The main character in "Second Chance Summer" is Taylor Edwards. She is 17 and the middle child of three. Taylor isn't overly concerned about schoolwork like her brother and she doesn't excel at a sport like her sister. Taylor often states that she is the only one in the family without a special talent. At the end of school when everyone had found out about her father's illness, most of Taylor's friends stopped talking to her because they didn't know what to say. All of Taylor's teachers were giving her sympathy and she gladly accepted it, as she did not do well in school on her own. "And I'd bitten my lip and done the Brave Nod, aware the whole time that I was pretending, acting the way I knew she expected me to act. And sure enough, I'd gotten an A on the test, even though I'd only skimmed the end of The Great Gatsby" (Matson 9). Taylor is focused more on boys and friends than excelling at anything and is fine with mediocrity. When she last visited Lake Phoenix, her best friend had just left due to a custody battle forced upon by her parents' divorce. Not only that, but she also had utterly messed up her long-time friendship and recent relationship with the boy next door. Perhaps returning to Lake Phoenix is hard because of all the memories, good and bad, Taylor has here, or maybe its because she'll have to leave them all behind.
Gelsey is Taylor's younger sister. She is 13 so everything is about her and only in her best interest. Gelsey is a ballet dancer and is constantly focused on dancing; she rarely sits down since she could be stretching. Not much is said about Gelsey's appearance but considering the fact that she is a dancer, she probably has a slim or athletic build. Also, Gelsey's hair is quite different in comparison to Taylor's hair. "My mother and Gelsey had the same reddish-brown hair-- long, thick, and curly. And I had fine, pin-straight hair that never got tangled and that I barely needed to comb myself" (Matson 142). It can be assumed that Gelsey has either green, brown, or hazel eyes since Taylor and her dad are the only two in the family with blue eyes. Gelsey is also very mature for her age and has a hard time making friends but towards the end of the book, she begins to open up and becomes close friends with her neighbor. "I no longer knew anything about how twelve-year-olds made friends, and I frankly had never seen Gelsey make a friend..." (Matson 203). Gelsey is very close with her mother (they are both dancers) and her mother often sides with her.
Taylor's older brother's name is Warren. He is planning on following the footsteps of his father and becoming a lawyer. Warren has always excelled at school and ranked his schoolwork much above other normal teenage priorities such as sports, dating, and parties. This summer, Warren is worrying about starting college and being behind so he has started his summer reading. His head is always in a book and he almost has the entire year's required readying complete...and it's only June. The three siblings' personalities differ majorly but Warren is definitely the brainiac. "And this year was supposed to be no exception-- Gelsey was planning on going back to the ballet camp where she was the rising star, warren had an internship lined up at my father's law firm, and I had intended to spend a lot of time sunbathing" (Matson 16).
Taylor and Henry have been friends for as long as they can remember. They both have cabins on Lake Phoenix and as of this year, they're now next door neighbors. Henry has always been outdoorsy and rather awkward. When they were both 12, during Taylor's last consecutive summer on the lake, Henry and Taylor built a relationship (well, as much of a resemblance of one that two 12-year-olds can have). But when the end of the summer came, Taylor left Henry on bad terms. Now, when Taylor comes back five years later, Henry has changed...a lot. "He was tall, and broad-shouldered, with the same brown hair, so dark it almost looked black, and cut short. I could no longer see the freckles he'd had when we were younger, but his eyes were still the same hazel, though they looked more green than brown now. His jaw also somehow seemed more defined, and his arms were muscular. I couldn't make this fit with the last time I'd seen him, when he'd been shorter than me, and skinny, with scraped-up elbows and knees. All in all, Henry looked very cute. And very not happy to see me" (Matson 35).