On the Ledge

History Project

TUESDAY 12:50, THIRD WEEK

As days passed by, the more and more Sam and Brad seemed to drift apart. They weren't talking to each other anymore, Sam made sure to avoid him by taking another route whenever he saw him in the hallways. In classes he tried his best to ignore him. But sooner or later there would come a day when he'd be forced to acknowledge Brad's presence. Mrs Cowden assigned each pair a History project randomly. And somehow, to the disappointment of Sam, she managed to set him up with Brad. The whole class teased him about it, making him feel even more uncomfortable. After class he walked up to her to talk.

" But why don't you want to work with him?" Cowden asked.

Sam let out a sigh of exasperation. " I just don't, okay? Can you pair me up with someone else?"

" I can. But only until I hear the reason that's holding you back from working with him."

Sam silently stared at his feet. " He just pisses me off." he eventually said.

" There are gonna be numerous people in your life who you won't enjoy working with but somehow you will have to find a way to do that. Life is not simple." Cowden took her bag and was about to leave when Sam said something that held her back.

" Did he ask you to do this?" he asked.

" Excuse me?" Mrs Cowden turned around.

" Set me up with him so he could piss me off. Did he ask you to do that?"

" I don't know what beef you two have going on... But you better figure it out with him. Don't bring me into this." she said and left the classroom.

Sam headed to the library to look for the books he would need for his project on Charles de Gaulle. He was searching in the History section of the library. But unsurprisingly, Brad was doing the exact same thing. As Sam bended over to pick up a book, he saw Brad on the other side of the book shelf. Brad greeted him with a nod in his direction. Sam clenched his teeth. Then Brad walked over to him.

" Which book do you have there?" he asked.

" The Last Great Frenchman by Charles Williams." Sam looked at the cover.

" What's that?" he nodded at what Brad was holding in his lap.

" Two biography books about de Gaulle and an Encyclopedia." he replied. Sam raised his brows.

" We're not gonna need that much..."

" I'll just skim through them to extract the important information."

" We should divide the work." Sam said. " I do the early years, you do the late years."

" Yeah, but your job is easy. There's not much going on in his early years." Brad countered.

" Okay, you know what... Borrow whatever book you want. I'll see what era of his life I can cover then let you know on Facebook. Deal?"

" Deal." Brad nodded and then they both went their separate ways.