"A Greater Love Part 4: Finding the Way"

4 Months Later

Jake walked into the museum and sat at a table, going over the following week's work schedule with Kendall. The museum director had decided to hire him on as an assistant in the cafe. The group had just celebrated Jake's 18th birthday a couple months earlier, which meant he was now an adult and legally he was now responsible for Kasey thanks to a provision in their parents' will and Power of Attorney documents. Jake was so taken aback by the support he and Kasey had been given by the rangers. Kendall had allowed Kasey to come to the museum for help with his homework. Occasionally, Riley helped him in certain subjects like math and science. Even Tyler had stepped up to pick up Kasey from school.

Suddenly, Shelby approached the table.

"Jake, you've got a phone call. It's Kasey's school."

Jake shook his head and stood up.

"Excuse me, Miss Morgan."

Kendall nodded as Jake headed into the kitchen.

"This is Jake."

After what seemed like forever, Jake came back into the main area of the cafe.

"Hey guys, I need someone to take me to Kasey's school."

Tyler stepped forward. "I'll take you. Is Kasey okay?"

"He had an outburst and beat up another student."

Tyler nodded. "Let's go."

A little later, the two arrived at the school. Jake and Tyler walked into the office, where Tyler sat down. He realized he needed to let Jake handle this. The receptionist contacted the principal, who promptly came into the waiting room. Jake stood up and recognized the man as Mr. Jeff Martin, who had been principal when he was there. Martin extended his hand.

"Jake, welcome back. It's good to see you, although I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me too. What's going on?"

"We'd better talk in my office. Kasey is in with the school counselor right now. We will go see them soon."

"Mr. Martin, this is my good friend Tyler. I'd like him to listen in on this. He's been helping us out since our parents died."

Martin nodded. The three went into Mr. Martin's office and sat down. Martin started.

"First off, I am so sorry for your loss. I know it hasn't been easy."

Jake shook his head. "Thank you, sir. No it hasn't. Luckily I have friends like Tyler here to help me out."

"That's good." Mr. Martin pulled out his notepad. "So, here's what we know so far. The incident occurred in Kasey's history class. The teacher, Miss Evans, was passing back the tests. Apparently Kasey had gotten a D+ on the test."

Jake looked up. "Miss Evans? She's one of his favorite teachers."

Jeff continued. "One of the other students named Connor saw his grade and called him stupid. At first he ignored it and Miss Evans told the other student to stop. However, Connor kept pushing and when he told him he'd be a stupid idiot the rest of his life, Kasey finally snapped and pushed him to the ground and then started beating him up. Miss Evans managed to break it up and sent the other students on their way."

Jake had heard enough. "I don't get it, Kasey is so smart. How could he have gotten a D+ on a test?"

"Has he still been struggling with the loss?"

"If he has, he's been hiding it." then an idea came into his head and he leaned forward. "Mr. Martin, Kasey's always had some learning problems. I'm starting to wonder if our parents' death has been exaggerating them."

"It's possible. I'll tell you what, I will talk with the other boy's parents, explain to them what happened. I will also make sure this incident doesn't appear on Kasey's permanent record, but is only a footnote in his file." he stood up.

"Well, let's go the counselor's office. I'd like Kasey see the school counselor every other week. I also want him to have a tutor for the rest of the school year."

Tyler spoke up. "That won't be a problem. A couple of our friends at work would be awesome tutors."

The group walked into the school counselor's office. Suddenly the door opened and Kasey and the school counselor walked out.

Kasey looked up. "Man, I'm in trouble."

The counselor put his hand on Kasey's shoulder. "Kasey, have a seat. We'll talk some more soon."

Jeff motioned Jake and Tyler forward.

"Jake, this is Danny Delgado. He's our school counselor."

Jake nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Well, I'll let you guys chat for a while." Jeff left the area.

Danny nodded.

"Guys, let's go out to the courtyard."

Danny led the group out to the courtyard and sat them at a table.

"Guys, I know we're all really concerned about Kasey." he pulled out his notepad. "But what we need to figure out is how to help him."

Jake nodded, but Danny and Tyler could see he was struggling himself. Tyler looked his friend in the eyes.

"Jake, I know this is hard for you to think about. But Kasey needs you now more than ever."

Jake stood up. "How can I help him when I can't even help myself? I'm just a junior in high school! That job at the cafe is my only source of income and I need every cent of it to make sure that Kasey has everything he needs! I feel so alone." He put his head against the wall, tears starting to flow. Danny realized that Jake had finally realized the gravity of the situation and the pain of his loss was beginning to resurface.

Tyler stood up and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're not alone. We're going to help you."

Danny nodded. "Tyler's right. This is a difficult position you've been put in. But you can count on everybody around you to help. Even with little things like grocery shopping and helping with housework."

From behind Tyler, a voice came out of nowhere.

"You won't have to worry about your financial situation, Jake."

Tyler looked back and the group stood up. "Prince Phillip. It's good to see you!"

Jake bowed in front of the prince.

"Jake, your story has reached me all the way in Zandar. You are truly an inspiration to everyone."

"Thank you, your highness."

The prince nodded and continued.

"I have gotten approval to have your financial needs taken care of. From now on, any major financial needs you have will be taken care of by the royal family through me. This includes Kasey's tuition as well as yours for next year. I have also taken the liberty of paying off the mortgage on your parents' house. It is now yours."

Tyler looked back, then smiled. "See? Even the prince of Zandar is on your side."

Jake looked at his friend for a long time, then hugged him tight. "Thanks, Tyler." He then turned to the prince.

"Thank you as well, sire. I don't know what to say."

Prince Phillip smiled. "That's quite all right." The prince turned around and left with his bodyguards.

Danny smiled. "Here's what we'll do. We're going to follow Mr. Martin's idea that Kasey see me every other week. And I also want to see you once a month. I'll come by the museum and see you there."

Tyler jumped in. "And we'll have Riley, Shelby, and Ivan tutor both Kasey and you."

Jake smiled. "Thanks again. Well, Tyler, we better take Kasey home."

Tyler nodded. "Any time."

The group went back to the office and picked Kasey up. Kasey avoided looking at Jake, afraid he was about to get yelled at. Once they emerged from the building, Jake took Kasey over to a picnic table outside the building and sat him down while Tyler went to his Jeep. Kasey looked up at his big brother who took a deep breath before kneeling down in front of him and started to talk very gently.

"Kasey... you know that what you did was wrong, right?"

Kasey nodded, still avoiding Jake's gaze.

"Kasey, I know you're having a rough time here at school. This has actually been a rough time for me as well. I'm under a lot of pressure to finish school myself. Along with a bunch of other stuff. It's starting to get hard for me."

Kasey finally looked his brother in the eyes. "Does this mean you don't want me around?"

Jake looked at his little bro, shocked. "Kasey, don't say that. I wouldn't trade you for anything. I love you, and I always will. We're sticking together forever." he pulled his little brother into him in a tight hug, fighting back tears. "We're just going to need a little help, that's all."

"What does that mean?"

Jake released the hug and put his arm around the little guy's shoulder. "Well first off, as far as this little incident is concerned, you won't get suspended or anything like that since you didn't start it. However you will be seeing the counselor every other week. You're so smart, bro. It's not like you to pull C's and D's. So here's what we're going to do. Once a week you'll be coming over to the cafe and a couple of my friends will be tutoring you in the subjects you're struggling with."

Kasey nodded. "Okay." he sniffled and then hugged his big brother tight, and buried his face into Jake's huge shoulder sobbing profusely.

"I miss mommy and daddy."

Jake let his own tears run down the little kid's back. "So do I."

From his Jeep, Tyler watched the two brothers embrace and could see the pain they were feeling.

Over the next couple months, things improved drastically for the brothers academically. Kasey started getting his grades up with help from Riley and Chase. Tyler, Shelby, and Ivan helped Jake with his classes and he ended his junior year with a 3.5 GPA.

One afternoon, Jake had just dropped Kasey off at his tutoring session at the cafe with Chase and Riley. He walked up to Tyler.

"Hey, Tyler."

"Hey, Jake. What's up?"

"I'm going to go to the cemetery and visit mom and dad."

"Good. Give me a few minutes and I'll go with you."

"No, I need to do this by myself."

"Jake, you haven't been there since the funeral. You need someone to go with you for emotional support. Let's take just a small group."

Jake finally relented. "Okay, let's go."

A few minutes later, Jake arrived at the cemetery with Tyler, Shelby, Kendall, and Ivan accompanying him. Shelby carried two bouquets of flowers. The group slowly walked towards the area where his parents' graves were. As soon as he could clearly see their headstones, he stopped. Shelby put a hand on his shoulder as she handed him the flowers. The group accompanying him stopped a few feet back from the grave site

"Come on, Jake. You can do this."

Jake nodded and continued forward. He crouched down in front of the graves and placed the flowers in their respective places. He started talking as he fought back tears.

"Hey, mom. Hey, dad. I just had to come by and see you. I'm starting to see how good you guys were at your job. Kasey's struggling a bit, but he's getting better thanks to a little help. I'm trying my best to make you proud of me, but..." he fell to his knees, his eyes filled with tears. Finally, he lost it and pounded the ground and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Kendall walked forward and knelt down next to him and put her hand on his back.

"Jake, it's okay. Let it out. Just let it out."

Jake continued to cry hard, his pain obvious to the others gathered nearby. He looked at the headstones in front of him, struggling to speak.

"All I ever wanted to do was make them proud of me. Everything I've been doing was to make them proud of me."

Kendall looked him in the eyes. "Jake, they were always proud of you. And I'm sure they still are. Just look at how far you've come over the last six months. You have done so much for both of you. And you've done so much that you've gotten the attention of the prince of a foreign country. They're definitely proud of you. And so are we."

Jake looked up at his friends, who all nodded in agreement. He slowly stood up with Kendall's help. He took one last look at his parents' headstones, then turned away. As the group piled into Tyler's jeep and headed back to the museum, Jake reflected on what was still ahead. He knew he still had a lot of hard work ahead, but with his friends' help it would be a little easier.