Playing With Strings

About a boy who knew of nothing but his guitar and how to play it, but he meets a girl that has somehow changed him but things happen and nothing turns out right. He also makes a few friends.

       I could go on for hours. Sitting alone in my room, playing the guitar I so heavily grew fond of. Not because it was my first, but because my grandpa had given it to me before he passed away. You would've loved him, when he picked up the guitar and put his finger on a fret, there was magic. He played so elegantly that you would instantly fall in love. My grandpa was my closest friend. He told me about how the chord progressions each made a unique sound and how to utilize them, and when he did, by god, the Heavens were shining down upon him. I loved my grandpa, now he's my guitar, and I cherish every moment I spend with it.

       My name is Dustin Playstoomuch, at least that's what everybody calls me, but real last name is George. I'm not much of a people person. The only people I talk to is my music teacher, teachers and Mom and Dad. They're the only people. I've gotten so attached to music that every time I get the chance, I search and find new artists that inspire me to play. Like my grandpa said, "music is music." I went by his words, so I never critiqued music that wasn't mine, but I sure did get a kick out of making fun of artists who had no sense, or even made no sense, I mean ice cream paint job? What's the deal? Someone throw ice cream at your car and suddenly became a trend? I never knew how to understand artists today.

       Anyway, school was just around the corner and I didn't feel like getting to know people all over again. I've been to three different schools in the past couple of years- its not that I got kicked out or anything, my parents just kept moving around, they never knew when to settle down. My guitar is a classic, with a gap in the head of the guitar. I mostly liked playing what sounded like fun to play, but now and then I would find love songs that were acoustic by my favorite bands and played them, because they were nice.

       School was one more day away and I wasn't too excited or anything. So the day came where it was time for me to go through with all this crap- I was a junior by the way- and get the first day done with. Lunch had come by pretty quick and I found a place that I could sit at that I really liked. The school was decent, people here and there getting picked on, but in a friendly way. There were a lot of friendly people, though I never talked to any of them. A few guys came up to me and asked what my name was, I didn't reply till one of them kicked my shoes.

      "What?" I asked.

  One of them was really tall and boney, "I asked what your name was, f****t," he said annoyed of my reaction to his nudge.

    "What's it to you?" I replied.

   "I just want to know what your name is, is that to much to ask?"

    "Yea it is actually," I told him. Why was it so much to ask? Because I knew none of them and they were kind of rude and frankly I didn't want to know who the hell they were.

   "My name is Thomas."

D****t.

  "This is Drew, Karl- with a K, and Derik." he said, politely.

      "That's nice," I told them.

   "Why do you got to be so goddamn arrogant? Maybe because I didn't want to know who the f**k you were.”

   "I'm just not much of a social person" I told them, which was true. I never really talked much, especially to people I didn't know.

       "Well get used to it pal, cause you'll be seeing a lot more of us."

Pal? I knew I sure wasn't going to be his friend, or any of there friends, the people he introduced me to. But lunch was over by the time we got done speaking. I can't believe that I spent my whole lunch talking to some losers.

 

    I survived the first day at a different school. Nothing new, nothing's changed, it's like any other school out there. Anyway I went straight to my room did my homework, ate dinner then, finally I got out my guitar. I always knew what I was going to play, Insomnia by Al Marconi, he was this Spanish guitar player, and I really like the way the guitar was played. It was so soothing that you would be put into a trance and knocked right off your feet, no matter who you were. I played and played and played, until my fingers were in pain. Sometimes I would even go beyond pain to play a little more, that thing was my life.

   The next day came and I wasn't looking forward to what was coming. I had to do an introduction of who I was, what I did and where I came from. To top it all off the big nosy guy, Thomas was in my class. His grin was so big that you could see it from a mile away, literally.

     "Hello everybody, my name is Dustin George, I like to play the guitar and sit in my room," everybody was laughing, I don't know what was so funny about it, yeah I sit in my room so what? Not like it was a big crime.

  "I really don't know where I come from, me and my parents have been moving around ever since I could speak a full sentence" again everybody kind of giggled, except Thomas, he sat there like I was uninteresting. These guys had no sense of humor what so ever.

   "Alright, does anybody have any questions for Dustin?" everybody threw there hands up.

  "First question, Nichole," you can tell she wasn't all there by the way she acted.

"Uhhhh, ok. Do you have a Pen15?" I knew it, nobody had a sense of humor, cause yet again I found everybody laughing, everybody but ol' Thomas.

   "Nichole, I'll see you after class, anybody else?" he asked, and one more girl raised her hand. She was quite cute, I have to admit. I've had a couple of girlfriends in the past. They all liked the fact that I could play guitar, though this girls question struck me.

  "Alright Ashley, whaduya got?"

     "What kind of music do you play?" she really got my heart going, she had such a soft voice and a polite smile, it was really cute. Though she did seem to frown at me, which was heart wrenching. Not saying that I was into it. There was something about her.

   "I play all types of music; classical, punk rock, acoustic, folk, indie, anything that sounds catchy to play" I replied.

  "Do you write any songs?" she asked me.

     "Not really, well, at least I try to."

  "Do you have music sheets?"

    "No," sheesh, she can go on for hours, she's a really curious girl, but I like her.

  "I only carry around tab books."

   "Well what's the point?" That got to me, and right there I shut down. I didn't wanna answer anymore of her questions, it's just remembering when my grandpa used to play to me tore me apart.

  "Are you done?" the teacher asked.

 "Yes."

  Lunch came around and I was feeling quite shaken up, you know because of the tension that was put on me during my second hour. I had gone to go sit where I normally sit, but I was beat, by Ashley. I immediately tried to walk away as fast and unnoticed as I could. But…

  "Hey!" she caught me.

  "Hi," I replied with nervousness stirring about.

 "You're that guitar kid right? Dustin, was it? My name is Ashley if you don't know already," she said with that cute smile she gave earlier in class.

 "Yeah, th-that's me," I smiled like an idiot.

   "Sit down next to me," she smiled with that smile again. Gosh. What a lovely smile.

 "Uhhhh, ehm, I-I can't,"

  "Well, why not?"

 "Because I have this thing to do."

  "Thing?" she asked with curiosity just like before.

 "Yeah, I kind of have to be somewhere," I lied terribly.

  "Don't lie to me, I know you have nowhere to go," She was right, i had absolutely nowhere to go. Though i didn't want to embarass myself.

 "Yah but,"

 "Nope, sit down," she cut me off.

 "Alright," I finally said sitting next to her.

 "So do you do a lot of guitar playing?" she asked eagerly.

 "Yea, I've been playing for sometime," I told her.

 "What inspired you to play?" boy that hit me, not that I didn't want to answer, but it was just, my grandpa.

 "My grandpa, got me playing, he was sort of my idol," I told her.

 "Ohhh, what kind of music did he play?" it got me excited to even be talking about him.

Just talking about how soothing the notes he struck sounded, gave me Goosebumps.

 "he played oldies" I never really paid attention to what the song names were, or who played them.

 

Author's Note

Not quite finished, but I will get there.

Reviews

[Richy]

Interesting introduction, I like how I am able to connect with the protagonist. When it comes to fixing your grammar (might want to take a look at some grammar books or get someone to proofread, they can really help you). As for the plot, I'll tell you how I feel when it finishes, but until then, I'll wait. Depending on how it goes, I might recommend you make it into a book with chapters

[Sidney]

Thank you guys for reviewing, i will definitely return the favor as soon as possible. I do in fact have a William Strunk and E.B. White Grammar Book and have taken some notes on it, though i am not use to the routine of knowingly, putting things where they should go. the the next few paragraphs i will, definitely do my best in using correct grammar usage. Thank you.

[Nix]

I do like the imagery and descriptions. Although I would recommend waiting to post your work until you have more done. I think it would be much better if I had more of a sense of where the plot was going. It has potential but needs more meat.