The Secret (Boston's Best 1)

Chapter Eleven

Matt

"Dude! You were meant to be covering me!" Alex shouts.

"Not my fault you're an idiot!" Darius shouts back at him.

"You're both idiots," Felix mutters.

All four of us are currently sitting in Darius and Felix's dorm on their PS5 playing Call Of Duty on a Wednesday night when we should be studying. But what can I say, it's a pretty addicting game sometimes.

A few minutes later one of our phones ring but I barely notice it, too caught up in the game so it rings out. Almost instantly it rings again.

Felix, who is closest to the sofa all of our phones are on, picks up the one that's ringing and throws it at Alex without barely looking away from the huge screen. "It's your madre."

I look over at Alex at that and instantly see him log off the game and stand up while answering the phone. "Mom? Yeah, I'm at school. No- I can call for you. Mom- Stop, I'll be there. Yes, mom, this is Alex." He listens for another minute before saying I Love You Mom and hanging up.

He turns to me and catches me looking at him. He sighs, "My car's at the shop, can you give me a ride to my house?"

I stand up, "Sure."

Darius lifts his head up but doesn't actually take his eyes off the screen. "Where y'all going?"

"Alex's house," I say, putting my coat on.

He nods, "Have fun."

We make our way out of Lincoln House without anyone trying to talk to us. We walk out to the student parking lot and I find my black jeep pretty quickly, as I'm the only student in the school with a black jeep. Some of the girls have white ones, but yeah surprisingly I have the only black one.

I turn my head for a millisecond and I spot Maddie sitting on one of the balconies of Liberty House which must be where her room is, reading a book and probably sipping on coffee. She loves coffee.

Stop it. Get yourself together Matthew. She's just a girl you know. This is pathetic. She's your friend. Or tutor? Frutor? Oh my god.

We jump into my jeep and I pull out of the gate of the school while simultaneously calling the front office letting them know that I'll be back late and that I have the gate code so they can set it without waiting for me to get back.

The school is pretty strict on its curfews and the safety of the student. Well, they would want to because if something happened to any of us, there would be lawsuits flying at them from every direction from some of the richest people in the country.

But my parents were very serious donors to the school for years and friends of the headmaster so I have some leniency.

We drive for about twenty minutes into West Roxbury to Alex's house. Alex didn't grow up with a lot, but he is insanely smart so he got into BPA in the 7th grade on a full scholarship.

I've known him since we were 4 or 5 cause we were both on the same little league team. We've known Felix since we were 11 when he moved from Columbia, and Darius since we were 13 and he moved from Texas.

We adopt all the strays basically.

But seriously these guys are like my brothers, I don't know what I would do without them. I would do anything for them, no questions asked. Hence why on a Wednesday night at 10:30 when the curfew is 10 on school nights, I instantly said yes when he needed a ride to Roxbury.

He has a lot going on in his life. Personal stuff which is none of my business to repeat. But regardless of what is going on with someone, if you're really their friend you should be able to help them at the drop of a hat.