d made so many new friends, and for once, I wasn’t made fun of for being… well, me.
            People called me Suzie Sunshine at school, but they didn’t mean it in a nice way. They were always telling me I was too loud. Too happy. Too energetic. Too much. I couldn’t help it if I smiled a lot and had a lot of energy. It was just who I was. People at school were so sarcastic, so willing to pull people like me down to their level, but I never let them. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be sad or annoyed all the time. I liked being happy.
            I wasn’t changing for anyone.
            I bounced off my bed and went in search of my counselor. Honestly, I thought I would’ve met her when I got to the cottage. And where were all the other girls? I strolled through the camp, waving to girls I recognized from last year. Campers began to arrive full-force not five minutes into my walk. Huh. Maybe I’d been a little excited this morning. A little early. That was okay. Chelsea obviously was, too. I wasn’t alone.
            I did a big loop of the campground: the basketball court, the horseshoe pits, the archery field, and finally, the lake. Finally, the path spit me back out at the Squirrel cottage where now a smiling counselor waited for me.
            “Do you have any bags?” she asked in a concerned voice when I skipped up the steps.
            “Oh, I already brought my things in and set them up,” I said.
            “I wondered whose those were.” When she smiled, I could see that her teeth were covered in silver braces. I was taken aback—braces were usually done way before people graduated high school. It made her very interesting to me.
            “What’s your name?” she asked, looking down at her clipboard.
            “Suzie Brown.”
            “Suzanne. Gotcha.”
            “It’s Suzie, actually.”
            “Okay, Suzie. I’m Jenny, your counselor this year. We’re going to meet outside in five.”
            “Sounds great.”
            She smiled, and it was friendly, if a little removed. She obviously took her counselor duties seriously. That was okay. I was here to make friends with campers, anyway.
            Five minutes later, I was sitting cross-legged with another ten campers and Jenny in a big circle in the grass as we introduced ourselves. I smiled as the other girls talked, waiting patiently for my turn.
            When it came around, I said, “Hi!” I waved to the rest of the crew. “I’m Suzie, and I’m really excited to be in the Squirrel cottage this year.” I looked to Counselor Jenny, who smiled. “This is my first year at camp, so I’m sure I have a lot to learn. I can’t wait to make friends this summer!”
            Someone across the circle snorted. My eyes zeroed in on the culprit. The same blonde. Now I knew her name was Chelsea. “Something in your nose?” I asked sweetly.
           “No,” she said in a dark voice.
           “Huh. That’s weird. Maybe you have allergies.”
           Jenny looked over at Chelsea with a concern etched between her eyebrows. “Do you need to see the nurse?”
           As Chelsea backpedaled, my smile grew. Maybe not everyone here would be like me. That was okay. I’d kill them with kindness.

***

During the introductions, I tried hard to remember every single girl’s name. When you knew people’s names, they liked you more because they felt seen. A good leader would do that, right? Tanya had the dark curly hair, Brittany had the bright, dentist-whitened teeth, and Rachel was the girl with the pixie cut. Nicole had the really dark, smooth skin, and Cara… which one was Cara again? I was sucking on my bottom lip, still thinking about it when one of the girls tapped on my shoulder.
           “Ack!” I about jumped out of my skin.
           “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to say hi, and also that I think you’re really brave.”
           Brave? I frowned. What had I done that could in any way be seen as brave?
           “For the way you kind of stood up to Chelsea? She’s sort of the queen bee around here.”
           “Oh. Caught that, huh?” I didn’t know what tone to use. I wanted to keep everything positive at camp. Was she team Chelsea or being sincere right now? Regardless, I wouldn’t talk bad about anyone. That would be poor social skills.
           “Yeah, I did. We all thought you were like, this sunshine Barbie, and then bam. I almost died laughing.”
           I raised an eyebrow.
           “Inside, of course,” she amended.
           “Of course,” I said. “But hey, I’m not here to make enemies. You know?”
           “Oh, I get that. Anyway, I’ll see you later?”
           “Sure,” I said, giving her some space. “Have fun at free time.”
           “You too,” she waved as she jogged out of the cottage. Then it hit me. That was Cara. I should’ve figured it out sooner. Then I could’ve used her name. Oh, well. Next time.
           Right now, I had to figure out what to do with my free time. Maybe I’d volunteer in the snack shack. Jenny had said it felt good to give back. I wouldn’t mind it.
           I retied my shoes and exited the cottage. By the time I got to the snack shack, the line was a mile long and only one counselor was working. I guess something about the first day of camp had everyone hungry. I could help with that. I started for the door and was about to open it when a large, guy hand got to the handle first.
           “Only a two-man station, I’m afraid,” said a low voice.
           I turned to a guy who looked about my age. “Then I guess you’ll need to find somewhere else to be,” I said with a wide smile.
           He stared at me, his dark sweep of hair styled back with military precision. He was at least six feet tall and muscular, like some kind of perfectly-proportioned jock. My stomach tingled with an unfamiliar awareness, but I pushed it aside. I didn’t care how hot he might be. I wasn’t going to lose my good deed of the day. He could just step aside.
           “I’ll do that,” he said quietly, just loud enough for me to hear him.
I smirked with satisfaction. Victory was sweet. Now he could go somewhere else with his confusing jawline and perfect lips.
           “But there are already two people working here, so you’ll have to, too.”
I turned back to the shack. “Two…” And then I saw a second head pop back over the lip of the front of the shack. A girl had been bending down to get snacks from under the counter. There were two people there already.
           My stomach sank. Everywhere I turned today, I was getting rejected and redirected. It was enough to make a lesser person feel dissuaded. Good thing I wasn’t weak like that.
I threw on my polite smile. “Thank you for the heads up…” I trailed off, waiting for his name.
           “Tyler,” he said. “And you’re Suzie.” He winked, saluting me as he headed off toward the horseshoe pits.
           It was only when he was halfway there that I realized he scooped me. I was the one who was going to learn everyone’s name and make them feel special. How did he know who I was already?
            I didn’t hate anyone, but I decided right then that I truly disliked this Tyler guy.

When Suzie Met Tyler: December Newsletter

When Suzie Met Tyler: January Newsletter

Three minutes later, we were all blinking in the light from the exposed sun overhead. Everywhere, people shed their sweatshirts but kept them nearby since the weather in Vermont was anything but predictable.
            Jenny rubbed her hands together. “Okay, Kittens—”
            “I’ve got it. You can call us the AKs. It’s a gun. It sounds less wussy. What do you think?” Poor Jeremy was really struggling with our team name.
            The guy counselor from before stepped forward. Now I saw that his badge said Dean. “Thank you for that suggestion, Jeremy, but we are proud to be Kittens. We are the striped, the fluffy, the furriest of—”
            “Yeah, yeah,” Jeremy said, flopping into the grass. “I get it.”
            “Anyway…” Jenny stepped forward. “We need to come up with a challenge for the whole camp that can be done individually or as a team. Thoughts?”
            Everyone sat down in a circle, so I did the same, spreading my hoodie out on the ground so my butt didn’t get wet.
            Tyler sat right next to me. Seriously? I didn’t need his girlfriend giving me trouble when we got back to the cottage tonight.
            I focused on the conversation in front of me, thinking about the walk I’d had around camp and what it seemed like they already had.
            “We could do a horseshoes competition,” one girl said.
            She was booed.
            Oh, great. We were booing ideas? I definitely shouldn’t say anything, now. Maybe I could be the supportive smiler. I was good at smiling supportively.
            “Everyone is going to choose that, and it’s already set up. We won’t win.”
            “And the Kittens are fierce, y’all,” Jeremy said sarcastically.
            Jenny leveled him with a polite glare. “Yes. They are.”
            Dang. Remind me never to get on her bad side. Jeremy did kind of have an attitude problem, though.
            “Swimming,” Jeremy threw out. “We could make it fun, like water basketball or an obstacle course.”
            “Not everyone can swim,” Counselor Dean reminded him.
            “Oh, yeah. That’s kind of weird, though.”
            “Leadership is about using a lot of different skills. What can we do that would require different skills, where everyone could contribute?” another girl counselor asked. Her nametag said Sherry.
            “Uh…”
            No one had any ideas for that.
            I stared at the grove of trees to our right. Something in the woods. Something like…
            “A relay?” The words were out of my mouth before I could call them back. I waited for the boos.
            “What kind of relay?”
            “Well, there could be different stations, and everyone would know them ahead of time so they could put players there that would have the best chance of success. Maybe a puzzle at one, a balancing beam at another, something to do with the lake if people like swimming? But then it’s more of a choice than everyone having to do everything?”
            The last part of the sentence I said a little louder, seeing that everyone had tuned into my idea.
            “But we can do something else if it seems like too much work,” I tacked on.
            “It is a lot of work.” Counselor Dean nodded. “But no one else is going to go to those kinds of lengths to win this. Way to think like a Kitten…”
            “Suzie,” Tyler inserted for me.
            “Suzie,” Dean repeated. “All those in favor of a relay?”
            Most of the group raised their hands.
            “Okay, project manager. Tell us what to do,” Dean said.
            And suddenly, this was the kind of hot seat I wasn’t prepared for.
            “What?”
            “Great leaders are able to delegate. Who is going to do what, and where should this be set up?”
            I stared at the woods again. “I don’t know. This is my first time at camp.”
            Counselor Dean burst out laughing. “Really? You’re a natural! Let’s get someone to help you with the layout.”
            Anyone but Tyler. Anyone but Tyler. Anyone but…
            “I’ll do it.” Tyler grinned at me.
            I forced my lips into the approximation of a smile.
            Just great.

***

“Do you have a problem with me, Suze?” Tyler asked as we counted the paces between the trees for a seesaw-type balance beam.
            “Shh, I’m counting,” I reminded him.
            “Uhhuh. You’ve counted it twice already.”
            “Measure twice, cut once,” I recited at him. I stomped my foot and returned to the tree. “Now I have to start over.”
            “But you’re measuring three times, not two.”
            “Will you be quiet?”
            “Sure.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched me pace out the distance again.
            “Still fifty yards,” I said as I got to the edge of the space.
            “How do you know it’s a yard?” Tyler asked.
            “Because a big step of mine is three feet.”
            “Are you sure, because you’re a little sh—”
            “Call me short, and you’ll find yourself on the ground, Ty,” I sneered the nickname Chelsea had given him.
            “Ah.” He smiled.
            I wouldn’t dignify that with a response. He was just trying to get to me. He wanted me to ask him why he said “Ah.”
            “Ah, what?” I couldn’t help myself.
            “You’re jealous.” He blinked at me.
            “I’m… what?”
            “Jealous. Of Chelsea. Don’t worry, it’s not a thing. She does this every year.”
            “Sits on your lap?”
            He shrugged. “Tries to make it a thing.”
            I sighed. “I don’t care.”
            “Uhhuh.”
            “You’re annoying. You know that?”
            “I’m just saying, you have nothing to worry about. She’s not my type.” He leaned his arm on a nearby tree.
            Chelsea was tall, willowy, with perfect proportions and perfect makeup. Everyone was her friend. How picky could this guy be? I didn’t like her, but suddenly I felt very protective of her.
            “Now you’re supposed to ask me what my type is.”
            I stared at his muscular body. He was leaning on that tree on purpose to distract me, but hell would freeze over before I gave him the satisfaction of knowing how attractive he was right now. “No.”
            “Fine, I’ll tell you.”
            “I don’t care.”
            He crossed the space between us and bent over to whisper in my ear as I marked off the measurements on our clipboard. “It’s very specific. Are you sure?”
            I ground my teeth together. “If I say yes, will you get on with it? We have a lot of work to do.”
            “I like optimists. Bossy ones.”
            I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”
            He crossed his arms, looking like a GI Joe in his army green shirt and worn out jeans. “Fine.”
            I proceeded to tell him exactly what we had to do to get the job done, which made him smile that infuriating smile even more. Like I was proving his point. Like I was being bossy and optimistic and damn him for telling me I was his exact type. I didn’t come here to be played this year. I came here for leadership!
            But I couldn’t deny the way my breath hitched when he crossed his arms like that, the muscles he shouldn’t even have at this age jumping and straining against the sleeves of his t shirt. I couldn’t explain how every time he came close to me, I suddenly struggled to breathe right and talk at the same time.
            Except I could.
            I was attracted to this guy. And that was so, so dangerous in a camp where his girlfriend was the literal queen bee. Or queen bitch, but I’d never use that language.
            “We about done?” he asked after we’d been working for an hour.
            I checked the clipboard. “Yeah. When do we have to have the whole thing done by?”
            “I think two days?” he said.
            “Cool.” I didn’t know how we’d pull it off when Tyler was muddling up all my leadership thoughts, but maybe we could rely on the rest of the Angry Kitten team to pick up our slack.
            “You’re quiet, Suze.”
            I nodded.
            He stepped closer to me. The sounds of cicadas filled the air around us as he pulled the clipboard from my hands.
            “What’s on your mind?” Now he was so close that I could smell the soap on his skin, the deodorant he used. It was woodsy and clean and his head was really close to mine, which meant his lips were, too.
            He leaned toward me.
            “Chelsea,” I whispered.
            He paused. “What?”
            “Chelsea. This is really disrespectful. Maybe we shouldn’t work together.”
            “Because of Chelsea?” He shook his head.
            I nodded, probably too much as I pulled away from him.
            “Because she sat on my lap.”
            I continued nodding. “I don’t want to get between some obvious history and present…” I flailed my arm around. “Whatever.”
            “You don’t want to get between Chelsea and me.”
            Was there an echo in here? “Correct.”
            “But I told you, Chelsea and I aren’t a thing.”
            I rolled my eyes. “Did you tell her that?”
            He stepped closer to me again. “Many times. She’s not my type.”
            “She’s everyone’s type,” I said glumly.
            He tilted my chin up with one finger. “Not mine. I told you what I was attracted to.”
            “I…” He was going to kiss me. This hot guy I barely knew was going to kiss me in the middle of the woods like some sort of summer camp teen movie. I was going to get a kiss for the very first time, and I…
            “Tyler! Suzie! What’s taking so long?” Counselor Dean’s voice pierced through the woods.
            Tyler rested his forehead on mine. “Later,” he said, but it wasn’t a goodbye. It was a promise.

The End