The Protagonists

Chapter Six - Sam

Two boys-one with light-brown hair and blue-grey eyes and the other with dark-brown hair and baby blue eyes-shared a crimson-red chair at the matching, crimson-red desk; the light-haired one was typing, while the dark-haired one was reading off of a sheet of paper. Oliver Davis, the light-haired one, wasn't a very quick typer, but he managed to get the job done. Sam Lowe, the dark-haired one and Oliver's best friend, read off his writing for their Government project. Sam, being the smarter of the two, wrote all his research down; Oliver, being the more technologically-advanced one, was typing it all.

A black CD player was beside the monitor, blasting out the newest music from the two boys' favorite band, Rushing Water; Oliver's girlfriend, Jessica Ebony, was the lead vocalist, causing the two to love the band collectively. Their new album, Volume, was blasting in the room, causing Oliver to barely hear Sam's writing.

"I'm tired of typing," Oliver complained, looking out the window of Sam's apartment. The view was gorgeous from his room's window; living on Driftbrooke Street-a narrow road of apartment buildings behind the Greengrass Chapel-definitely had its positives: a view of the Greengrass Park on the right, a numerous amount of cherry blossoms everywhere, and being able to visit the Greengrass Café-one of the most prestigious cafés in southern Los Angeles-at any time.

"Come on," Sam complained, putting down his black-and-white, composition notebook. "Don't say that you're tired of typing something that I spent five hours writing by hand."

"We've been in your stuffy apartment for two, straight hours!" Oliver cried, standing up and stretching. "Can we at least take some sort of break?"

Sam stood up, stretching as well. He looked back-and-forth between the notebook and computer, not knowing if they would have enough time to finish; the project was due at midnight, and out of the twenty pages due, they had one completed. "I don't know..." He replied, usually being adept with time-management. "If we take a thirty-minute break, we'll have-"

"We'll finish it," Oliver convinced. "I just think it'd be better if we took some sort of a break." Sam sighed, finally telling himself that Oliver, his best friend, was indeed correct; the two needed a break from the project, or else they'd eventually just give up from weariness. "Café?" Oliver asked, giving Sam a pleading look.

Sam finally gave in; Oliver, being his best friend and all, could be extremely persuasive time. In addition, Sam was hungry and tired as well; a trip to the Greengrass Café would be advantageous and well-needed for the both of them. Sighing dramatically-as if he didn't want to go there himself-Sam grabbed a large, sufficient encyclopedia from his bookshelf; he had borrowed it from the Greengrass Library days before to help with his research. "Sam Lowe?" Oliver nudged Sam's shoulder teasingly. "Is that you in there?"

"Yes, it's me," Sam replied, walking out into the hallway, Oliver right behind him.

"Sorry," Oliver apologized, grabbing his wallet from the marble countertop. "I've just never heard of such a thing." After Sam gave him an obviously-confused glance, Oliver added, "I've never heard of Sam Lowe, the Sam Lowe, going to a library!"

Sam laughed, shaking his head. It was true, what Oliver had said; Sam was very smart, but he would almost never go to a library. He would look things up online and he would listen carefully in class-unlike his best friend-but Sam had probably been to the Greengrass Library twice in his entire seventeen-year existence.

The boys-Oliver practically skipping down the street and Sam jogging behind him-made it to the gas station in a minute and a half, a new record for them. "I'll go get us a table," Oliver told Sam once the two made it to the café-the library was on the right, "while you go return your thesaurus."