Saved by the Way (SLOW REVISIONS)

Chapter 6

A few weeks had passed and Gerard had barely spoken to me since. I pushed the incident to the back of my mind and said it over and over He was just drugged up.

Mikey and I on the other hand had been hanging out almost every day. Neither of us could see us ever being any more than friends, and friends we were. He told me who he had a crush on though. He likes this girl named Hayley. I think her last name is Williams, but I'm not sure. I'd spoken to her once or twice. She seemed nice enough. I'd convinced Mikey to ask her out to the Holiday Dance in a couple of weeks.

My crush had only gotten bigger, and it was on the other Way.

I liked his long black hair and his hazel eyes. But my favorite thing about him was his personality. He was humble and kind, he was shy and could listen, and he was clearly similar to me in many ways.

It started to get out of hand.

Taylor still hasn't let up on me. The amount of scars on my wrist just kept on rising. More and more scars.

But I'll show her I'm not worthless some day.

****

The bell rang for class. Finally it was guitar. I opened up the case for my guitar, Ariel. I named her Ariel after the mermaid. She was an oceanburst colour and a well built, wood acoustic guitar. I pulled her out and put on the strap as I sat down in one of the stools.

I started with fingering the first few bars of Stairway to Heaven then I got into the strumming and fingering part.

My playing was interrupted by that annoying voice I knew too well. "What's that? Another song by an emo scumbag?"

"Led Zeppelin is not emo." I say clenching my fist.

She laughs then sits down and starts playing nothing but cords. That's about all she can play anyway.

I go on with my playing and decide I'm in the mood for classic rock today. I play the intro to Love of My Life by Queen before the teacher stops us all.

"Students, for our semester final, we will be playing a song for the class. You can either be in groups of 3 or 4, and the song can either be written by you or you can play a song by another artist. But you have to arrange the song on your own. And it has to be a complete acoustic arrangement. It also has to have lyrics and all members must play guitar atleast for a few measures of the song."

I don't even have to speak to know who my group members are.

I turn around to face the rest of my group. Gerard, Frank, and Ray look a little nervous, yet excited.

Frank speaks up first. "So are we writing this song, or are we playing a new one?"

"Gerard, you write song lyrics don't you?" Ray asks at last.

Gerard perks up, "Yeah, but I always saw them as more of a rock kind of thing, not really fit for being acoustic."

We all sit and think for a minute until Gerard excitedly perks up again. "I think there is one that might be able to work. I imagined it with a fingering part at the beginning that Scarlett could take, and it would take chords throughout it except for the beginning when it would be just Scarlett. And it would take a lot of little percussion bits that I could play on my guitar by knocking and slapping, you know, because obviously I have the least skills. We're all fair at singing except I don't know about you Scarlett, I've never heard you before. Sing us the first verse of Stairway to Heaven, because you obviously know that."

Everybody turned to me.

There's a lady who's sure,
All that glitters is gold,
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows,
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for. Ooooooooh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

Everybody looked at me shocked. Am I that bad?

"You're really good!" Ray exclaims.

I smile.

"You're voice is really clear and on tune. It's high and pretty." Frank jumps in.

Gerard just stares at me wide eyed and it's freaking me out.

I decide to break the awkward silence and ask the burning question. "So what are the lyrics?"

Gerard finally breaks away from his trance and begins. "I'm not sure about the title, but I'm feeling like it should be Demolition Lovers the lyrics go
Hand in mine, into your icy blues
And then I'd say to you we could take to the highway
With this trunk of ammunition too
I'd end my days with you in a hail of bullets

I'm trying, I'm trying
To let you know just how much you mean to me
And after all the things we put each other through and

I would drive on to the end with you
A liquor store or two keeps the gas tank full
And I feel like there's nothing left to do
But prove myself to you and we'll keep it running

But this time, I mean it
I'll let you know just how much you mean to me
As snow falls on desert sky
Until the end of everything
I'm trying, I'm trying
To let you know how much you mean
As days fade, and nights grow
And we go cold

Until the end, until this pool of blood
Until this, I mean this, I mean this
Until the end of...

I'm trying, I'm trying
To let you know how much you mean
As days fade, and nights grow
And we go cold

But this time, we'll show them
We'll show them all how much we mean
As snow falls on desert sky
Until the end of every...

All we are, all we are
Is bullets I mean this
[x4]

As lead rains, will pass on through our phantoms
Forever, forever
Like scarecrows that fuel this flame we're burning
Forever, and ever
Know how much I want to show you you're the only one
Like a bed of roses there's a dozen reasons in this gun

And as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood
And as we're touching hands, and as we're falling down
And in this pool of blood, and as we're falling down
I'll see your eyes, and in this pool of blood
I'll meet your eyes, I mean this forever"

Wow. I didn't know Gerard had that much talent with words.

We are all speechless for a minute. It's absolutely beautiful and hard to comprehend.

"I think we've got our song lyrics." Frank says as the Bell rings.