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Chapter 26: First Jobs

"Hello! The girls are home!" I shouted as we walked inside our new home.

"Girls?" Isaac asked.

"Yes, when I helped Sarah pick out a new outfit, I'm pretty sure my Man Card got taken away." I laughed.

"I would say you might be right. But I know how to make you feel like a man!" Cody slid his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.

"Ew! I saw you naked, I don't need to hear you two now too!" Sarah clapped her hands over her ears causing us all to laugh.

"Oh hey! I found you a pupil!" Cody smiled.

"Really? That's cool. Who is it?" I asked.

"My mom's co-worker has this kid starting High School in the New Year and wants extra prep. You cool with that?"

"Sounds perfect!"

"Awesome, she wants to meet you this afternoon, so let's clean this place up so Jeremy can get the job!" Cody addressed everyone else.

We got to work picking up all the mess and sweeping. With all of us working it only took an hour, just in time for the doorbell to ring.

Cody and I went to the door. I opened the door and outside stood a business man, suit and all, his wife who was dressed like a model and a boy who was clearly his son. His son looked about twelve years old. He was fairly tall for his age, nearly as tall as I was, with messy blonde hair and green eyes. He was clearly going to be very good looking when he got older.

" Hello Mr Jacobs, Mrs Jacobs, you looking wonderful today!" Cody greeted, using every ounce of charm he had.

"Thank you Cody! You look a lot better than I imagined. Your mother made out as if you were dead!" Mrs Jacobs laughed.

Cody and I laughed in response. "Nah! Mum likes to over exaggerate, as mothers do! Anyway, this is Jeremy." Cody introduced.

I smiled and shook their hands, "Hi, how are you?"

"Jeremy? As in the one who was driving?" Mr Jacobs asked sternly.

"Yeah he was driving. But it was the truck driver who is at fault. He had been drinking and we are very lucky that we weren't killed." Cody defended me politely.

"Hmph! Well this is Elias. He definitely needs the help, he got mostly A's and B's last year. That is not good enough if he wants to get early admission into UCT!" Mr Jacobs looked at Elias sternly then back at me. "I think today can be a trial day and then we can give you R300 per hour. He should need three hours a day and roughly five days a week."

" That sounds fine, I will need to check with my University schedule when I get it, but I am doing a Physio degree so it shouldn't be after three. But I will let you know."

Mr Jacobs breathed out as if I had irritated him. "And today?"

"I don't mind using today as a trial day to get to know him and how much prep he will need."

"Good." He turned back to his son, "Did you bring the notes I got for you from the high school teachers?"

"Yes sir." He responded with his eyes looking anywhere but at his father.

" Good, I will see you in 3 hours. Say goodbye Brittany."

"Bye!" Mrs Jacobs giggled and they left.

I smiled at Elias, "Shall we go to the study?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders so I led him to the study and pulled out the two chairs I had bought with the table.

We sat down and I looked at him, "Is there anything that you are especially finding difficult?" I asked.

"He is lying you know, I got A's in all my subjects except for History, that's the only B that I got!" Elias said embarrassed.

"Hey, that's cool. I was also quite smart, so we can work through your study material together. But first, I have printed out a general test with a bit of everything in it. How about we start there?"

"Yeah sure. But first I just wanted to apologise for my father. He is really rough around the edges you know. And that woman is not my mother. My mother died and then that woman became my stepmother six months later."

I whistled lowly, "That's seriously hectic man! Well I hope everything goes well for you, but if you need something just call me." I wrote my number on a square of paper and then we started working.

"So how is it going with your first student?" Ryan asked later that night.

"He is really bright but his father seems really off." I replied.

"Off? How so?" Sarah frowned.

"Well he is in his late fourties, has a wife our age and moaned about his son's grades when he was almost all A's."

"Gees, that's hectic. My mom celebrates every B that I get!" Ryan joked, causing us all to laugh, he wasn't kidding.

The doorbell rang and Isaac elected to see who was there.

"Jer? You better come here quickly!" Isaac called sounding stressed.

I jumped up and quickly walked to the door. Elias was standing in the doorway with blood on his cheek and a large bruise forming on his bare chest.

"Shit! Elias! Get inside! What happened to you man?" I said shocked, then led him to the dining room and sat him down.

"I'll get the first aid kit!" Sarah jumped up.

"H-h-he, I-I-I told him. I c-can't..." Elias trembled.

"Hey! Calm down. Breathe deeply. Then try again."

"I told my dad that I think I am gay and he lost it. He started swearing at me at first, but then he threw a lamp at me and punched me in the chest." Elias crumbled and began to cry.

I pulled him into my chest and then motioned for Cody to phone the police.

"It will be okay, man. Just let it out." I soothed.

"I didn't mean to come here, but I don't know anyone else here. We just moved!" He wailed.

"Hey it's cool, why didn't you call me? I could have picked you up."

"He threw my phone into the pool." Elias sat back up and wiped his face.

"Cops are on the way." Cody announced.

"Cops? Why would you call the cops? He is gonna kill me!" Elias panicked.

"Hey! The cops will protect you! That's what they are there for." I tried to reason.

"NO! He is a lawyer! And rich! He can talk his way out of anything, and when he can't, he can buy his way out!"

"You will just have to trust the system."

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