Chapter 1: Teenagers

~~ December - Week 50 - 2094 ~~

Justin was wandering around the halls of the ship.

He didn’t have a destination in mind; he was just walking and thinking about his dad. He had been mourning his father for over four years. He had been shocked when he was given the vid from a woman call Glenda saying it was from his dad.

He watched it with excitement at first and then with anger the second time. Apparently, his dad had been stranded on a planet. He had married again and had another three kids with three more on the way. Two of the kids were to his new wife, Princess Darla. As per bloody usual, the kids weren’t all to the same woman.

His dad had said that he hoped they were all well. That he doubted that he would see them again any time soon. He couldn’t come back to Earth due to his new responsibilities. Then he signed off, and that was it. He had looked very uncomfortable as if he didn’t know what to say.

It’s what he hadn’t said that upset Justin the most. He hadn’t said he loved him or missed him or wanted him or any of his other kids. He eventually had to show the vid to his family. He had missed his dad, and it still hurt. He hadn’t been the best dad in the world, but he was still his dad.

He wondered if his father knew about the mess he had left behind when he disappeared. Justin reminisced about what had happened as if he was reliving it.

When his father hadn’t come back after nine months, the company had declared him dead. This was so they could stop paying his wages. This hit his ex-wife Terry very hard, as she had received nearly half his salary.

Terry had relied heavily on Allan’s money coming in with five kids to feed and clothe. The useless boyfriend she had at the time left when she expected him to help support her instead of him bludging off her.

His mum had basically kicked him out or more precisely left him behind when he was fifteen and a half. Her new husband, Rod, had gotten a job in Western Australia, and they were moving. She told him if he wanted to stay in Brisbane to do his Uni, he had to support himself. So, he’d have to get a job to help pay his way through University or live with his Gran.

Rod didn’t want him going with them. The fact he hated his stepfather and knew the feeling was mutual also didn’t encourage him to go with his mother. He didn’t get on really well with his other siblings either. The three boys each had a different father to his. The closest in age to him was five years younger.

His mum seemed to have a hard time maintaining relationships. He suspected that she missed his father as the mention of him and what a stud he had been, often lead to the end of her current relationship. He knew of several times when his dad had visited in the past, he had ended up screwing his mother, and this hadn’t helped her move on either.

His mum had actually been with the latest guy for three years, and the youngest boy was his, so Rod had married her. His brothers were right pains in the arse, as far as Justin was concerned. His mother wasn’t very maternal, and she let them get away with anything they wanted to do.

She would often dump them on him and expect him to look after them. The problem was that he had little in common with any of them. They didn’t like rocks, music or martial arts. He had spent more time at Gran’s in the last few years as the oldest two boys wouldn’t go there with him, so he got some peace and quiet.

It was also ironic that the day his mother left was the same day his dad had left to go to the very solar system he too was now speeding towards. He guessed his mother had finally given up hope of Allan coming back to her.

Yet, his father had always been good to him. He had even taken him and the kids from his marriage on a couple of gem hunting holidays with Gran. It had surprised him just how at home his dad had been in the bush, and he had learnt a lot of life skills from him and Gran.

When he was ten, he had been put in an accelerated learning program. He had already skipped a grade because he had driven his second-grade teacher, nutty. She had him deposited in a grade three class after the first month, and he didn’t go back.

Legally he was supposed to be in the school system until he was seventeen. He had been offered a scholarship to study Geology and Gemmology when he finished High School, but he needed money to live on if he was to complete his studies.

He had been finishing his first term at Uni when his mum left. He could at least apply for study assistance since his mother had moved cities after she kicked him out. He also applied for emancipation so he could legally look after himself, but he had to stay somewhere in the meantime until he was legally sixteen in February.

He moved in with Gran, Adina Ubobo, until the following April. He had stayed with her until he got his emaciation and then a couple of extra months while she dealt with his dad’s supposed death. He was glad he was with her when the company said his dad was dead. Gran refused to believe that Allan was gone.

Gran was actually his great-grandmother, his father’s grandmother. She had always been his bolthole when things got bad at home. However, he was finding her use of his time frustrating. His life was studying and looking after her. He had his music and still managed to get to his martial arts classes, and he had a few friends but no time or money for girls.

He needed to find his own place. However, moving took money. Gran’s solution was to take him fossicking. They had gone every Christmas holiday since he was ten. The good thing was that fossicking also helped with his studies.

It didn’t hurt that they often found enough gems to afford a few extra comforts her pension and his allowance didn’t pay for. This last trip was really good. He had gotten lucky and hit a pocket of quality gems that had a bit of size about them.

He hadn’t realised the value of his finds until a couple of weeks after they got back. Gran said he could stay living with her or take his fifty grand and sort himself out. He loved Gran, but he didn’t think he could live with her fulltime for much longer.

Whenever he was trying to study, she had a bad habit of interrupting him. His list of chores also got longer, the longer he stayed. He didn’t mind helping out to help pay his way, but he knew she was also taking advantage of him when he was doing favours for her friends too.

He decided he could get through the rest of the two degrees in less than three years if he carefully watched his spending and studied hard. He was already well on track for this goal. An occasional trip north with Gran to top up the bank account wouldn’t hurt either.

He found a small single room flat nearby and concentrated on his University study. He still checked on Gran at least once a week or stayed the odd weekend with her when she did need his help, and he didn’t have an assignment due.

He was putting all his efforts into getting the degrees finished. He had even signed up for extra units in Metallurgy as it helped with the jewellery making, he did with Gran.

Things went well for the first couple of months.

In early August, he got hit with the next whammy.

The Ubobo brothers and sisters turned up on his doorstep. Each of them had a backpack and a port. Apparently, their mum’s new boyfriend Paul tried to rape Kim, who was only twelve. Their mother wouldn’t believe them, so they left. Plus, they all hated Paul, and the girls said that he creeped them out and perved on them all the time.

Jamie and her twin Jennie hadn’t turned sixteen yet. They were nine months younger than he was. Brad was fourteen months younger than they were at fourteen. Tyson was fifteen mouths younger again, at just over thirteen with Kim barely a year younger him.

The twins were going to quit school. They just needed a place to stay until they could get jobs and a flat for the younger kids. Justin had refused to let them leave school. They only had six months to go to finish grade ten, so he wanted them to do at least that. He would look after them.

The first problem was that the flat was way too small for six people. It only had one bedroom to start with. Justin gave the bedroom to the girls, and he and the brothers bunked in the lounge. His other problem was the three youngest kids.

He knew their mum would come looking for them when Social Services realised that they no longer lived with her. They would take the money for them off her. He thought he might have about a six weeks grace at most. The twins didn’t earn her as much now they were turning sixteen, so they were safe to leave at their current school.

It took him two weeks to find a two-bedroom flat close by with a garage that he could turn into a third room for the girls. He didn’t want to move too far from Gran. He got the little room, and the boys got the main bedroom. It didn’t help that he was in the middle of completing a heap of assignments. He was trying to get through fifteen study units a year.

The flat was going to cost him twice as much as his current rent, and he had already started adding up the utility bills and the cost to feed five extra mouths and clothe the kids. He’d be lucky if the money he had left from his last Christmas trip to the Gem Fields with Gran would last him to the next Christmas even if they were cautious.

He was able to sign the lease with Gran as a guarantor. As far as the agency he had to go through was concerned, emancipation or not, he still wasn’t eighteen. He told Gran of his new money worries and the kids.

She said that they needed to go fossicking again. If he could find it, she could sell it. Plus, the weather was excellent at this time of year up north. Her bones would appreciate it. The kids would all be on holiday in a week so he agreed they should go then. They all had exams in the meantime.

He got the kids shifted to the new flat. The three youngest would start at the new school with Gran’s help; by saying they were her wards, after the holidays. The twins were better off staying where they were. Plus, they liked their school.

The new school covered Prep to grade twelve, and it was a short walk to the flat. He had picked it because the boys could walk Kim to school. He would still have to catch the train into the University. Three train fares were cheaper than the six he was currently paying for.

He changed as many study units to external as he could to look after the kids. He preferred studying from home anyway, plus it was cheaper. He also didn’t like the kids coming home to an empty house.

Gran still had a drivers licence somehow, but she made him go get the twins their learners. He was glad she did. He and the twins soon learnt it wasn’t a good idea to let Gran drive. She had gotten even worse since their last trip. He hadn’t let her drive much then either. So, they had done all the driving to the Gemfields in Central Queensland.