The Secret (Boston's Best 1)

Chapter Forty-Two

Maddie

"So, which one is your dad?" I ask.

Nick points at a brown bald man with a grey beard and horn rimmed glasses, "Him."

Nick's father –Dr Yusef Bukhari, was sitting at a table eating an apple with his left hand and reading something with his right. He sat there still in his lab coat not noticing the three teenagers staring at him.

"How old is he?" Alex asks Nick.

"Fifty-seven."

Alex nods approvingly, "He's ageing well. Take a glimpse into your future, Nick, you're gonna be hot stuff til the end."

"Please never say that again." Nick looks like he might vomit, "Don't call my dad 'hot stuff'."

He rolls his eyes, "I didn't call him 'hot stuff' I called future you 'hot stuff'. There's a difference."

"Boys, boys, boys," I interrupt their pissing contest, "Let's get a move on, shall we?"

"Of course, Your Highness." Nick says and they both bow.

I scoff, "That's funny, coming from two of the only five people in the school to be voted for Prom King."

"Don't you worry that pretty little head off. You're still a princess to us, Madeleine." Alex says thoughtfully.

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it." I roll my eyes and he winks which causes my eyes to roll again.

We approach Nick's father and he looks up as we near him, "Nicholas? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"School's over dad. It's past six."

"Oh." He checks his watch. "I suppose it is. I've been in the lab all day" He notices us for the first time, "Who are your friends?"

Nick nudges us forwards, "This is Alex Walker and Madeleine O'Brien. Maddie's mom is Dr Niamh O'Brien, the new Head of Neurosurgery."

Dr Bukhari looks at me, "Oh yes, I've met your mother once before. You look just like her."

"I get told that a lot." I say with a laugh.

"Anyway, dad,"Nick says as we all take a seat at the table with him. "Maddie here is very interested in your field of work and she even wants to study science in your field"

"She's going to MIT." Alex stage whispers.

"Wow." Dr Bukhari says, "Very impressive."

I blush, "Yeah, I'm going to be studying molecular genetics."

He smiles, "Now you're talking my language."

Alex chuckles, "Oh, don't get her talking about science things. If she knows the topic, kid'll talk like she's looking right at a textbook."

Dr Bukhari looks at me, "Do you know the topic?"

I bite my lip and think fuck it. I clear my throat, "Somatic cell gene therapy involves the placement of a human gene into a living person's somatic cells—cells that do not produce the eggs and sperm that in turn produce the next generation.

"Somatic cell gene therapy would aim to cure a disease only in the patient, not in the patient's descendants. It was initially conceived as introducing a properly functioning copy of a gene into a person who had a genetic disease as a result of inheriting only improperly functioning copies.

"Different types of somatic cell gene therapy have since been investigated for the treatment of diseases that are not primarily caused by inherited genes, such as AIDS and cancer. Over 100 clinical trials of somatic cell gene therapy have taken place; very few have, thus far, shown any success."

Everyone stares at me for a second before they all start to slow clap.

I wave them all away, "Oh shut up."

"And what book was that from?" Alex asks.

I mumble, "H.T. Greely, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001"

Alex looks at them like 'I told you so'. Smug piece of shit.

"How can you recite something like that from memory?" Nick asks.

"Aebhín –my best friend, has a photographic memory. Like a for real can remember anything she sees or reads. So as kids we used to compete and see how much of the same stuff as her I'd remember. I guess I just trained my brain to remember the important stuff that I would like to remember."

Dr Bukahri gapes at me, "Mesmerising." I can't tell if he's serious or not. He's kind of got a whole mad scientist thing about him.

We stayed and talked to Nick's dad for about twenty minutes. The boys looked about ready to fall asleep throughout the whole conversation but I loved it.

We said goodbye to him when he said he had to get back to work.

I led them out of the cafeteria and to the main lobby where my mam said she'd meet us.

When I told her we were coming to see Dr Bukhari she said we should come to see her too, which is why Alex joined in on this little trip.

He wants to be a doctor and at the moment he's leaning towards neurosurgery and that is what my mam does so he hopes to talk to her for a minute.

We all stand in the lobby for ten minutes waiting for my mam when all of a sudden I see big red hair out of the corner of my eye.

"Mam!" I shout over to where she's standing on the other end of the room. "Over here!"

Dr Niamh O'Brien looks up from the chart she was studying and smiles when her gaze lands on me.

She walks over and gives me a hug, "Hey, Mads. Have yous been here for long? Hope I didn't keep yous waiting long."

"Only about ten minutes." I shrug.

"Sorry about that, I just finished up on a spinal fusion. Took longer than it should have."

"A spinal fusion?" Alex blurts from behind me, "That's so cool."

Mam smiles at him, "Yeah, I guess it is." She raises an eyebrow at me, "Introduce me to your friends, Madeleine."

I point to Nick, "This is Nicholas Bukhari –Nick. He's Dr Yusef Bukhari's son. I think you've met him."

She thinks for a moment, "Oh, Yusef. Yes, he's a lovely man."

Nick shakes her hand and I gesture to Alex, "This is Alex Walker, the one who wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"Walker?" She says.

Alex also shakes her hand, "Yes, ma'am."

She nods and looks at him with some sort of understanding that I don't understand.

They walk away and she has a hand on his shoulder while she steers him to the couch against the back wall.

I can't help but find the gesture weird. My mam is a kind person but she's not very affectionate, so her already acting like she knows him is a bit odd.

Nick and I get a drink and some snacks from the vending machine and sit and talk for around a half an hour. My mam and Alex are clearly engrossed in whatever conversation they're having.

When we say goodbye and make our way back out to Nick's car, Alex is suspiciously quiet –for him, he's still chatting but he's not being extra loud or making inappropriate jokes.

I wonder what got to him.