Suze Simon
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Susannah Simon is the main character in The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot. She was born in New York City and moved to Carmel, California when she was sixteen. She is a mediator.
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[edit] Biography
Suze is the only child of Helen and Peter Simon. She was born a mediator, meaning that she has the unique ability to see, touch and speak to ghosts. She saw her first ghost when she was two years old and has kept it a secret from her friends and family since then. Her father died from a heart attack when she was young but his ghost often pops in to check on her and her mother.
When Suze was sixteen, her mother got remarried to Andy Ackerman and moved to California to live with him. Suze lived with her grandmother until she could join them later when a spot opened at Junipero Serra Mission Academy. She now lives with her mother, Andy, and Andy's three sons in a historical home in Carmel. This is where she first meets Jesse de Silva.
Because of her mediator abilities, Suze often gets into a lot of trouble. She remarks in "Shadowland" that she has been brought home by the police before for trespassing but no charges have ever been filed. She was known for skipping class and being strange at her old school in New York, and had to go to multiple therapy sessions because her mother doesn't understand what is wrong with her. She considers mediating as her job.
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
[edit] Jesse
Jesse de Silva was a rancher, cousin and future husband to Maria De Silva. He was on his way to his wedding when he stopped at the boarding house (now Suze's home) and was murdered by Maria's lover Felix Diego in Suze's room and buried in the garden. It is later discovered that he was strangled to death. After 150 years of haunting her room, he shocked to notice that she can see him and even more shocked when she can touch him. It's obvious he has feelings for her from the start as he saves her or helps her on more than one occasion and shows jealousy when he catches her kissing someone else. He's very protective of her especially when Paul Slater comes into the picture, who he is also very jealous of as Paul points out a number of times, Jesse is dead and both he and Suze are alive and that Jesse can't provide a future for Suze. He also appears very hurt and upset when he is exorcised as he thought it was Suze who exorcised him, he also feels hurt when he has to move out after the expressed wishes of Father Dom as he agrees with Paul - him and Suze don't have a future. In return Suze also shows protectiveness towards Jesse when she 'deals' with Heather she warns Jesse not to come to the school as he could get involved too. She gradually gets use to him as he helps her out a lot and very often saves her life, and is very upset when he decides to move out and temporarily sides with Paul and Father Dom despit his true feelings for her. Only CeeCee and Doc know about him and the fact he's a ghost but has only made contact with Doc. Him and Paul got into a fight when he trie to warn Paul off Suze telling him to 'leave her alone' and beats Paul up quite badly. In the end everything turns out perfect for them as Jesse becomes human after Suze brings him to the future (by accident) with her after she decides to let him live and feels he deserves the chance to have a life. The barn where they are staying catches fire and Paul taunts her by saying Jesse wouldn't risk his life for her, not in his time when he doesn't know Suze but Jesse proves him wrong and saves her but as she shifts back to the future she brings him with her. His real body is in a coma when his ghost visits his body, and he remembers the barn, the fire etc he almost kisses her one last time but disappears before he can. But to Suze's surprise (and that of everyone else) his ghost is sucked into his body, so he is human again but with all his memories of the past 150 years and Suze, she only realizes what has happened when he wakes up takes her hand and says 'querida' - which is his name for her, it means dear or dearest. It's unknown what happens to them as the last we hear from them is they are dancing at Suze's prom and her father has finally moved on, where both Suze and now Jesse can see him therefore concluding he is a mediator too, and that he genuinely has feelings for her.
[edit] Paul Slater
Ever since he meets Suze he's obsessed with her. He has a very big crush on her and pursues her constantly for dates. He too is a mediator but calls himself and Suze shifters as they can pass from this realm to the other plane at will as he shows up in the other plane when Suze is trying to save Jesse. It's very obvious he doesn't like Jesse mainly because Jesse can see Suze whenever he wants and Paul can't, also Suze met Jesse first and has more trust in him. Paul transfers to Suze's school so he can see more of her and so he can try to push her for more dates. He uses the fact that he knows more about shifters and can help her develop her powers if she spends time with him. He turns up at Dopey's party where him and Jesse get into a fight, but no-one can see Jesse so they thinks its just Paul being weird. In the end he goes to great measures to try to stop Suze falling for Jesse. He tries to go back in time to stop Jesse from dying and therefore Suze will never know him in the future, however the plan backfires (book 6). Kelly Prescott has a crush on him and he uses her to get at Suze, but majority of the time it doesn't work, but its very debatable whether or not he does truly has feelings for Suze.
[edit] Father Dominic
Suze gets on well with Father Dom although their methods of 'ghost busting' is very different. He goes for the emotional angle whereas Suze's is a very hands on approach. He has dealt with many ghosts over the years and just like Suze he fell in love with one before he became a priest, but he still doesn't approve of Suze and Jesse's relationship. In most of the books he usually ends up getting hurt in one way or another. It's obvious he cares for Suze deeply as he consoles her when Jesse 'disappears', he believes after his body was found he had nothing left to stay for, but in the end he agrees to help Suze get him back. Him and Jesse seem to get on well as they are both old fashioned in their morals and views on certain subjects. But in the end although he disapproves of the rlationship between Suze and Jesse he does help Jesse a lot.
[edit] Family
- Peter Simon - her father. She loves her father very much and even after his death, ten years before the first novel, she still sees him. In fact she sees him more now he is dead as 'he has nothing better to do'. Though, he won't move on no matter how hard Suze pushes. Often, he pops up to check up on her and her mother. He also disapproves the 'Jesse and Suze' relationship. However, ironically, he only moves on after he sees them dancing together at her prom, since this is the first time since his death he's seen her 'truly happy'.
- Helen Simon Ackerman - her mother. She has a good relationship with her mother. Though she does resent her abit for taking her out of school and forcing her to move to California and leave her only friend. Ever since Suze was two she's been able to see ghosts, and thought only children could see them. When Suze first started mentioning ghosts, her mother thought she was talking to herself or people 'only she could see'. Helen didn't hesitate to make Suze appointments to see therapists and psychologists. Her mother works as a news reporter and thought it easier for her to relocate to California, with one child and flexible job, than Andy leaving with three kids and his own business.
- Andy Ackerman - She likes her new step-father, but again resents him a bit for causing her to leave New York. She forgives him since he makes her mother very happy. He can cook practically anything. He fancies himself a bit of a comedian despite him being not actually that funny. He's very nice to his children and almost immediately treats Suze as his own.
- Jake Ackerman - Nicknamed Sleepy by Suze and is the eldest of Andy's three sons. In the first book he is still in high school being only a year above Suze and Dopey. He works at Peninsula Pizza (delivering pizzas) and saving up for a camero. Kelly Prescott has a very obvious crush on him but tries to hide it. He goes to college and its here he meets someone who Suze is forced to help because of a haunting. He is given his name by the obvious fact that he goes to school/ college during the day and works for most of the night and so is sleep deprived, so much so that when Suze first meets him she thinks hes high on drugs. He very rarely speaks unless spoken to directly or its a subject that deeply interests him. In book 5 he is forced to give up his savings to pay for damages caused at a party that Dopey organised but he supplied a keg to.
- Brad Ackerman - Nicknamed Dopey by Suze and is the same age as her. He mainly talks about wrestling, girls, parties and protein shakes. He's your average high school jock as hes very popular with both the sexes and in some cases is seen as a bully and quite a few people are afraid of him. He's scared of Suze because whilst no-one other than his father will stand up to him Suze won't hesitate to beat him up whether it be a full blown punch in the gut or just stringing him up by the hairs at the bottom of his neck. And shes not afraid to do it in public either, the novices at the school have been warned to watch out for fights between these two as they can get very violent. Debbie Mancuso has a very large crush on him and he seems to return these feelings as Suze caught him kissing her at Kelly's pool party.
- David Ackerman - Nicknamed Doc by Suze and is the youngest Ackerman child. Out of all the Ackerman boys Suze is closest to Doc. He knows most about her secret and has seen Jesse and helped Suze find him, she also claimed he would be very useful in homework situations. He is known for his red curly hair and very high intellect and has been offered a chance to skip a grade but refused it. He is very brave as at the beginning he offered to switch rooms with Suze as he knew something was 'creepy' with it, and although she refused the offer she greatly respected him for it. Jesse has also made contact with Doc trying to save Suze's life. Doc blames himself for his mother's death as they had a choice whether or not to keep her on life support when she was dying, they chose to take her of it and let her die peacefully but he still feels it his fault.
[edit] Friends
- CeeCee & Adam - Suze's closest friends from day 1 and always will be. CeeCee and Adam have been friends forever which is about as long as CeeCee's crush for him has lasted even though he fails to acknowledge it and lusts after Suze when he first meets her. CeeCee is the schools newspaper editor and professional gossip, she knows everything about everyone in the school and lots of facts of everyone in the town. She also has a 'psychic' aunt called Pru which she is very embarrassed about. Pru claims that CeeCe was Cleopatra in her past life. CeeCee also knows a little about Suze's secret and Jesse.
- Kelly & Debbie - The most popular and richest girls in Suze's year, who also happen to have crushes on her brothers and Kelly has one on Paul and is astonished at the sight of the real Jesse as Suze claims to be able to practically read her thoughts 'what is a guy like that doing with a girl like Suze?'. Suze is only friends with them because she has to work with Kelly as her vice-president or second in command. Both girls are evidently afraid of Suze as on the first day she goes to the new school she threatens to break Debbie's fingers for insulting CeeCee.
- Jack Slater - He is very shy and hates going outside. Suze meets him in book 4 when she gets a job as a child-minder for the summer. She forces him to go outside and this is when he announces he can see dead people and Suze comforts him with the fact that she can see them too and they are both mediators and ghosts are nothing to be afraid of as all they want is help. He now trusts her and ever since has become a different boy, hes now ready for anything and starts doing lots more sports but only with Suze. Maria De Silva tricks him into exorcising Jesse, but he doesn't realize how important he is to Suze and feels very bad after he realizes it was a mistake. He helps Suze get Jesse back to make amends. He and Father Dominic exorcise her so she can after him and bring him back.
