Jake McKenzie

Jake, a character in the Endless Summer series, is a pilot. He is one of Your Character's love interests. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Jake has shaggy light brown hair, cerulean blue eyes, and fair skin with a scruffy beard. He normally wears a black T-shirt, a green jacket, blue jeans, and dog tags around his neck.

In Chapter 10 of Book 2, his hair is slicked back and he wears black trousers, and a black waistcoat with a white shirt at the New Year's Eve party.

He has a lean, muscular body, and wears blue board shorts if he's in deep water.

Personality
Jake is very sarcastic. It is the most noticeable quality about him and is show cased in almost every chapter. He is also very charming, honest, hot-headed, a little impulsive, and he gives nicknames to people he doesn't like.

Jake often acts or says things before thinking, and doesn't regret some things he says. In Book 2, Chapter 1, he assumes Diego, Raj and/or Grace are dead after being in the hands of The Watchers for six months, which is logical, but also depressing.

Jake is also very protective of his friends. In the first few chapters, he can save your character from venturing into the burning plane hangar. Jake also becomes more affectionate to your character if you pursue him as a love interest. Jake's jokey and cynical approach to life could be a cover for his dark past, as is hinted to in Chapter 1 of Book 2.

In this case, one could compare his personality to that of Drake from the Royal Romance series. During his time in the Military, he earned the codename "Wolf". Ironically, this fits with his Hadean Zodiac sign, Lupus. He later reveals that "Wolf" was short for "Wolf Spider", as every elite member of Arachnid has a spider themed codename.

History
Jake was born in a rural town in Shreveport, Louisiana. Back then, during his military days on the naval academy as a fighter pilot, he met his bunkmate Mike. He was his only friend and loved him like a brother, and one of the best times of his life was when they were assigned on the same deployment.

It should've ended there, but when they were running recon missions off the coast of Kharzistan aiding a rebellion, they discovered their commander Rex Lundgren was selling military weapons illegally to tyrants they were supposed to be fighting.

Lundgren was one step ahead of them. Once a standard recon mission turned into an ambush, Mike got shot down while Jake ejected in time. Heading back to the base, Jake was to be arrested by the military police before he punched his commander and became a fugitive resulting to a bounty of $750,000 over his head. Jake currently resides in Costa Rica, and he was running ever since. Jake has been extremely reckless, most likely stemming from his past career as an Air Force pilot. He has trust issues and doesn't make friends easily after the incident with Mike. Seemingly to cover for this, Jake is also extremely sarcastic and witty from time to time, in a fruitless effort to diffuse the tension.

If you choose to follow Jake to the bar in Book 2, Chapter One, you can find out he had a whole plan to avoid people until 'you [Your Character] came along and blew that plan pretty much straight to hell', where you can choose to start dating him if you're friends with him.

Mike
Jake and Mike were very close friends and treated each other like brothers. In an ambush set by Lundgren, Mike was killed while Jake survived. From then, Jake never opened up to people and never made friends.

Your Character
Jake originally finds Your Character annoying and calls the college student "Boy Scout" or "Princess", depending on their gender. He will start to respect Your Character after he/she breaks up the fight between him and Sean. Your character has a chance to improve her/his relationship status with him after you chose him for every encounter. Jake seems to be sarcastic, satirical and acerbic at first but when your character chooses to get along with his banter, he'll open up more to you. Over the course of the game, he will show concern over your character, willing to protect you at all costs. He's an actions over words kind of person, he'll eventually care and be affectionate to your character. If you choose to start dating him, he even mentions that he's not scared when you go into the museum hole, but 'just wanted to find an excuse to hold your hand'.

Sean Gayle
To begin with, Jake and Sean are not very friendly with one another, which eventually boils over during the debate about whether the group should leave the resort or not, where they have a punch-up. However, their issues are eventually resolved and the tensions are greatly decreased.

Everett Rourke
Although they've never met, Jake thinks very lowly of Rourke. He is more than willing to believe the rumors that Rourke is a criminal involved in illegal experiments. He believes that the King Crab and the Sea Monster were biological weapons created by him.

Aleister
Jake calls Aleister by the nickname Malfoy. This is a reference of Draco Malfoy from the well-known novel series, Harry Potter. Jake initially thinks Aleister is a pompous nerd and disregards his remarks about the sabertooth in early chapters of Book 1. Towards the end of Book 1, when Aleister reveals he is Rourke's son, Jake believes he is a spy sent by his father to kidnap the group or gather information.

In Book 2, Chapter 14, Jake will start disliking him for betraying the group.

Estela
Jake thinks Estela is weird in the beginning of the book, but if you bring him along with you to explore the La Huerta Observatory he starts respecting her after she defeats the crab (if you went with Estela to hunt down the crab). In the later chapters your character can spar with him and Estela, and he will respect her for being able to fight. They sometimes joke with each other about their sarcastic and cynical outlook on life.

Trivia

 * Jake is shown on the cover of "Endless Summer, Book 1" and "Endless Summer, Book 2"
 * His Hadean Zodiac sign is Lupus, the Wolf.
 * He is the oldest of the group.
 * He can hold his breath for 9 minutes.
 * Jake appears to have nicknames for people in the group. For example, he calls Michelle "Maybelline" and he calls Grace "Brain Trust". Oftentimes, the nicknames are linked in with Jake's perceptions of other group members. This most likely relates to how he sarcastically calls Aleister "Malfoy" after Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.
 * Jake is shorter than Sean, but taller than Quinn according to the cover of Book 2.
 * His death is presumed when you have his dog tags with grime and blood ingrained "McKenzie, Jacob Lucas", as shown in Your Character's idol.
 * Similar to Diego, he enjoys references to Pop Culture. His nicknames for people have included references to Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, The Little Mermaid, Iron Man, Superman, Pokémon, and Blue's Clues.
 * As of Book 2, Chapter 8, the whole group is aware of his dark past and being framed for weapons dealing. Also bringing up from his past he has a sister; from the Choices app there's only one McKenzie besides Jake, which is Officer Rebecca McKenzie, a police officer from Most Wanted. She could be his sister. A fan theory exists that Officer McKenzie became a cop to unearth the truth behind Jake's treason.
 * Zahra's Catalyst Idol show that Jake could eventually be captured by Everett Rourke and be held prisoner for five years if you fail. Since the rest of the group isn't seen, it is possible that they either managed to escape La Huerta or they were murdered by Rourke.
 * Rourke considers him the 3rd most dangerous individual of your group.
 * It is implied that he had a relationship with Fiddler prior to the events of the series.
 * His Catalyst Idol shows that he constantly gives people nicknames to honor Mike. It is revealed that Mike sacrificed himself for Jake in an ambush set by Lundgren. The scene flashes to him being held prisoner before being set free by Zahra's Killswitch Protocol. He then rescues Your Character from a cryostasis chamber before being fatally wounded by Mouse. In his dying breath, he orders Your Character to escape and live their life "for all of us", implying that the rest of the Catalysts have died.