Guitar Lessons (A Frank Iero Fanfic)

Chapter One

Ruby's POV

College was always shitty but today had been especially bad. I practically kicked the door of my house down and barged in, throwing my black and white bag in the vague direction of the cupboard. I ran upstairs to my room and began blasting Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.

I let the full album play and felt at ease. Exhausted, I lay on my bed like a starfish looking around my room at the many band posters and photos of my father.

I missed him.

My gaze fell on a My Chemical Romance poster. I smiled. Music was my drug and My Chemical Romance was my dealer. I looked at the five of them standing proudly in their tailored Black Parade jackets. I loved them all for different reasons but as a rhythm guitarist, my favourite member was Frank Iero. Perhaps someday Mom would trust me enough to let me got to one of their concerts...

I heard the front door open.

"Are you home Ruby?" Mom shouted up the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go to the music store, I've had a really bad day," I said bluntly.

"Okay but I want you back before dark," she said with an equally stern tone. I quickly changed out of my college clothing and into some black skinny jeans and an overly large grey jumper then ran downstairs and out of the door.

Throughout my whole life so far, I'd never really fitted in anywhere: at school I was the emo freak who only ever wore black, at home, I was the typical art student who stayed in their room a lot even in nursery I was different.

After graduating college and getting a degree in English, I realised just how difficult it was to get a 'proper job' and so decided to take another course in art. College was rough but I had good role models who made it and that gave me hope.

From my house to the music store, it was about a five minute walk. It would be half that time if I could be bothered to run.

I arrived at the shop greeted by electric and acoustic guitars of all shapes, colours, brands and sizes. I noticed matt black Cort acoustic guitar and walked over to it waving to the shop owner. I'd played guitar since i was twelve and had always come to this shop meaning I knew the him well. I flipped the label and checked the price tag. The guitar cost just over three hundred dollars. Regrettably, I had very little money; I spent the majority of it on art course work supplies.

Nevertheless, I picked it up from the stand, walking over to the circular red sofa I sat down and placed the guitar in my lap smiling at how well it sat. I always carried a guitar pick with me. I took the triangular piece of plastic from my pocket and plucked the strings to check it was in tune. The majority of the notes played perfectly however on string made me flinch as an overly flat sound rang out. I twisted the tuning peg until it resembled the correct sound.

I was brought back down to earth by the sound of a guitar falling over. Taking my attention off the guitar, I looked in the mirror and saw that a man in a black hoodie had knocked over one of the Epiphone electric guitars and was busy putting it back on the stand; he made a similar gesture to the guitar as you would to a dog when telling it to stay.

I considered what to play and decided on The End. I recalled the chords in my head then began to play the song humming the words quietly to myself. I wasn't particularly confident and so I did not like to draw attention to myself.

Slowly, I fell in love with the guitar. A crisp, clear sound filled the air surrounding me.

Then I realised: I was being watched.

I whipped my head round to see the man who had knocked over the Epiphone standing over me. As I looked up I noticed his heavily tattooed arms then his short dark hair then his shortness in general. he grinned at me. After a few seconds of being creeped out, my brain managed to put the pieces together.

The man was Frank Iero.