Neighbours

Supremely bright but socially inept, Zeke the Freak found it harder to adapt to the real world than his feisty sister Rachel. Home-schooled by their parents Alex and Francesca, they both led sheltered lives until they enrolled at Erinsborough High. However, while Rachel is naturally curious and open to new experiences, Zeke sees life in black and white and is struggling with the shades of grey he’s now encountering.

That’s not to say that isn’t entranced by the brave new world he’s experiencing. Zeke sees the best in people, so when he came home from an academic camp to discover Rachel had made friends with their weird neighbour Bree Timmins, he gamely let her introduce them to TV, junk food and other facets of popular culture the Kinski kids had so far avoided.

Bree developed a big crush on her new best friend. Analysing the situation carefully with Rachel he wondered if he too might be suffering the clinical symptoms of love. He kissed her, and was relieved to realise it had been a misdiagnosis. Bree was gutted. However, when he supported Bree through the disappearance of her brother Dylan in the plane crash, he realised he was falling for her after all.

Sadly Bree had her own reservations and was uncomfortable with Zeke’s complete inability to lie. She dumped him when he was unable to cover for Rachel when she went on an illicit date with an older boy from school. Zeke had little time to mourn the end of their relationship though. Shortly afterwards his father was diagnosed with cancer and Zeke faced the future as orphan.

An unexpected side-effect of Alex’s illness was his desire to reunite with their estranged sister Katya. Zeke was particularly pleased when they managed to track her down. Having been lied to by adults since the death of his mother, Zeke began to believe he couldn’t trust any of the adults around him and that he, Rachel and Katya might form a new family unit. He was unaware that later he would be forced to take sides in a custody battle between Katya and his beloved step-mother Susan.

This wasn’t helped by the fact that Zeke had been refusing to speak since Alex’s death. He blamed himself because he had wished Alex had been ill instead of his mother when she was dying. He only started talking again when Rachel was electrocuted on a faulty toaster and he had to call for an ambulance to save her life. Susan reassured him that his words had not killed his dad. She also realised that the children needed each other and decided to give up the fight for custody. However, Katya proved a poor guardian and Zeke ended up in hospital after accidentally drinking some alcohol.

Moving back in with Susan, all hell broke loose when Zeke discovered that Karl and Susan had secretly rekindled their relationship. In desperate need of a strong male role model, Zeke had been getting close to Karl but he suddenly felt as if he was betraying his late father’s memory. Eventually though, both Zeke and Rachel grew to think of Karl as their step father and have enjoyed having him around… even when he gave up medicine to grow a beard and keep chicken in the backyard.
However, Zeke’s relationship with Karl was sorely tested when he was trapped as a result of the dance party roof collapse. When Libby raced in to rescue her step-brother and got similarly stuck, Doctor Karl was forced to choose a child to treat first. He chose Libby, believing her to be in greater peril. His decision affected Zeke profoundly. With almost no biological family left, Zeke revealed he felt there was now no-one who would chose him first in an emergency.

Susan and Karl have worked hard to ensure that Zeke feels loved and valued but Zeke is also making enormous strides to improve his self esteem on his own. Although his foray into the underground world of raving wasn’t exactly a success, his resultant relationship with Taylah Jordan continues to blossom. Is Zeke the Freak finally coming good?