Cracks

Chapter 5 Home of the unwanted

Zeke Reynolds lived a privileged life. His father worked for a successful law firm, his mother worked in real estate, and he had an older brother on a basketball scholarship at a top university. His parents were busy, but never too busy and he himself was a good student in several advanced classes. He knew he had a good life. So, sometimes, he wondered how it was possible that his cousin had drawn the short end of the stick.

He looked at Chase who was packing a bag with clothes and other items. "Are you sure you can manage?" he asked, "I mean, can you afford that place?"

Chase continued packing his belongings. "Archer pulled some strings," he said stiffly, "he offered me a parttime job. I'll assist him in teaching the younger kids and he said he'll pitch in when I'm low on cash until I can stand on my own."

Zeke sighed. "I know that, but you could just live at our place. Aaron's room is available. My parents don't mind. You're family, Chase."

Chase gritted his teeth. His relation with his cousin hadn't always been good. Zeke had everything he did not; wealth, a loving family, opportunities. All Chase had was a father who couldn't stand the sight of him.

Growing up, Chase had been jealous of Zeke, had given him the cold shoulder. It was only after he met Tess that he had slowly let go of his anger. They weren't exactly friends, but they got along now.

"Your father did enough for me already," Chase said stiffly, "besides, I don't need my old man showing up at your parents' doorstep yelling and screaming."

"There are restraining orders," Zeke suggested, "he won't come near you. My dad will make sure of it. He is not part of our family, Chase, your mother was."

"Don't," Chase hissed, "don't talk about my mother." Something vulnerable had crept in his voice.

"I'm sorry," Zeke said quietly, "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just saying, you're welcome at our house."

Chase zipped up his bag. "And what when your brother comes home from uni? Where's he gonna stay? And I can't keep letting Tess smuggle me into her room either. If her parents find out I've been crashing there, they'll murder me. No, I need to do this. I'm sixteen. If I have to stay here another two years I'll go mad." He swung his bag over his shoulder and turned to face his cousin. "Let's go. I want to be out of here before he comes home."

Zeke sighed sadly as he took note of the black eye Chase was sporting, so cleverly covered with Tess' concealer before. How long had it been going on before he'd noticed? If anything, Chase was good at hiding things. It wasn't until Tess had approached him that he realized how bad things really were. That was when he had spoken to his father. And now Chase had gotten himself emancipated.

"You have all the paperwork sorted out?" Zeke asked.

Chase gave a curt nod. "And Archer co-signed. I'm all good."

"Okay," Zeke nodded. He stood up. "Just know if you need anything..."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go already. I'm done with this place."

...

Their study session was more frustrating than usual. Eric was surprised she had even showed up, but they had a Math test coming up and Allison needed all the help she could get.

"So, how would you answer question five?" Eric asked.

Allison let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know. I don't even understand the question."

Eric nodded. "Alright. Then first you break down the question. Separate what you have from what you need to get and work backwards." When he saw her frown, he chuckled. "Trust me. It works." He watched as she wrote down what he suggested and stared intensely at her writing.