I walked into the secondhand instrument store and over to the guitars. An employee walked up to me. "Frank Iero. Thought you were dead."
I looked to see who it was and I recognized Jamia Nestor, my best friend in middle school before Gee and I got close. "Jamia?"
"How you holding up?"
"It's been three years. I think I've moved on for the most part," I lied.
"Anyways, what are you after?"
"A guitar."
"Specify. Acoustic? Electric? Bass?"
"Um. Just acoustic." She smiled and brought me over to a simple tan guitar. I ran my hand over it and closed my eyes.
"Actually, can I get a electric guitar?"
"Of course." She walked me down the wall to a guitar and an amp. "Go ahead, play something."
"I don't know how."
"Let me show you." She showed me a a low g and an a and then handed me the guitar. I attempted to play with my shaky hands, and I failed but I'm going to do this.
"I'll take it."
"You sure?"
"Definitely." Not. But I have to do this. For Mikey.
"Okay." She picked up the guitar and the amp and carried it to the counter. I grabbed a couple picks and she told me the price. And I pulled out my wallet. I gave her everything in it.
"Jamia, this is all I got."
"I'll cover it for you, man. All musicians gotta start somewhere. I never got anywhere, but maybe you will." She covered the rest of the cost and put the guitar in a case, handing it to me. "Best of luck, Frank. Learn to play and make Belleville proud." I smiled at her.
"I'll try. Thank you, Jamia."
"You're welcome. Now get out of here and make some music."
"I will." I stepped out of the music store and headed back to my apartment. I pulled up some music sheets and charts on the business computer, and printed them off. My hands were shaking like crazy. I'm really going to do this. I just blew all my money on a guitar and amp to get famous and I don't even know how to play. This is going to be a long road. I ran up the stairs and into my apartment, a mix of excitement and sorrow, fuelling me. "This is for you Mikey," I mumbled, looking up at the ceiling. "All for you." I picked up the guitar and plugged it into the amp. I played a g and my hands stopped shaking suddenly. I can do this. It's going to take a long time, but I can do it. I looked at the picture of me and Mikey and Gerard again. I'm about to live out the dreams of two dead boys. Am I ready? No. Will I ever be ready? No. But am I going to do it anyways? Hell yeah.
