Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 06:48:42 -0400 From: Matthew Andrews <astoriaboutlove@gmail.com> Subject: ASTORIA Love - Chapters 1 & 2 WARNING: This story contains gay sexual content. If this offends you, or is not legal in your city, state, country ect. then please exit this story. This is a fictional story. All people and events are not real. This is a love story, not a J.O. story. There will be no sex for the first couple of chapters, maybe a little longer. If this is not something that interest you, I suggest you look for something more your style. Astoria, Oregon is a real town, but I've never been there. I got all my info about Astoria on the internet. I will mention certain products or companies for discriptive purposes only. I'm not advertising or endorsing said products or companies. I found all my info on said products or companies online, where you can also find any © ®â„¢ info about them. This is my first ever story and I do all the editing so if I missed something, forgive me please. I hope to get 2 chapters out a week, maybe every 2 weeks. But if I can get them out faster, I will. One other thing. I know some things in this story are unrealistic and maybe impossible or improbable, but it's just a story Hope you enjoy it, you can always email me and let me know what you think. ASTORIAboutlove@gmail.com ASTORIA.love +++ INTRO +++ Thursday, March 20, 2014 "Mattie, we will see you on monday." said James. "Love you sweetheart. I'll text you when we make it to the condo and we will call you in the morning before you head to school. Make sure you're careful driving back home." said Emma. "You wreck my car and I'll make you pay for it out of your allowance."James says while smiling. Mattie rolls his eyes, then says, "Right Dad. My allowance. You both know I'm a great driver. Now get! I'll talk to you both tomorrow. Love you." After hugging Mattie, James and Emma Andrews grab their bags from the trunk and head towards theirprivate jet. After boarding and storing their bags, they relax in their seats. The few crew members and pilot are ready after a few minutes and soon after they are down the runway and in the air flying toward Los Angeles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Do you think we should have told Mattie what the meetings are about?" asked James. "Well, we could have. But I figure you can discuss it with him tomorrow. I'm sure he will be happy with the plans you've made, as long as they don't try to change them in any way. Mattie's spent so much time alone these last few years because we have been too wrapped up in the businesses." said Emma. "Yes I know. I feel terrible about leaving him so much. If everything goes as planned we will have much more time together." said James. After more discussion of business, they talk about other things they want to get done on the trip. The flight isn't a long one so they are soon nearing Los Angeles. After landing, they grab their bags and exit the jet. They make the short walk the a car that their driver has waiting for them. They put their bags in the trunk and head off. They are soon at the condo they purchased years ago since they are in L.A. so often. After getting their things put away, Emma texts Mattie to let him know they made it to the condo safely. Later they head out for dinner at one of there favorite restraunts. Once they finish their meals they head back to the condo and turn in for the night. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mattie watches his parents board their jet. A few minutes later, it makes it's way to the runway. He follows it with his eyes as it speeds down the runway and takes off. After watching the jet disapper in the darkening evening sky, he walks back to his father's black 2012 Audi RS4 and jumps in. He buckles his seatbelt and starts the car. After selecting a playlist on his I-pod, he begins the drive back to the house. Its not long before he's pulling up and punching in the code to unlock the gate. After the gate opens, he pulls up onto the driveway, watching in the mirror to make sure the gate closes behind him. Once he's sure the gate is closed, he makes his way down the driveway to the four car garage. He presses the button clipped to the visor and the garage door programmed to the button, opens. He pulls the Audi into his father's spot and clicks the button on the visor again to shut the garage door. After it's closed, he shuts the car off. He pulls the keys out of the ignition and grabs his I-pod then opens the door and climbs out. He clicks the button on the key fob and sets the alarm. Even though the car is locked in the garage, he always sets the alarm on the car anyway. He figures it's just secondary security. He walks around the garage making sure everything is locked and the garage alarm is set. After he's done, he makes his way through the laundry area to the stairs that lead to his apartment above the garage. When he reaches the top of the stairs, he pulls his keys out of his hoodie pocket and unlocks the door. After closing the door and re-locking it, he walks through a short hallway into the dining room - kitchen area. He makes his way through a set of doors that make up an inclosed walkway that connects his apartment to the main house. After checking the whole house to make sure anything that doesn't need to be on is turned off, he locks everything up and sets the alarm. Leaning against the front door, Mattie thinks, "Another lonely weekend." He sighs and then heads upstairs, down the hall and through the doors in the inclosed walkway to his apartment. Once inside he locks the door and heads into the kitchen. He grabs a cold Pepsi then walks into the living room area. He sits on the couch, grabs the remote and powers on his 55" Samsung LED TV. After channel surfing for awhile and not finding anything interesting to watch, he turns the TV off. He finishes some homework he had then decides to make something to eat. He walks into the kitchen and grabs a frozen pizza out of the freezer. After preheating the oven, he puts the pizza in and sets the timer. While he waits, he grabs his laptop off the counter and sits down to check his email and facebook. After replying to some useless comments and messages, he sighs and thinks, "Why does everyone seem so fake all the time?" He powers down the laptop just as the oven timer goes off. He hops up, grabs an oven mitt and takes the pizza out. He sets it on the the counter to cool for a few moments, then turns off the oven. When the pizza has cooled, he slices it, grabs a few pieces and puts them on a plate. He grabs another Pepsi out of the fridge and sits on a stool at the counter. While eating, he thinks about what he should do with his weekend. "I should probably just head down into town after school tomorrow, shop around for awhile and grab a few things I need for the weekend, nothing better to do. The rest of the weekend I guess I'll just see if anything comes up. Otherwise I'll end up sitting around here like always." He says to himself. After finishing the pizza, he cleans up and stores the rest of the pizza in the fridge. Once finished he picks up his I-phone from the counter and checks for any texts. There is one from his mom letting him know they made it to the condo safely. He sends her one back telling them both goodnight. After he's finished, he heads to the master bedroom. He sets the alarm on his phone and puts it on the nightstand. He then walks into the en suite bathroom, washes his face and brushes his teeth. Once he's finished, he strips down to his black CK boxer briefs and throws the other clothes into the hamper. He then turns out the lights and walks over to his king size bed. He pulls back his maroon down comforter and climbs into bed. He gets himself comfortable and quickly falls asleep. +++ CHAPTER 1 +++ Friday, March 21, 2014 ++++( MATTIE )++++ (Ugh) The alarm already. I grab my phone and shut it off. I feel like I just fell asleep. I so hate mornings! Oh well, at least it's Friday. Guess it's time to get the day started. I stretch for a moment then slip out of bed and head toward the bath room. I take a quick look in the mirror and giggle a bit. My light brown nearly blond hair is sticking up in all different directions. It kinda looks like I've been electrocuted. I could really a trim soon. Not that its outrageously long or anything, I just like to keep it a certain way and its getting a little longer than I like. I keep it fairly short on the sides and back, about 3-3 1/2 inches on top and I style it in a faux hawk most of the time. Enough about my hair. I make a quick stop at the toilet and relieve my bladder. Then I strip my boxer briefs and toss them in the hamper. Next it's time for a quick shower. I reach in, set the water temperature and hop in. I grab my shampoo and wash my hair. Next I grab my bodywash and rub it all over my hairless smooth chest and arms. The only hair I have on my body is on my head. I get it waxed off. Yeah it hurts like hell but I don't like body hair, so I get rid of it. I guess some guys think it's kinda girly but I don't really care. Some of the guys in gym and on the soccer team get on me about it. They say I look like a 12 year old because my body is kinda small and without the hair, it does make me look a lot younger. My parents are both pretty small people too so I'm sure I'll never get too big either. I don't really mind though. I like how I look. Damn, I wish I had someone to wash my back for me. (Sigh) I'll daydream about that later. I reach back and scrub it as good as I can. Next I move on to my legs and feet, then on to the goodies. I would get a little playtime in with my slim, cut, 5 1/2 incher but my Mom could call any minute. (Ugh) Just thinking about Mom was enough to deflate my wood anyway. After I finish my scrubbing, I rinse off and the shut the water off. I grab a towel off the shelf next to the shower and quickly dry my body. When I'm done I walk naked out of the bathroom towards my walk-in closet while drying my hair. On the way my phone rings. I know its Mom from the ringtone. It's not like anyone else would be calling this early, so of course it's her. I walk over, pick it up. "Si momacita" I answer. "Oh stop that Mattie." She laughs. "I just wanted to make sure you're awake. Your father and I will probably be pretty busy all day so we might not get to call you until late tonight." She says. "That's ok Mom. I planned on hitting town later and doing a little shopping and looking around anyway so I might be out a little late, not sure yet. I might wait until tomorrow to do that if it rains later. I'll have my phone on me either way so just call or text when you can get a chance." I reply. "Alright sweetheart, thats fine. Well I imagine you're probably in the middle of getting ready, so I'll let you get on with it." She says. "Yeah I just finished my shower and was about to get dressed." I told her. "Ok well, we will call or text you this evening whenever we get a chance." She says. "Ok, love you, tell Dad I love him." I tell her. "Well, he wants to talk to you, so you can tell him. Love you Mattie. Here's Dad." She says before handing the phone to Dad. "Mattie we need to talk business real quick. I met with a rep. from MCC last night. We're meeting again today, then I'll meet with the lawyers to check the paperwork. They made an offer and I think it's a pretty good one. 170, and we keep the rights to the ACTco. name and Games divison. We've got until Monday to make our decision. I know I'm the one running things but you know this is your decision to make. So I want you to think about it and let me know what you wanna do." He tells me. I think about what I really wanna do. I know we could probably make more money keeping the company, but it's getting to the point where I like never see my parents anymore. It all started about 2 years ago. I was 14 when I ordered this program for my computer which allowed me to make apps for android tablets and phones. Some of my apps were actually pretty good. After a while I was making even better ones which made me a good amout of money. A lot actually. My Dad is really good at finding companies that make good quality products but they just don't know how to do business very well I guess. So when when my dad found this small computer software company that was about to tank, we took just about all the money I had made and bought them and changed the name to ACTco. In the last year ACTco. has done really well and made us a lot of money. But the downside of that is my dad is spending more and more time dealing with the company. Now my mom has been helping with certain things too and they're never around. So for me it was an easy decision. "Well, hello to you too Dad." I laugh. "Well, that's not exactly the price I hoped for. They make up for it by letting us keep rights to the company name though. I guess 170 is close enough. The company is getting a little bigger than we ever thought it would and it's so much work for you. You're never home anymore. I can tell it's wearing you out. So I really don't even have to think about it Dad. We get out of the business, 170 million and I get to keep the games division. I say do it Dad." I tell him. "You're sure son?" He asks. "Yeah Dad. I'm sure. I'll take having you and mom home more often, over more money any day." I tell him. "Ok bud. Well I'll let them know on Monday that we will except the offer. Well, I need to get ready for the meeting this morning and I'm sure you need get ready also. I'll talk to you later Mattie and I'll see you Monday evening. Love you son." He tells me. "Love you too Dad. See you Monday." I say. I end the call and put my phone back down. Then walk into my big walk-in closet and try to decide what to wear. I guess I'm in a Nike kind of mood today so I grab my Nike Oregon Ducks "Black Out" limited edition football jersey, gray Nike SB Budmo cargo pants and a black Nike Pro Combat Core 2.0 long sleeve compression shirt. I also grab a pair of black and volt yellow Nike Elite Vapor football socks and for underwear I grab a pair of black and volt yellow Nike Pro Combat Core 2.0 compression shorts. I choose my metallic silver, black and yellow Nike Free Trainer 5.0 Oregon Ducks Edition shoes. I quickly put everything on and head back to the bathroom. I drop the used towel in the hamper and move over to the sink. I fix my hair the way I like it and brush my teeth. I put on some Dark Temptation Axe deodorant spray and I head out of the bathroom. I grab my phone from the nightstand and walk out to the kitchen. I had just enough time to toast and bagel, put cream cheese and strawberry preserves on it, wrapped it in a paper towel and set it on the counter. Then I walked down the hall to the coat closet to grab my gray and volt yellow Nike Therma-Fit zip hoodie. I put it on and walked back toward the kitchen to gather up my backpack, phone, I-pod, keys and bagel. Once I had everything I walked back through the hall then out the front door. I lock it then skip down the stairs to the garage area. Once I'm in the garage I stop for a few moments to admire "my baby". It's a Silverstone silver 2012 BMW M3 coupe. It's got fox red interior and black 19" Enkei Lusso rims. And hell no I'm not driving that to school. I only take it out on nice weekend days and short out of town trips. So reluctantly I have to peel myself away from it. I walk over and punch in the alarm code to put the system on stand-by. I unlock the side door that leads to the covered car port. I walk out, turn around and re-lock the door. I reset the alarm using an app on my phone. I grab my keys out of my hoodie and unlock daily driver. It's a red 2013 Subaru Crosstrek. I hop in and toss my bag in the passenger side floor. I start it up and then plug in my I-pod. I select a playlist, eat my bagel, pop a piece of gum in my mouth and I'm on my way. My High School, is only a few minutes drive from my house. It's pretty small, like all things in Astoria, Oregon. I guess it's not so bad though, I actually really like it here. I arrive at school with about ten minutes to spare. I pull into the student parking area, shut my car off and spit my gum in the paper towel from my bagel. I scoop up my backpack and toss my phone in one of the side pockets. Then hop out the car, close the door, lock it and I'm on my way into school. I say good morning to a few people I know as I make my way to my locker to put my backpack and hoodie away and get everything I will need for my morning classes. Once I have everything I need, I quickly make my way to homeroom and sit at my normal desk. My homeroom teacher, Mr. Harris walks in, the bell rings and my school day has started. About halfway through hoomeroom, I'm called to the guidence office. I knew it was no big deal. I've been expecting this. I've been a tutor at the middle school since mid-way through my freshman year. So far I've only tutored two students, one towards the end of last year and one this year. Looks like I'll be assigned a new student today. So I get up, gather my things and walk down to the office. I walk in and head over to the guidence couselor, Mrs. Winslow's office. The door's open so I poke my head in while lightly knocking on the door. "Hello Matthew, come on in." said Mrs. Winslow "Hi Mrs. Winslow, you got a new student for me?" I ask as walk in and sit at one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Yes, his name is Cole Thomas. I talked to Mrs. Franklin and she tells me that Cole used to be an excellent student, until this year. His grades in elementary school were top of his class. She thinks that there may be something else going on that is effecting his grades. She's tried to talk to Cole, but all he tells her is he sometimes has trouble concentrating. Now, we don't wan't you to play therapist for Cole or anything, but maybe since you're going to be spending a lot of time with him, he might open up to you and tell you if there is something he's having trouble dealing with. Just tutor him like normal and if he does open up to you, see what you can help him through any problems he might have. If you need any advice, just stop by here or Mrs. Franklin's office. Here's a note so you can pull him out of his last class today and copies of Cole's grades and monthly reviews from this year that Mrs. Franklin dropped off earlier. Do you have any questions Matthew?" She asks me. "No, none that I can think of right now. If I think of anything later I'll make a quick stop at Mrs. Franklin's office." I say as I grab the note and papers from Mrs. Winslow. "Ok Matthew, here's a pass since you're a little late to first period. Have a good weekend." She says, handing me the pass. "You too Mrs. Winslow." I say, as I stand up, grab my pass and walk out of her office. I get to my locker and open it. I put down my things for my morning classes on top of the shelf inside I pull out an extra folder from my backpack and put in the papers and note from Mrs. Winslow and set it on the shelf for a moment. I then grab my tutoring folder from my backpack and take out some of the test pages and a tutoring packet for the student's parents. I'll need to make copies of these later. I stick those in the extra folder with the other papers and put both folders back into my backpack. I pick up everthing for my morning classes that I had set down, close my locker and make my way to first period. My morning classes went by pretty quickly. I had Environmental Science, World History, Honors Algebra & Trigonometry and a Study Hall period before lunch. I usually eat lunch with my three best "school friends". I say "school friends" because even though we are kinda close while we are in school, I only hang out with them or talk to them outside of school every once in a while. There are others that sit at our table too and I guess you could say they are my friends but I really only consider Tyler, Nathan and Sophie as my friends. The others are just people I talk to every once in a while and never outside of school. I know I probably sound like an asshole or something but, I just think a lot of people are really fake. I've had a lot of kids try to befriend me just because I have money and I can't stand it. It's the main reason I don't trust anyone or invite them to my house. Today I didn't eat lunch in the cafeteria. Instead, I went to the library and got things ready for my meeting with Cole. I spent some time reviewing Cole's grades and some of the notes and comments that his teachers had put in with them. I then made copies of the test pages I wanted Cole to complete. I also made two copies of the tutoring packet that explained everything about the tutoring. One for the parents to keep and one for Cole to keep. One of them had a parental permission form attached to it that needed to be signed by a parent and returned to me. It gave me permission to be with their child after school and if needed I could give them rides. Once I got that signed form back, I would need to copy it and turn the original in to the Middle School office. I would keep the copy just in case I ever needed it. When I finished, it was just about time for the bell to ring. I gathered everything up, put all copies I had made for Cole in a folder for him and made my way out of the library and to my locker. I put the folder inside my backpack, got out my tutoring folder again and put away everything I had made copies of. I put that back in my backpack, then gathered everything I needed for my remaining classes. I had two classes left, English 10 and French II. When classes were finished, I stopped at my locker to put things away and got what I needed for homework. I put everything in my backpack, pulled it out of the locker and set it down. I got my hoodie, put it on and shut my locker. I picked up my backpack and made my way out of school to my car. I grabbed my keys out of my hoodie and unlocked the door. I tossed my backpack in the passenger side floor, then started my car up and made the short drive to the Middle School. When I got there, I parked, shut off the car off, grabbed Cole's folder from my backpack and got out. I locked my car up then walked into the building. I went into the office, pulled the note from Mrs. Franklin out of the folder and showed it to the secretary. She looked over the note, then looked up Cole's schedule and told me he was in Mr. King's History class. I told her I knew where that was and thanked her. She handed the note back and I made my way out of the office then towards Mr. King's classroom. The tutoring sessions usually start around 2:15 and last about an hour. The Middle School let out at 2:30, so the student I'm tutoring has to stay after school for an extra 45 minutes. That wouldn't happen today because I didn't yet have permission from Cole stay after school. Today would just be a short meeting since we didn't have a lot of time. I would give Cole the papers I needed him to get fill out and just chat with him for a few minutes about the tutoring. It would also give him a chance to ask any questions or voice any concerns he might have about the tutoring. I walked down the hall to Mr. King's classroom and when I arrived the door was open. There was still about 20 minutes left before school let out so he was still in the middle of his lesson. I knocked lightly on the door and everyone turned to look at me. Mr. King was my favorite Middle School teacher so he knew me fairly well. When he noticed it was me, he waved me into the classroom. "Hello Mattie, It's good to see you again. What can I do for ya." Mr. King said as I walked toward his desk. I handed him the note and he looked it over. "You too Mr. King, I'm just here to steal one of you students from you." I said with a smile. "As long as I get him back at some point." chuckled Mr. King. "No problem Mr. King." I say. Mr. King hands me the note back, then says, "Cole, could you gather your things up. Mr. Andrews here is going to take you over to the library for the rest of class." I see most of the students look toward the very back right of the classroom. The kid sitting there looked like he was gonna throw up. He gathers his stuff and stands up. He walks toward the front of the room looking like he's walking to his execution. I hear a few snickers and giggles from some of the other students as he makes his way up toward me. I turn to Mr. King and say, "See ya Mr. King. Have a good weekend." He smiles and says, "You too Mattie. I'll see you on monday Cole." Cole nods his head and we walk out the door. As we make our way toward the library, Cole walks with his head down, eyes looking toward the floor. I can tell he's worried he might be in trouble or something. I tell him, "Don't worry Cole, you're not in trouble or anything. We're just gonna have a little meeting, ok." He looks at me and I get my first up-close look at him. His eyes are hidden by his thin, black, rectangular shaped glasses and some locks of hair that have fallen over them. When he brushes the hair aside with his hand, I get a good look at them. They are very bright blue with a little green in the middle. They remind me of beaches that my family has visited in the South of France. His hair is very light blond, almost white. It has some natural streaks of other shades of blond in it also, kinda similar to my hair, just lighter shades. It hangs down to the bottom of his ears. It could use a cut in my opinion. I think it would look much better if it was shorter, but maybe he likes it the way it is. I know he's 12 or 13, but he looks young for his age. He looks like he's maybe 10 or 11. He's kinda skinny too, not skin and bones type of skinny, but if he gained just a few pounds he'd look a lot more healthy. He's wearing a dark blue, long sleeved shirt has a small hole on the left shoulder. His jeans have holes in the knees and are frayed at the bottom. They also look like they are a little small on him. His black and white Adidas shoes were pretty worn out too. He was already pretty cute but I think if he had some better clothes, maybe got contacts instead of those glasses, got a haircut and gained just a couple pounds, he would be a really beautiful boy. Yeah, I said beautiful. Now you know my deep dark secret. I shouldn't be thinking things like that though. He's like 3 years younger than me. This is the first time I've ever felt an attraction to someone this much younger than me. There's just something about him. Something more than just the way he looks, that is attracting me to him. I could be the way he looks so scared and hopeless. Like the whole world has let him down. It makes me want to hold him and tell him I'll take care of him. "Ugh, Ok Mattie, stop that. You don't even know him." I think to myself. I notice he was staring at me too while I was looking him over. He blushes lightly, which makes him look even more adorable. He looks away quickly, then looks back. "What's this all about?" He asks in a raspy, young boyish voice as we enter the library. I think to myself, "Geez, even his voice sounds beautiful." Ugh, I gotta stop that. "Lets sit down and I'll explain what's going on." I tell him. We sit down at one of the tables towords the back side of the library, just so I can talk to him a little more privately. I set the folder down on the table and look at Cole. "Hi Cole, my name's Matthew Andrews but everyone just calls me Mattie." I tell him. "Yeah, I heard Mr. King call you Mattie. So if I'm not in trouble, what are we doing?" Cole says nervously "Well, I'm a student tutor. I'm going to be working with you for the rest of the year. Now, I reviewed your grades and you're right on the edge of failing, so we're gonna see if we can bring your grades up some. We will also go over some of the important stuff that will be on your tests at the end of the yeah. And if we have time at some point and if you want, we can try to come up with some kind of extra credit work for you to turn in. I know you probably don't want to be doing all this, and you might be a little embarrassed. I don't think that you're dumb or anything Cole. I understand that sometimes things that are going on either in or outside of school can effect how well you do on your work. Just know I'll help you however I can if I'm able to, ok." I say. Cole nods his head yes while looking at the table, while I grab the folder and pull out the papers inside. "These are a couple of simple test I want you to do over the weekend so I can find out which areas in each subject you need to work on the most. They are just basic multiple question and short answer tests." I explain as I had him the test pages. Cole gives me a look that says, "Great, more homework." So I tell him, "Sorry, I know you didn't want more homework but I really need you to do this so we know where start and what we need to focus on the most." Next I pull out the forms that I need signed by a parent and go over those. As I hand them to Cole I say, " These forms need to be given to one of your parents so they can review them. I need one of the copies signed and then returned to me on monday, ok? We still have a few minutes before the bell rings so do you have any questions or see anything on that schedule that might not work?" Cole looks over the form and says, "There's no way I can stay after school. I have to ride over a get my brother from his school. No way will I let him ride home by himself and I dont want him to be alone at home." "Well, there are a couple of options we can try. I'll write down my number for you and you can discuss this with your parents. That form allows me to give you rides, so we could always stop and pick up your brother. If your parents have and questions just have them call me and we will see what we can work out, ok?" I say as I grab my backpack, pull out some paper and write my cell and home numbers down. I look at Cole as I hand him my phone numbers and he looks kind of worried. He takes it and says, "Ok." "If your parents would allow it, we could probably start the tutoring at 2:00 and just leave a little before 3:00. Then I could drive you over to pick your brother up from school and take you guys home. I could fit the bikes in the back of my car probably. That way you could still ride your bikes to school in the morning. I would pick you up in the morning too if your parents allow it. Or if you couldn't ride with me, I guess if you left at 3:00 you could still just ride your bike over to his school like normal if you wanted but you would be pretty late getting there." I say as I hand him the folder so he can put all the papers back into it As he's putting them away I tell him, "Make sure you bring me that signed copy back monday, ok? I know this might not seem fair but if you don't bring it on Monday I'll have to tell on you, which is something I don't want to do. Then your guidence counselor, Mrs. Franklin will call your parents to see if you gave them that packet or not." Cole now looks like he's gonna pass out or something. "It will be alright Cole, don't worry. If your parents have any problems they can call me or Mrs. Franklin, her cell number is on that paper. They can call either of us at any time over the weekend. I know sometimes parents tend to over-react about things like this, but it's not a huge deal really." I say. As I'm looking at the library clock, Cole mumbles something that sounds like, "You don't know my Dad." But I can't be sure thats what he said. Seeing that we only have a minute or two before the bell rings, I pick up my backpack and stand up. Cole stands up too and gathers his things, so I tell him, "Lets head toward your locker so we can get you out of here, Ok?" As we head out of the library I say to him, "I would give you a ride today but I can't until I have permission from your parents." "It's alright, I'm used to riding my bike so it's no big deal really." Cole says as we reach his locker and he gets it unlocked and open. Putting away the things he doesn't need, he grabs his backpack and loads the things he needs for the weekend. He grabs a black zip-up coat that looks like it's see better days and puts it on. Then he shoulders his backpack just as the bell rings. We quickly move towards the front door, dodging all the kids that are now flooding the halls. Since we were pretty close to the front doors, we are soon outside and I follow Cole over to the bike rack. I see him unlock he chain from around a bike that looks like it could have been his fathers bike when he was a kid. Its pretty old and run down. I'm suprised it's not falling apart yet. Cole looks totally embarrassed about it and I can tell he wishes he didn't have to ride this deathtrap everyday. I sigh and then I say, "Well, it was nice meeting you Cole. I'll see you on Monday, ok?" We bump knuckles as Cole says, "You too Mattie. See ya." I start to turn around but stop when I get an idea. I look at Cole and ask,"Hey Cole, would you like to maybe hang out around town later today or maybe tomorrow if that would be better?" With a shocked look on his face he asks, "YOU would hang out with ME?" "Sure I would. That is, only if you want to. Just because I'm gonna be your tutor, doesn't mean I can't also be your friend." I said with a smile. "Yeah, I'd like that." Cole says, smiling back at me. Then he frowns and says, "But I don't think I could, I can't leave Chase at home by himself. My Dad won't be home until Saturday evening. He works on a fishing boat and they won't get back until around five tomorrow." Chase, that's obviously his brother and I can tell that Cole cares a lot for him. Considering I didn't hear him mention his mother and he said his father works on a fishing boat which would mean he's probably away from home a lot during certain times, Cole probably spends a lot of time looking after Chase. With all that in mind, I tell Cole, "That's no problem, you can bring him too. If you don't think he would mind. How old is he?" Cole gets an excited look on his face and says, "Awesome! Chase is 10 and I'm sure he won't mind. We don't have any money to do anything though." "Oh, don't worry about that. I've got enough money for all of us to have a good time. We will just walk around town, look around some shops or something like that and have some lunch or dinner or whatever. You got number, so just call me after you talk to chase and let me know if you want to go today or tomorrow." I say. "Ok, cool." he replies. We bump knuckles again and I turn around and walk to my car. I look back toward Cole and see him staring at me, or maybe he's looking at my car. I highly doubt that since it's really nothing special, so I wave goodbye to him. He waves back, hops on his bike and rides away. I see him look over his shoulder once and then he's off down the road and around the corner. "Man he's got such a nice ass. It's just perfect. Not too big and not too small." I think to myself. Once he's out of sight I unlock my car and climb in. I toss my bag in the floor and start my car up. I pull out of the parking lot and begin the drive back to my house, thinking about Cole the whole way there. +++ CHAPTER 2+++ +++++( Cole )+++++ As I'm making my way to meet up with Chase, riding this trashy old bike of mine, I think about what a crazy day this has been. It started bad, just like every school day. When you have no friends and everyone makes fun of you, how could you not have a bad day? Things weren't always like this. Not until last year when Mom died. Ever since then, Dad can hardly pay the bills and keep food in the house, let alone buy other things we need like school supplies, clothes, shoes, haircuts. Of couse he spends like half his pay on booze, so I guess those things just aren't that important. Well not to him, but the kids at school think they are. So when you show up to school looking like bums, like Chase and I do, people don't want to know you. Who wants to be friends with a bum. Nobody does of course. And when the only real friend you had hears everyone else making fun of you, they just gotta ditch you right? Freakin Bradley! He can go play in traffic for all I care. Whatever. Enough of my sob story. You're probably thinkin, "Cry me a damn river why dont you" right? So today I was thinking about jumping under a bus or something when Mattie came in and pulled me from class. I thought for sure I was in some kind of trouble. I wasn't, well not yet. I will be when Dad finds out about my grades and needing a tutor. I just hope he isn't drunk when that happens or it will be way worse. But right about now, none of that matters. Mattie wants to hang out with ME! A highschooler, who I just know is totally cool and probably has tons of friends, wants to hang out with a bum like me. And he doesn't even care if Chase comes with us. Which is just awesome, because I wouldn't even have went if Chase didn't come. Theres no way I would ditch Chase. He's my best bud. Well now he's my only bud but even when I had friends my age, Chase always came first. He always will. Well he will at least always be tied for first. Speaking of Chase, I spot him waiting for me by the bike rack as I pull up toward the front of the Elementary School. He really looks almost just like me only smaller, doesn't have glasses and he has a really small amount of freckles around his nose and eyes. His eyes are different than mine too. His are a really bright green where mine are a bluish green mix. When he sees me he looks confused then raises an eyebrow at me and says, "Who the heck are you and where's my real brother?" "What are talkin about?" I ask, laughing as we ride off toward our house. He gives me a serious look, then says, "Ok, what is going on? Did something happen? You have a weird look on your face." "Yeah, but it's not bad or anything. Well it is a little bit but not really. I'm gonna have a tutor. And I have to get a paper signed by Dad and turn it in on monday. So Dad's probably gonna flip out a little but it's ok." I say. "How is that not bad? Dad's gonna go crazy on you!" he says, looking really worried. "It will be ok Chase. I'll deal with Dad, don't worry. Mattie, that's my tutor's name, he wants me to hang out with him in town later today or tomorrow and he's gonna buy dinner and everything. He even told me to bring you too." I tell Chase as he's giving me a weird look. "You totally like him don't you?" he asks. "I don't even really know him Chase, how could I like him? He does seem like he's really cool though. He was super nice the whole time too. He talked to me like I was just one of his friends or something, not some bummy little kid. Wait until you see his eyes Chase. They are so amazing. They are like a little blue in middle and this like hazel color all around it. I've never see eyes like them before. God, I got so embarrassed. He caught me staring at them earlier. But they were so awesome looking I couldn't stop myself. He's got really nice hair too and a really cute face. He smelled really good too. Oh and he had this totally awesome Ducks jersey on, wait until you see it. I guess he's a fan just like us. He had these really cool shoes too and- Chase cuts me off, "Ok, you are totally love sick right now. If you don't stop I'm gonna hurl. So how are we supposed to know when and where to meet him? And how old is he. Are we like, gonna have to walk around with his parents. I don't think that would be very fun." I explain, "He gave me his number, well I'm supposed to give it to Dad if he has any questions about the tutoring but Mattie told me to call and let him know if we could go. And he drives so I'm pretty sure he's 16, but he still looks younger, like maybe 14. He's not much taller than me really. I'm pretty sure it's just gonna be the three of us. He didn't mention anyone else." "Well he sounds really hot, but don't you think he's like a little too old for you?" Chase says. "What? I thought you didn't know what you were yet. What's it to you if he's hot?" I asked, kinda shocked that Chase would even say that. He says, "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm like you. I think I've know for a while but I just didn't really know. I mean I always look at boys. The girls are kinda, I don't know, repulsive." He giggles. I give him a big goofy grin and say, "Cool bro, and yeah he's totally hot. And I don't know. I mean yeah he's like 16, but I can fantasize right? Ugh, I was like so embarrassed the whole time I was around him because I felt like a bum. I wish we had some better clothes to wear. And I can't stand my hair like this. I swear I'm bout to buzz it all off." I think to myself, " We wouldn't look like this is mom was alive." But then quickly push that thought out of my head. "Yeah, we do need haircuts. I hate my hair too. So when are we gonna go and what will we be doing?" Chase asks me as we ride up to our house. We put our bikes on the side of the garage and walk around to the front door. I get the key out of my coat and unlock the door. We step inside and take our coats and shoes off. " I don't really know what we're gonna do. I guess just walk around town for a while. Mattie said we could look around some shops and stuff for a while, then get something to eat." I explain as I set my bag down on the table, then I ask, "Do you think I should call him now or wait for a while?" I can tell by the look on his face that Chase is thinking. He gives a little nod then says, "Yeah, i'd call him soon. The sooner you call, the more time we will have to hang out. Is he gonna pick us up here? That would be kinda embarrassing. Our house looks like a dump." "Ok. I think I'll call him now and see if he wants to go soon. I'll ask him to meet us at Corky's and see how long it will take him to get there. We can just walk down there a little before he's supposed to get there." I tell him. "Ok cool." He says I grab the paper with Mattie's number on it out of my pocket, grab the phone and dial the number. He answers after two rings. "Hey Cole." Mattie says. "Hey, how'd you know it was me?" I ask him. "Well I didn't recognize the number but it was local so I just figured it way you. So i'm guessing you talked to Chase since you called." He says "Yeah we want to go. Whenever you feel like going. Either today or tomorrow, it's up to you." I tell him. "Well, how about today and tomorrow. We can go into town for a while and get some food later today and tomorrow you guys could come over my house for a while. Does that sound good?" he asks. "Yeah, that sounds awesome. Uh, do you wanna pick us up at Corky's?" I ask. "That'll work. If you guys are ready, I can be there in maybe 20 minutes. Is that good for you guys?" he asks. "Yeah thats good. We will see you in 20 minutes. Bye Mattie." I say. "See ya soon Cole." he says. I hung the phone up and then told Chase, "We gotta hurry. He's gonna meet us at Corky's in 20 minutes. Let go see if we can find some better clothes to wear. We ran into our room and began looking for some clothes that were in better shape than the ones we had on. I found a dark green polo type shirt that was in pretty good shape. I then grabbed my best pair of tan cargo pants. They were a little tight but they still fit ok. I quickly stripped down to my white socks and briefs, then put the other clothes on. Once I was done I looked over to see if Chase was done. He was wearing a red, white and black plaid button-up shirt over a black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans that were still kinda newish looking. These were probably the best clothes that we had. Once we had our shoes and coats back on we practically ran out the front door. I turned and locked up the door and we started walking towards Corky's. As we were walking I told Chase, "Mattie said that we could hang out with him tomorrow at his house too if we wanted. Do you wanna go?" "Like I really have a choice." He laughed. "I'm just kidding. Yeah we can go. It's better than sitting at home all day." "Yeah, I'm sure we'll have fun." I replied Less than 10 minutes later we arrived at Corky's. Mattie wasn't there yet so we sat on a bench an waited. A couple minutes later I saw Mattie's car coming down the road. I told Chase, "That's Mattie." and we stood up. "That's him? That car looks brand new. Do you know if it's his? Chase asked me. "I'm not sure, you'd have to ask him." I said as Mattie pulled up next to us. Before we could walk to the car, Mattie got out and said, "Hey guys." He hadn't changed his clothes, so Chase got to see the jersey I was talking about. When we made it to where he was standing, he bumped knuckles with me and looked at Chase, who just stood there with a shocked expression on his face. I gently elbowed him. He looked at me as I said, "Mattie, this is my brother Chase. Mattie bumped knuckles with him too and said, "Nice to meet ya Chase." Blushing and giving a small smile , Chase replied , "Nice to meet you too Mattie." I gave Chase a look that said, "See, I told you he was hot." "You guys ready to roll out?" Mattie asked. Chase and I both said "yeah", as we started for the car, Mattie said, "If you want, you guys can take turns sitting up front. Or you can both sit in back. It's up to you guys." Chase and I looked at each other and at the same time said, "Front!" Mattie chuckled and said, "You guys sound like twins. Ok, how bout Chase sits up front first and you can keep switching after that. Sound good?" I smiled and said, "That's cool. I was gonna suggest the same thing anyway." We all got in the car and put our seatbelts on. Mattie started it up, picked up his I-pod, handed it to Chase and said, "Here bud, see if there's anything on there you like." "Oh geez, you're gonna let him pick the music." I joked Chase looked back, narrowed his eyes at me and said, "You know I like pretty much the same stuff you do." I laughed and said, "I know bro. I was just messin with ya." As Chase went back to scrolling through the music, Mattie said, "Would you guys mind if I stopped to get a haircut real quick? I was gonna come into town today anyway to get it done, so if you guys don't mind, we can get it out of the way real quick. We can even get yours done too if you guys want. If you guys like your hair the way it is now, that's fine too. But if ya wanna get it cut, I'll pay for it. It's no big deal really. I couldn't believe he offered to pay for haircuts. I was shocked since Chase and I were just talking about not liking our longer hair. I could tell by the look on Chase's face that he was pretty shocked too. I said to Mattie, "We were just talking earlier about how we needed our hair cut. Thanks for offering Mattie, but we probably shouldn't." "Why not?" Chase asks. "How would we explain it to Dad?" I asked. "Oh yeah. I didn't think about that." Chase says just as we pull into what I assume is a salon or barbershop or whatever. Our Mom used to cut our hair, so Chase and I have never had like a real haircut. We haven't had any kind of haircut since last year. "Look, if you guys want your hair cut, let's just get it done. If your Dad asks you about it, just tell him my Mom cut it. If he doesn't believe you for some reason, have him call me and I'll deal with it. I'll talk to my Mom about it. She'll cover for us if we need her to. After a minute a silence I said, "Ok, lets do it. I really want my hair cut." Mattie shut the car off, we all got out and walked inside. Chase and I sat down in the waiting area while Mattie talked to one of the girls who worked here. He came back over and pointed to a book and told us to pick a haircut or something close to what we wanted. Chase and I looked through it for a few minutes, then Chase pointed to one that looked just like he used to have his hair. Pretty short all around the sides and back, about 2-3 inches on top and styled in a messed up, spikey, bedhead look. I nodded to him and pointed to one I thought would look good, 3-4 inches on top, swept across the forehead to the right and the sides and back were faded down and short on the bottom. I asked, "Do you think that would look good on me?" Chase nodded yes. Then asked, "What do you think Mattie?" He pointed to the one he chose and said, "This for me." then pointed to what I chose and said, "And this one for Cole." Mattie nodded yes and said, "Yeah I think those will look really good on you guys. Chase then asked Mattie, "What are you getting? I think your hair looks fine like it is." "I'm just getting mine trimmed a little." Mattie said. We waited for about 5 more minutes before one of the girls came over and asked if we were ready. We said we were and showed her which haircuts we wanted. Then she led us over some chairs and told Chase that he was gonna go first. Chase sat down, and she covered him up. She wet down his hair and started cutting. She did it just how Chase wanted it and it only took her 15-20 minutes. When she was done she brushed him off, uncovered him and styled Chase's hair. I was up next and she quickly finished mine in about the same time it took her to do Chase's. I thought it looked great. I was so glad to get rid of all that long hair. Mattie went next and since he was only getting a trim, it took only a few minutes. We all got up and Mattie went over to pay for our haircuts. I about pissed myself when i saw him pull out a platinum card. I'm pretty sure they only give those out to people with a lot of money. Mattie signed the receipt and then pulled out a $20 and a $10 from his wallet, tipped the girl who cut our hair and said, "Have a good weekend." and the three of us walked outside. Chase and I said, "Thanks Mattie." at the same time and laughed. Mattie laughed and said, "You're welcome twins." As we got into the car, with me in front this time, Mattie said, "Well, it's a little after 5:00 now. So we still got a little while until dinner. You guys wanna walk around town or go to Sears and look around in there for a while?" Chase and I looked at eachother, giggled and said, "Sears." "Geez" Mattie said while shaking his head and laughing. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Once we were on or way, I grabbed Mattie's I-pod, looked through everything until I found It will Rain. When the song started, I knew Chase would automatically start singing. He really not shy about singing in front of people, and he's actually really good at it for a 10 year old. I think I'm pretty good too, but not near as good as Chase and i'm too shy to sing in front of just anyone. I was suprised when both Chase and Mattie started singing when the song came on. I couldn't believe how good their voices sound together. We were all smiles when the song went off. I looked them both and said, "Wow. That was so awesome. Your voices sound perfect together." "That was pretty awesome. You're really good Chase." Mattie said as he pulled into a parking lot not too far from Sears. "Thanks, you're really good too Mattie." Chase "Eh, I'm alright, but not as good as you. Well let's go look around for a while. I was thinking we could eat at about 7:00, so that gives us around an hour and 45 minutes. But just let me know if you guys get hungry before then, ok?" Mattie said as he shut the car off. Chase and I both nodded our heads yes and we all got out of the car. Mattie then locked it and we all made our way to the store. Once we got inside Mattie stopped us and said, "Alright, where do you guys wanna head to first? Clothes, games, electronics?" Mattie laughs, then looks at Chase and says, "Or the toys section maybe?" Chase punches Mattie in the shoulder and says, "Hey! It's not like I'm 5 or something?" "I was just messing with ya Chase. I'm 16 and I still check out the toys section. I collect diecast cars. I got like a whole wall of them in my room. I know they don't have the kind I collect here but we could still look around the toys section if you guys want to." Mattie said. "Cool. Chase and I collect them too. Well we used to." I said. "Well let's go check and see what they got." Mattie said. "Ok." Chase and I said. Mattie said, "Twins." then laughed. We made our way to the toys section. When we got there, Mattie picked up a car from the shelf and said, "This is kinda like what I collect only a little smaller. This one is 1/24 scale. The kind I get are a little bigger, 1/18 scale." "We got a few like that at home." I say. "What kinda cars are they?" Mattie asks. "I got an NSX, Integra Type-R and a Civic, they are all tuner models. I really like Honda Tuners." Chase tells him. "I've got a Gallardo and 2 Ferrari race cars. I'm more into supercars and race cars. Chase is more into tuner cars obviously." I say. "That's cool, I'm into pretty much everything. If you guys get to come over tomorrow, I'll show you my collection." Mattie says. We look around the toy section for a few more minutes, then we all agree to head over to electronics. We stop by the games section first. Mattie starts looking at all the new Xbox games. He asks us, "Do you guys have a game console?" Chase and I both shake our heads no. I tell him, "We used to but not anymore." Mattie asks, "Why not? Did it just break or something. Which console did you have?" "Yeah it's broke. It was an Xbox 360." I say, leaving out the fact that our Dad smashed it against our bedroom floor about 5 months ago. Chase and I were playing it in our room. He came in drunk, asking why the trash wasn't taken out. I told him, "I'm sorry, I just forgot." He rips the Xbox off the TV stand, cords and all. The cord still plugged into the TV pulls it off the stand too and crashes onto the floor and shatters. He slams the Xbox onto the floor too and it breaks into pieces. He screams at us, " Bet you won't forget now, you lazy fuckers. Get the hell out there and take that trash out now." I'm shaking, not from fear, but from anger. Not only from seeing our Xbox and TV smashed to pieces, but also from how scared Chase is. Then I get even more angry when I notice the blood running down Chase's leg from where a shard of something has sliced a 1 inch long cut. I scream at my Dad while pointing to Chase's leg, "Look what you did you bastard. You hurt Chase." That was the first time my Dad ever hit me. He backhanded me across the face and yells, "Don't you ever talk to me like that again. One of you better get out there and do what the fuck I told you to do before you're bleeding some more." Chase and I spent the rest of the night cleaning pretty much the whole house while Dad watched and got even more drunk. He didn't even let me put on a bandage or clean Chase's leg. It bled for a while and we had to keep cleaning it up off the floor. It stopped bleeding after Chase held a paper towel to it for a while. Luckily it wasn't a very deep cut. I didn't know I had zoned out until I noticed Chase was hugging me and Mattie was saying my name. My eyes were a little wet but I wasn't crying. "What's wrong Cole?" Mattie asked. "Sorry. It's no big deal. I was just thinking about something. I don't wanna talk about it right now. I'm fine, really." I tell him. I look at Chase notice he has tears in his eyes and I know he knows what I was thinking about. I reach out and wipe the tears from his eyes. He lets go of me and we both turn to Mattie. Mattie says "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. We can leave if you need to." "It's really ok Mattie, I'll be fine." I tell him. "Alright. Well did you wanna keep looking around here or get something to eat now?" Mattie asks. "We can stay here." I say while looking at Chase. He nods his head yes. Mattie still looks kinda worried but says, "Ok." and we start looking at the games again. After about 15 minutes of looking, Mattie says, "I was thinking about getting the new Xbox One. It looks like they got some pretty good games out for it now. Although I could probably get it cheaper somewhere else, it would be nice to have it if you guys came over to my house tomorrow. What do you guys think, should I get it?" Chase and I look at each other like "Is he for real?" and I say, "Uh, that's up to you Mattie. It's your money. If you want it, get it. Sure we wouldn't mind playing it, but it doesn't really matter one way or the other. I think we'll have a good time anyway even if you don't have it." After a few moments, Mattie nods his head and says, "Ok, let's all pick out 2 games each for ourselves." Chase asks, "Are you serious?" "Of course I am." says Mattie. Chase and I stand looking at each other for a minute before I shrug my shoulders. We say, "Ok" at the same time and then we all laugh and say, "Twins", which makes us laugh even harder. Once we've calmed down, we start trying to decide what games to pick. After 15 minutes or so we all agree on which games to get. Mattie chose Forza 5 and COD Ghost. I chose NFS Rivals and Battlefield 4. Chase chose Fifa 14 and Assassin's Creed 4. Mattie got the sales guy to come over and told him he wanted the games and the console. The guy looked at Mattie and said, "Yeah right kid. That's gonna cost almost a grand. Why don't you come back after you go get your mommy or daddy, then I might think about selling it to you." Mattie looked pissed for a minute but then looked at the guy's nametag, smiled at him and said, "Well Steve, I think I can do a little better than mommy or daddy." He pulled out his I-Phone and text someone. About 30 seconds later he got a reply. He then dialed a number and seconds later said, "Hey Jeff, this is Mattie. Are you at work?"......."Great, could you meet me in electronics, where the games are please?"......."Thanks Jeff, see you in a minute." Mattie looked back at Steve, who looked like he was about to faint and smiled at him. About a minute later, a man who looked like he was in his mid 40's walked up to us. After shaking Mattie hand he said, "Hey Mattie, it's good to see you again. How's your pops doing? I haven't talked to him in a couple weeks." "Hey Jeff. Dad's doing good. He's on a business trip in L.A. right now. I'll remind him to stop by and see you soon since he hasn't been by recently. He's been pretty busy the last couple weeks." Mattie said. Jeff asks, "Well, what can I do for you Mattie. I assume this isn't just a social visit." He looks at Steve, then back to Mattie. "Well Jeff, I asked Steve here if he could get some games and one of the Xbox consoles out so I could buy them and," Mattie looked at me and asked, "Would you mind telling him what Steve said to me Cole?" I looked at Mattie, smiled, then looked right at Steve and said, "Correct me if I get this wrong but I'm pretty sure you said, "Yeah right kid. That's gonna cost almost a grand. Why don't you come back after you go get you mommy or daddy, then I might think about selling it to you." Sound about right Steve?" "Well Steve, care to explain yourself?" Jeff asks him. "I never said that. I just asked him to get his mom or dad because I would feel more comfortable selling almost $1,000 in electronics to an adult than I would some middle schoolers. I mean can you blame me Jeff?" He points at Me then Chase, "Those two don't even look like they could buy a happy meal." He points at Mattie, "And I really doubt some 14 year old has that kind of money." He says to Jeff. Now I was really pissed about what he said about Me and Chase. I started to say something but Mattie put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head no. I looked at Jeff and could tell he was kinda pissed too. He sighed and said to Steve, "You know, I was going to just suspend you without pay for 2 weeks, but for you to lie to my face, then make those comments about these boys like that. Well I'm afraid that just cost you your job Steve. I have know this young man since he was 10 years old." He said pointing at Mattie. "And I know he wouldn't lie to me. I don't know these other two boys, but if Mattie is friends with them, I'm sure they are good kids. I know Mattie wouldn't stand there and let them lie to my face. For you to make rude comments about them is uncalled for. You wanna know something else Steve, this 14 year old, who is 16 by the way, could have gotten all this stuff for free. I know he wouldn't do that because he's an honest person and able to pay for it. You wanna know why he could get it for free? You ever heard of ACTco. Games Steve? Well Mattie here owns it. And I'm sure he could get a free Xbox and any games he wants. But he wouldn't do that. He likes to pay for everything, with his own money. Oh, and another thing, this store is owed by his parents." Steve looked pretty pale after hearing that. "So why don't you go collect your things and leave. We'll send your last check in the mail." Steve looked at Jeff for a moment, then turned and glared at Mattie. He then opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, then turned and marched toward the rear of the store. He unclipped his nametag and slammed it on the floor. Jeff turned to us and said, "I'm sorry about that." I didn't even really hear him. I was too busy staring at Mattie. I blinked, then looked at Chase who was busy staring at Mattie also. I closed my eyes for a second letting what was just said about Mattie sink in. When I opened my eyes again, I looked at Mattie, who just gave me a shy smile. He looked kinda embarrassed. I heard Jeff say, "I'll get those items you wanted for you Mattie if you just give me a couple minutes to go sort something out first. I'll be right back, Ok?" "That's no problem. Take you time. We aren't in a hurry." Mattie told him. Once Jeff walked away Mattie sighed and said to us, "Not everything he said is 100% true. Yes my parents own this store, but technically I don't own ACTco. Games, not yet anyway. My father still owns it until I turn 18. I'm the one who created ACTco., but my father runs the company. In case you were wondering ACTco. stands for Andrews Computer Technology Company. Please do me a favor and don't tell anyone what you just heard. I wish Jeff didn't say anything but I guess he didn't really think about it. He probably assumed you guys knew. I'm pretty sure I can trust you both, but if it got out to people around here, I'm sure it would cause problems for not only me, but my mom and dad. If you guys are gonna be hanging out with me, it could cause problems for you too." "Don't worry, we won't say anything. Right Cole?" Chase replied. "No, we won't say anything. It's not like we have anyone to tell anyway. You can trust us. We won't say a word." I said. Mattie put an arm on each of our shoulders, gave us a small hug and said, "Thanks guys." As Mattie released us from the hug, Jeff was walking toward us holding a small bag in each hand. When he made it to us, he looked at me and Chase, then handed us each a bag and said, "This is just a little something from me to apoligize for how rudely you were treated." Chase and I looked in the bags. Inside was a $100 gift card. I said to Jeff while trying to hand my bag back, "We really couldn't except these. It's too much." Jeff put his hands up and said, "Please, I insist." Mattie looked at me and leaned in and whispered, "If you're worried about what your dad will say, you can keep whatever you buy with them at my house." His breath in my ear sent shivers down my spine. I could barely even think after that. It took me a minute to respond. I looked at Chase who was giving me a pleading look. I then looked at Jeff, nodded my head and said, "Ok. Thank you sir. It was very nice of you." Jeff smiled at us and said, "You welcome. It was the least I could do." He turned to Mattie and said, "Ok bud, lets get you taken care of." Mattie pointed out the games we had picked. He got all three of us wireless controllers, extra battery packs, headsets and 1 year Xbox live memberships. Jeff took everything to the register, came back and got the console from the bottom of the shelf and asked if we needed anything else. Mattie told him, "I think that's it for now. If we need something else we can come back tomorrow and get it." Jeff walked over to the register with us following and rung everything up. The total was well over $1,000. Mattie handed Jeff his credit card, signed the recipt and thanked Jeff. Jeff came around the counter and gave Mattie a quick hug and said, It was good to see you again kiddo. Tell your dad to come see me when he gets back from L.A." Mattie said, " You too Jeff. I'll text dad tonight and tell him to call you. By the way Jeff, these are my friends. This," he looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder, "Is Cole." Jeff shook my hand. Mattie turned and put his other hand on Chase's shoulder, "And this is Chase. Jeff shook Chase's hand. "Obviously they are brothers. I think they are twins born in different years." Mattie laughed. "Well it was nice meeting you both. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys again sometime if you gonna be hanging around this clown." Jeff said while pointing at Mattie. Chase and I said, "Nice to meet you too Jeff." Mattie burst out laughing, then says, "See! Twins!" We all laughed for a minute. When Mattie caught his breath again, he tells Jeff, "Well we better get going. We still need to get something to eat before I get you guys back home." We said good bye to Jeff. Mattie grabbed the bags from the counter and we started making our way back to the front door. We walked out, down the sidewalk and across the street to Mattie's car. He turned the alarm off and unlocked the rear hatch. We piled the bags in and Mattie closed the hatch. We all got in, with Chase in front this time. We put our seatbelts on and before Mattie started to car he turned and looked at us and asked, "Well, where do you guys feel like eating?" I said, " I don't really care. Anywhere is fine with me." Mattie looked at Chase and said, "Well It's up to you bud." Chase shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well I guess I kinda want McDonald's. That jerk in there said happy meal and got me wanting a big mac." He giggled. Mattie looked back at me. I nodded my head and both of us laughed for a moment. "Alright. Micky D's it is then." Mattie said. He started the car and backed out of the parking spot. He then pull out and we made our way to McDonald's. When we got there, we all hopped out, Mattie relocked the car and set the alarm. We walked inside and ordered what we wanted. Once we got our food we sat down and started chowing down. Nobody said a word until everything but a couple fries were left. Chase said, "Thanks Mattie. This was fun I don't mean just us eating. I mean all of it. Well not that jerk but the rest was fun." "Yeah thanks Mattie. I had a lot of fun too." I said. "I had an awesome time too guys and tomorrow will be even better when you guys come over. There's lots to do at my house." Mattie said. We finished everything then threw the trash away. We walked back out to the car, Mattie unlocked it and we got in. I sat up front this time. We got our seatbelts on, Mattie started the car up and said, "Well I guess it's time to get you guys home." Chase and I said a sad, "Yeah." Mattie pulled out and made his way back toward our house. I kept looking at Mattie while he was driving. He's so cute, I couldn't help it. He looked over at me and saw me looking and smiled, but didn't say anything. As I kept looking at him I noticed he was watching the rearview mirror, but I didn't really think anything of it. When we were almost to Corky's he said, " It's too dark out to be dropping you off at Corky's. Let me know how to get to your house and I'll drop you there. I really don't want you guys walking home." I sighed and said, "Ok. Just ride past Corky's all the way the the end of the street. Our house is the very last one." When we got to our house, Mattie put the car in park. He practically yelled, "Stay in the car." I didn't know what the hell was going on. I turned to ask him why and that's when I saw another car skid to a next to us. Mattie said quickly, " If you hear me yell for you to do something, DO IT!" He then jumped out of the car just as I saw someone get out of the other car. Mattie stayed between the two cars. The person that got out of the other car started yelling and walking around the front of the other car. That's when I noticed it was that asshole Steve. "Oh shit." I whispered. "What? What's going on Cole?" Chase asked me. "It's that Steve guy." I told him as I unbucked my seatbelt. "Where are you going?" Chase asked nervously. "Nowhere, I want you to unbuckle you seatbelt too, in case we need to like get out of here." I told him as I watched Steve move around to where Mattie was standing. I could here yelling but not every word that was said. I could piece together that Steve was blaming Mattie for getting him fired. What I saw next about made my heart stop. I watched as Steve pulled a knife from his jacket pocket. The blade was maybe 4 inches long from what I could see. Steve looked like he was moving towards Mattie to stab him. "Oh fuck" I shouted. Hoping to distract Steve and maybe give Mattie enough time to get away, I reached over and pressed the car horn. "Oh no." I heard Chase yell. I couldn't watch. I buried my face in my hands and prayed, "Please God, don't let Mattie die." I could hear what sounded like them fighting and about 2 minutes later, I hear the words I swear I will never forget in my life. "HEY COLE, MATTIE'S A FUCKING NINJA!" Chase shouted. I looked up dumbfounded, tears running down my face and watch as Steve runs back to his car and peels away. "Did you see that Cole. Mattie totally handled him. IT WAS AWESOME!" Chase says. Relieved Mattie was alive I look at Chase and ask, " Really Chase. He's a fucking ninja?" and start giggling.