What's in a Name?

Ezekiel Hutchins

Ezekiel "Zeke" Hutchins- English (mother); Scottish/Welsh (father); The long-time best friend and consistent companion of Martin Poitier, Zeke is an unpopular boy at the high school whom is socially outcast and generally spends time on the sidelines. He is often referred to by his classmates as "Dorky Drip" and seen as appearing somewhat unhygienic with greasy shoulder-length brown hair, flat brown eyes, and a pale, pasty complexion. His most noticeable features are a skinny fat body that has a "slightly bulging belly", along with a prominent forehead. He is often rejected by his peers for his appearance and is noted for always having a distinguishably pungent body odor, which Morgan Fischer describes as resembling the scent of "moldy socks and garlic pizza". Zeke is vastly underachieving in his schoolwork and is generally seen in the company of Martin, whom is arguably his only true friend at the school. He is slightly dim-witted, friendly, curious, and rather childish in nature, with a short attention span that makes it difficult for him to focus on specific tasks for an extended period of time. He frequently interrupts others during conversations and answers for people instead of letting them speak, much to the annoyance of many of the people he encounters. He once made up an irritating game called "Just Kidding" during which he would nervously blurt out something bad and proceed to say he was joking. Despite not being a popular kid, he's always got an eye on social media and is willing to share phone numbers, text and phone-call others. He is also known to be an extremely fast walker and can never walk in a straight line, as he always manages to cut people off. 

A decent cartoonist, the only class Zeke can tolerate academically is his art class, during which he tends to express himself through his colorful sketches and concept art. He claims to be a massive fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, having watched every episode and owning every copy of the Sonic games that have surfaced to date. Having his head filled up on a daily basis with his mother's "pieces of advice", JD is constantly under increasing amounts of unbearable stress, being incapable of trusting anybody due to assuming the worst of others. He frequently gets quotes and sayings mixed up, although Martin often corrects him as the two humorously shrug it off. Additionally, Zeke is a fan of Michael Jackson's music, which he will often play in his car, an old, rundown red 1968 Ford Mustang he purchased himself after saving up the money while working as a dishwasher at a local Chili's. Although he has his heart in the right place, he tends to be somewhat perverted at times and can be relatively forward when it comes to expressing his affection for girls, despite their frequent rejection of his awkward advancements. Zeke is very vocal and direct about his crush on his young chemistry teacher, Ms. Sally McGill, whom he considers to be a "total babe" and has also fancied Shelby Doyle's mother, Scarlett Brown and the new Spanish teacher from Costa Rica, Señora Melania Pacheco, in addition to having unrequited attractions to his female classmates Kate Stankovic and Morgan Fischer. He tends to be rather secretive in disclosing details about his background and does not often invite many people towards his house besides Martin, implying instability in his home life. 

It is suggested that his mother Joanie, a victim of sexual molestation by a family member as a child, suffers from manic depression and can appear overly emotional on occasion due to suffering from bouts of hysteria. She is disabled and seems to neglect her son and appear emotionally unavailable due to spending excessive hours of the day "lounging on the living room couch, watching primetime television and daytime soap operas". Zeke also has a stepfather, Lewis Strauss, who works as a manager at a local MacDonald's with whom he does not get along with, describing him as being a master manipulator and having emotionally abusive tendencies towards both himself and his mother. He can behave rather recklessly, having once spent over 900 dollars on video games and a new guitar after going on a wasteful spending spree with his mother's credit card. He has likewise been known to experiment with drugs, particularly hallucinogens and weed, in order to calm his anxiety and "gain inspiration" for his artwork. He has a notebook under his mattress filled with drawings and text over a conspiracy theory involving a pair of "underpants gnomes" that he claims to have seen lurking in the shadows at night. Zeke frequently has to be talked out of things and claims that Martin is "95 percent of his impulse control", and his favorite lunch is a peanut butter, banana and mayonnaise sandwich. He is always in a state of borderline panic and extreme paranoia, constantly jumping to the worst case scenario and blowing things out of proportion instead of thinking things through with a colder and more logical perspective. This can hinder both his memory and his attention span over the most common things, to the point where it is easy to tell his current emotional and mental state from his voice pitch. 

His body is always visibly twitching since he is constantly consuming caffeinated drinks, which makes it hard to prevent him from yelping and screaming under stress. Zeke tends to panic excessively in certain situations as well, most noticeably when he is high, and quickly jumps to conclusions. He is not averse to taking chances by spending large amounts of money on high-risk, high-reward business propositions either, having once made a particularly risky investment as a means of making money to be able to attend the college of his choice and study video game design. He is nevertheless a loyal friend to Martin and tries to be friendly with many of his peers despite their constant rejection and avoidance of him. In addition to her naughtiness, Zeke enjoys being messy and having fun, though his recklessness can cause him to make a mess of his surroundings, much to the disapproval of his loved ones. No amount of self-awareness and understanding can make him completely aware of his own surroundings or the people around her, describing himself as a "master at wasting time". He has been known to spend several minutes just sitting down on the toilet as he quietly browses the internet on his phone or flips through a magazine. He nearly got in trouble for sneaking around and trying to get rid of his stewed tomatoes by flushing them down the drain, although she was discovered and forced to apologize by his mother. Despite his fluctuating moods and struggles with anxiety, he does not generally form strong opinions on people and tries to be open and accepting of everyone he meets. Zeke's mother used to be a Buddhist, which leads him to find an escape from his stressful daily life through mediation as he dives into quiet and natural landscapes in his imagination. 

He would do anything for his friends even if it went against his own morals and paranoia, or put him in the middle of a precarious situation. While he doesn't like sweet things, he sometimes bakes a new treat or pastry to relieve stress and give the final product to other people afterwards. Regardless of his unkempt, slightly unattractive appearance and lack of popularity, he has most recently begun dating Myrtle Ellenberger a fat, chubby-faced girl with German ancestry who wears glasses and has greasy, very dark blonde hair that reaches her tail bone and is usually styled in a low ponytail. She is known for wearing graphic t-shirts and small decorative badges symbolizing her favorite cartoon shows and has a shared fascination with Beavis and Butthead with Zeke. Considered a bit of a "chubby chaser" in recent years, Zeke also briefly dated a bespectacled, equally corpulent light-skinned African-American student named Raven Perry, whom is known for her charisma and grand, larger-than-life personality and is currently living with her grandparents in the outskirts of New York, after fleeing from her troubled home life back in her native Mississippi. He also expressed interest in a shy overweight girl of Mexican descent with curly black hair and glasses named Marianela Treviño, with whom he later established a good friendship. Zeke eventually parts ways with Myrtle and pursues a romance with a thickset girl with stringy dark red hair named Shauna Fleming, whom he cohabits with at an apartment in Yonkers for over 7 years. They try to make ends meet with Shauna's job as a daycare worker and JD's career as a game designer for a small company. The two suddenly become parents to triplets when Shauna is 36 and Zeke is nearing 40,deciding to raise their young children in a larger home that JD is able to afford once he wins the lottery by chance. ESFP 6w7