Jake Hawkins

Protagonist

His teammates call him Hawkins.

Male

Depends on the story. Usually seventeen or eighteen.

He is thin and lean, but has a fair bit of muscle and looks naturally athletic.

White American.

Somewhat fair. It tends to burn a little in the summer before tanning to give his skin a slightly more golden glow, but the rest of the year it's fair. No freckles. No beauty marks.

Electric blue.

No facial hair.

Short and curly.

Light blond.

6'1"

150 lbs

Basketball, fixing household appliances, running, making people feel bad, not caring

Anyone who isn't honest. Jake may be a lot of things—self-absorbed, rude, blunt, arrogant—but he's not a liar. Anyone who is dishonest, ESPECIALLY if they're trying to manipulate a reaction from him, is immediately seen as contemptible. People who don't stick to their word, people who assume stuff about him, people who gossip (specifically people who talk about him behind his back), people who sugarcoat or beat around the bush. People who act like they have better things to, no matter what they are doing.

He denies most of his deeper feelings—fear, weakness, vulnerablity, sorrow. Anger is the only emotion he's really comfortable with. He views vulnerability and weakness as abhorrent, and, on a deeper level, is afraid that if he allows people to see that he isn't invulnerable (which he would have you believe), he will be controlled, manipulated, or betrayed in some way. Because of this, he tends to do whatever it takes to convince people that he is entirely self-sufficient, competent, strong, and impenetrable. He would rather be seen as a jerk and have his heart protected than be seen as vulnerable and risk the possibility of being exploited. He also has an insufferably large ego, and the he would rather suffer the pains of any physical infliction than admit he was wrong or have to apologize to someone.

He enjoys basketball, and he likes playing the guitar, though he's not really good at it. He also likes superhero comicbooks, which he has been collecting since he was a kid. He listens to a lot of music. Like a lot.

Enneagram Eight: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-8
Jake is slightly introverted, highly judgemental, and very in touch with his anger, though not so much with his other emotions. His basic fears are of being harmed or betrayed by others and being controlled. He is strong-willed, intense, stubborn, and very prideful. He doesn't have many friends, which is fine with him. The fewer people he has to deal with on a regular basis, the better. It's not so much that people drain him and more that it gets increasingly difficult for him to tolerate other people's stupidity and suckiness. It's rare that he finds someone whom he can truly admire. He doesn't interact with many people, but when he does he likes to get the conversation fired up. He wants to hear what people think and then challenge them to see how they respond. The last thing he wants is for people to just lie down and give up when he pushes back, but he doesn't really understand the idea of being uncomfortable with conflict, so he'll get more and more agitated until the other person responds with as much fire as he's giving (which can be difficult). Because many people are non-confrontational, they see his behaviour as bullying, when he sees it as trying to get the other person to respond and be honest. He doesn't just want you to AGREE with him. That's boring. So he really really values when people tell him what they think, straight up, no sugarcoating, and push back against his challenge.
Peer pressure does not affect this dude at all. He's usually pretty aware of what people think about him, but he genuinely does not care what others' opinions are. As long as it doesn't affect him or get in the way of him doing what he needs to do, he literally couldn't care less.
Jake's gut response to almost everything is anger. It's his defense mechanism. He sees it as an empowering emotion instead of a vulnerable one—it makes him feel strong, like he's in charge, and he feels like he's in the right, and it often drives him to figure out a solution instead of "moping about it." Anger is a productive, efficient emotion. Anger gets things done. Anger makes people scared of you, and therefore makes them less likely to take advantage of you. Jake doesn't understand that anger is always covering for a deeper, more negative emotion. He has trouble admitting to himself that even has needs, desires, or weaknesses. But when these needs and desires manifest themselves and they aren't met, he is hurt, upset, betrayed, and he expresses anger. This usually just distances himself from his friends and the people who care about him, which only leads to his needs and desires being more neglected, and that could continue in a perpetual cycle if he didn't have people around him who help him out.
Jake seems to radiate energy and strength and gives off very strong "don't touch me" vibes. He likes to poke at the proverbial snake in people to get them to react, but he knows how to have a good time.
He has a tendency to treat everybody as guilty until proven innocent, and sees respect as something you earn. He really seems like he doesn't care about anybody but himself, but if you do anything to his friends or family, he will stand up for them more intensely than anyone would expect. He's skeptical of pretty much everyone and everything. If somebody makes a remark talking about how they're pretty sure something positive will happen, he's likely to make some snarky comment on how that probably won't happen. People have often called him a pessimist, but he prefers the term "realist." He thinks he's self aware, but completely ignores any other emotion and motivation he has besides anger. He does not just trust people. You have to earn his trust by showing him that you're honest and don't want to control or manipulate him. He will never just accept what people tell him, especially if it's some blanket "fact" about something. He always pushes back and does some investigating to see what the hell is going on, and generally doubts other people's knowledge and competence. He definitely tends to think he's the only person who knows how to get stuff done in a timely and efficient manner. Despite seeming like a buzzkill, he knows how to have a good time and really enjoys going out and doing fun stuff, whether by himself or with a group of the right people. But he doesn't like when people put arbitrary, inefficient restrictions on how he decides to have fun, and will often ignore people he thinks are not worth listening to. He does NOT talk about his past. If he does, it's brief, and he delivers the information in a matter-of-fact way, and all further questions pressing the matter will be met with either silence or a death glare. He definitely isn't a sentimental person, and doesn't really know what to do when people unload their emotions on him.

His fear of being controlled or betrayed, and his desire for self-sufficiency and control. He also has a deep and fierce love for his mom and sees himself as her primary protector.

Crosses arms over his chest. Smirks a lot. Pinches the bridge of his nose when he's frustrated. Either makes a lot of eye contact (staring someone down) or barely any eye contact (you're boring). He also fidgets with the ring around his neck when he's uncomfortable (usually with emotions).

A song that represents his childhood: Run - OneRepublic
A song that represents his general outlook on life: No Friends - Chase Atlantic
A song that would play over a montage of him getting ready in the morning: Feel It Still - Portugal. The Man
A song that represents his happiest moment: Today - Smashing Pumpkins
A song he would listen to to cheer himself up: Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z
A song that represents a struggle in his life: 21 Guns - Green Day
A song he would dedicate to a loved one: Renegades - X Ambassador
A song that represents a current relationship/love interest: I Don't - Johnny Orlando
A song that represents a past relationship/love interest: Leave Before Ya Love Me - Jonas Brothers
A song he would request a DJ at a party to play: Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
A song that represents his saddest moment: Paralyzed - NF
A song that would play over a training montage: Welcome to the Jungle - Guns n' Roses
A song he would sing in the shower: I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Beatles

He has a few—his iPod, which has all his favourite music, his guitar, which was a gift from his mom, and his Dad's wedding ring, though that object has more mixed emotions surrounding it.

He works part-time at a corner store a few blocks away from the apartment where he lives.

None. He's agnostic—mostly because he hasn't put too much thought into the existence or non-existence of God.

Student, corner store employee

Red.

New York pizza, baby

Senior year in high school

August 19th, 2001

Jake was born in a hospital in New York to 20-year old Leah and 22-year-old Victor Hawkins. The two had gotten married after Leah discovered she was pregnant, but Victor did not have a stable job, and was constantly running around town with his buddies. After Jake was born, Victor tried to do what he could to support Leah and Jake, but he was rarely home. Leah's parents offered financial support for most of Jake's early life, but money was still tight. When Jake was three, Victor left his wedding ring on the kitchen table and disappeared for good. From ages 3-6, Leah had her apartment neighbour Denise watch Jake while she worked two to three jobs to make ends meet. Denise already had two boys, but she was willing to watch Jake to help Leah out. When Jake was 6, he started going to school, and while Denise was still picking him up and dropping him off with her own boys most of the time, Leah started trying to take over again. Jake was an obnoxious kid, but intelligent, though he didn't apply himself much in areas he didn't think were important. He was independent and aggressive, and would often be put in time-out. Jake grew up with few friends, and the friends he made when he was younger slowly drifted away from him. He spent most of his time amusing himself and working on projects or educating himself on random topics that sparked his interest. At 17, he attends Westwood Public High School in New York, and is a prominent player on the school basketball team. His grades are average to poor because he puts almost no effort into completing homework or paying attention to the classes he sees as useless. Most teachers are frustrated with him because he will do exceptionally well on a specific topic he finds interesting and then will totally bomb the next assignment. Unbeknownst to his mother, he works at a corner store a few days a week after school lets out and works until the manager kicks him out. Leah still works multiple jobs and usually doesn't get home until very late. Jake then sneaks the cash he earns into the budgeting envelopes his mom makes and secretly helps pay for groceries and stuff.

30 daily writing promts, as answered by Jake (unfinished):

DAY 1: Describe your personality.

Awesome. Not to brag, but I'm kind of amazing. Just kidding... not. Okay, I'm being serious now (or am I? You will never know, peasant). Uh. I don't know. I keep to myself. Mind my own business. Do what I want. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about my personality or any of that crap. I just exist.

This is dumb.

DAY 2: What makes you happy?

Um. Basketball. Basketball's fun. Music. Um... running, too, I guess. I really like listening to my music while running at like five in the morning. It's cool. No one's really on my block that early and it's still sorta dark. I get to just run around the block and vibe and not have to deal with anyone's crap, you know? Watching movies with my mom is exciting. We don't really do that often.

DAY 3 : Describe a memory.

What, any memory? Uh, okay. I remember going to my grandparents house when I was like six. Their house looked huge to me back then. Mom showed me her old room. It was mostly empty. There was a guest bed and a dresser and a closet, and the walls were all painted white. I remember her kind of describing what it used to look like... something about curtains and blue flower wallpaper. I don’t know. This was years ago.

Then we had to go downstairs to eat. We had grilled salmon, which was disgusting, but mom made me eat most of it. Aunt Lilian and Uncle Eric were there with Caden. Caden was like one, I think. Everyone was fawning over him and saying he was so adorable. I don't even have a clear picture of what he looked like, I just remember thinking he was the ugliest, dumbest-looking baby I'd ever seen in my life. He wasn't even doing anything cute. He was just sitting on his stupid baby blanket and drooling and biting this green teething toy or something.

When they were all preoccupied with talking to each other, I tried to get him to do something. I think I poked him in the belly and tried to tickle his feet. He just sat there with the same dumb baby face. So I took the teething toy and threw it across the room, just to see what would happen. Caden immediately started screaming and I remember standing a few feet away and being grossly fascinated by how red his face was turning. At least he wasn't being a pale, boring lump anymore.

Then the adults all ran over and Aunt Lilian picked him up and started yelling at me and demanding to know what I had done. Mom got upset at Aunt Lilian for accusing me, Grandma and Grandpa were giving me weird looks, and Caden was still screaming. Mom asked me if I knew what happened and I pointed at the teething toy in the corner. I don't really recall what exactly happened after that, but they figured out that I had taken the toy.

I remember Aunt Lilian wanted me to apologize and tried to tell Mom to make me, but I just glared and wouldn’t open my mouth. I think we left after that.

DAY 4: Talk about some places you want to visit.

I’ve always wanted to go to a music festival or a concert. That would be sick. I could listen to some of the bands I know play their stuff live, which would be epic. I’d probably find new bands too. Oh, there’s also this giant silver bean in Chicago that I’ve wanted to go see in real life since I was like five, when I first heard about it. Kinda dumb, but I still wanna see it for some reason. Maybe just to take my own picture of it.
DAY 5: Talk about your parents.

Well, I have them, obviously. I mean, my dad’s gone. He left when I was little. But he exists. Probably. Uh. My mom is… my mom? Like what specifically am I supposed to talk about? These prompts seriously suck. Uhh, well she has blond hair, like me. And blue eyes. She’s a lot shorter than me. She likes raspberry tea. She works most of the day. And she has night classes a few times a week. Sometimes she doesn’t get home until past midnight, and then she still stays up to study. Ugh. I can’t wait to graduate so I can work full time. I’m only in school now because she really wants me to get an education. It’s important to her I guess. Probably because she couldn’t finish college when she first started… she had me like a year into university and had to drop out. I mean, she’s doing a nursing program now, but. Maybe if my dad was here she wouldn’t have to work so hard all the time. Maybe not. Whatever. Stupid.
DAY 6: Are you single? In a relationship? Why, or why not?

Yeah, I’m not really into the whole relationship thing. I tried dating a girl a couple years ago, and it just didn’t work. She kept calling me constantly and then complaining when I didn’t call her. She always wanted to have lunch with me and hold my hand and hug and all that other mushy crap. And she cried… like all the time. About everything. It got really annoying really quickly. I think we were together for like a week? Not that great. Plus being in a relationship just means wasting time and energy and crap on people who are probably just gonna leave anyway.