A/N: Hey I wanted to do a shout out to the guest who said this: 'You're a great writer and this has been one of my favourite stories. I'm so glad that you are updating again, and with such frequency.' Thanks so much for a review; I wish I could personally thank you in a PM! I appreciate the compliments

House of Jara CHAPTER 25

Sibuna waited until they heard the roar of Rufus' van to disappear before doing anything about Jerome, once they did Mara flung herself at Jerome, wrapping her arms around him.

"Oh Jerome, I'm so sorry. We didn't mean those things, it was just a plan to save you and it worked; thank God you're ok!"

"Define ok," Jerome spluttered, he was finding it hard to breathe as the severity of Rufus' beatings was heavy.

"We should take him to a hospital!" Fabian announced.

"No Fabian, I'm fine. We can't just march into a hospital and demand treatment without questions; they'll have to call Trudy or Victor. Just get me back to the house please, I'll take some pain killers in the morning and I'll be perfectly alright," Jerome explained, Sibuna agreed and they went back to the house; they had to sneak in obviously, most of Sibuna said their goodnights and went to their own rooms after Amber had offered to cover up Jerome's visible bruises with make-up. Jerome was sat on his bed with Alfie whilst Mara grabbed a glass of water and some biscuits; he was refusing to look at Mara or Alfie.

"Jerome please look at me," Mara pleaded, he slowly complied – looking up from examining the water.

"I really believed you were all sick of me, I thought it was happening again."

"Of course we're not sick of you; it was an act, a plan and it worked; we got you back," Mara told him. "I got you back," she added in a whisper.

"We all love you mate, you're my best friend. I don't know what I would have done if he had taken this any further," Alfie explained, he had loved the plan yet he had also hated it. He knew it would work because Rufus wouldn't hang on to something that he believed to be useless but the look on Jerome's face when he heard Alfie say he didn't care about him made him feel terrible. Then there was the look of complete defeat when Mara had said the same thing, it just broke him.

"How were you guys so convincing?"

"Just remembering how much I needed you back here, with me. I love you Jerome so don't ever believe different!"

"I love you too Mara, so much. I understand why you did it but you understand why I have doubts right?" Jerome replied to his loving girlfriend, Alfie gave them a slightly confused look – Jerome still hadn't told him much about his family.

"I've had practise, you know a year of Sibuna can teach you a thing about having to act out a lie," Alfie added comically even though he was dead serious. Jerome finally cracked his first smile for a week causing a chain reaction of smiles.

"I should go to sleep, we have school in the morning," Mara told the boys with a kiss on Jerome's cheek. When Mara left Alfie was staring at Jerome who still didn't look like himself.

"I didn't think he would hurt you this badly."

"Well he did, let's just go sleep, ok Alfredo?" Jerome said with a sad smile at the end. The next morning Amber did as she promised and covered up the visible bruises, mostly on Jerome's face, with her make-up whilst she and Mara filled him in on what had happened during the week – including what they had told people to avoid suspicion. They went out to breakfast at 7:30 as Trudy was still preparing some food.

"Jerome, when did you get back?" Trudy exclaimed upon seeing the young boy at the dining room table.

"Last night but it was really late so I went straight to bed," Jerome told his house mother, he had sat down quietly between Mara and Alfie despite being in agony.

"It's good to have you back," Trudy confessed, over the moon to have the troubled boy back. She had worked in the house for eight years and had known him the whole time so she had become more than just his house mother at school but like a mother figure altogether.

"Thank you Trudy, nice breakfast by the way," Trudy smiled in reply and returned to making some more bacon and eggs. Everyone had their own random conversations whilst eating their breakfast except for Jerome, Mara and Alfie; the latter's being very worried about the tall teenager as he had no snide comments to say to anyone despite being deprived of it for a week. He received a text message half way through breakfast, prompting him to go and collect his bag from his room before quickly returning to the dining room. "I'm gonna head into school early, I'll see you in history you finish your breakfast," Jerome informed Mara adding the last part before he knew she would get up to join him. "I'll be fine, he thinks I'm useless," he whispered to her as he leant down to kiss her cheek.

"Alright see you in a bit," Mara replied, she was thinking of following him to keep an eye on him but decided against it as he would kill her for it.

"Why'd you let him go alone?" Fabian whispered to the worried dark haired girl.

"He'll be fine, Rufus doesn't think he can help him with anything anymore, I would follow him but he would not appreciate that," Mara whispered in reply.

"I hope you're right."

Meanwhile, Jerome was walking towards the bike shed when he came across Poppy.

"Jerome! How was your personal project?" Poppy exclaimed as she pulled him into a bear hug causing him to wince but hid it as soon as she pulled away.

"What's it to you munchkin?" Jerome replied, it could have sounded to an outsider as quite a cold hearted reply but with these two siblings it was considered quite loving.

"Just wondering, I haven't seen you in ages."

"We never spent any time together when we were younger, why does it matter now?"

"I'd like to think we have a much better relationship now," Poppy smiled up at her big brother – he was never a brother that she could actually look up to but since Mara had been influencing him, he was a much nicer person.

"Alright but we'll have to catch up later, I have something I need to do," Jerome kissed her head and half ran off so she could make sure she hadn't followed.

A/N: What do you guys think Jerome is up to? Is it a lovely surprise for Mara? Or is it something more sinister? Maybe he just missed Mara and figured out a way to surprise her during his restless night.