Rock And Roll Ruined My Life- Chapter 7- Slowly Learning

“No, no, no. Third finger goes over here, remember?” Frank asked me moving my finger over.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry,” I said sighing.
“No, its fine don’t be sorry. You actually knew more than I thought you did. Go ahead, strum.” I made sure to press my fingers down then slowly dragged my pick across the strings.
“That’s it! You got it. See if you can remember where your fingers go,” he said grinning. I looked at my left hand one last time before taking my fingers away.
“You said this is a B minor chord right?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s the easier way to play it,” he said. I slumped my shoulders. He laughed, “I’m just teaching you the basics. You’re gunna learn bar chords and scales from Ray. Don’t be upset you’re doing fine. Go ahead; see if you remember.”

I sighed wearily, brought my throbbing fingers back to the strings of Frank’s guitar, and strummed. “I got it!” I said unbelievingly. I strummed again and stopped. “This chord sounds familiar,” I told him.
“Do you think it’s from a song you know?” He said.
“Yeah,” I answered. I sat back in my chair trying to think. “Oh!” I exclaimed five minutes later. “It’s from the song Peacemaker!”
“Peace maker?” Frank asked.
“By Green Day,” I replied.
“Oh,” he said sitting back. I glanced at his face. He kind of looked annoyed.
“I’m sorry. I guess you guys probably don’t like each other. I’m sorry,” I apologized.
“What? We don’t have a problem with Billy, Trѐ, and Mike. I was just upset at the fact that I don’t remember that song,” he explained. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I’ll call Danielle over here I think she has it on her iPod… DANIELLE!” I called.
“Julie?” I heard her voice answer from the living room. “I’ll be right back guys,” I heard her say to Gerard, Mikey, Bob, and Ray. They had been trying to teach her how to play video games for the past hour.

“What’s up Julie?” She asked entering the kitchen. She was still a little star struck.
“Do you have Peacemaker on your iPod?” I asked.
“By Green Day? Yeah,” she said.
“Can you let Frank listen to it for a second?” I asked. I saw her jaw drop the tiniest bit before she answered, “Yeah, of course!” She walked over, pulled out her Nano, found the song, then handed her headphones to Frank who put one in his left ear.

I saw Danielle wait for Frank to get settled; then I saw her press down the play button. I jumped. The music was blasting through the head phones. I knew Danielle liked to listen to her music really loud but not that loud…
“Can it go a little bit louder?” he asked. This time my jaw dropped in disbelief.
“It’s already blasting, Frank!” I stated the obvious.
“Well excuse me for being put right next to the speakers in every single freaking concert we play!” he retorted exasperatingly. The music had suddenly stopped.

We both looked at Danielle in expectance. She glanced quickly from Frank to me then, just as I thought she wasn’t going to do it, she quickly upped the volume. I rolled my eyes and looked down at the tips of my fingers. They were purple and red with string imprints and indents all over them. I tried running my thumb over them and winced. Ow.

“Ohhhh this song!” Frank said suddenly.
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Ok, cool. Let’s take a break,” he said standing up. We all walked into the living room. Danielle walked back over to the T.V, and Frank sat down on the rug. I was left standing in the doorway. I glanced around the room once then made my way over to the couch where Mikey was sitting.

“Hey Juliet!” Mikey said patting the couch motioning for me to sit down. I half smiled and asked, “Before I sit, do you think I could have a drink?”
“Sure,” he said standing up. “Anyone else want something to drink?” He addressed the room.
“MEEEEE!” everyone replied in unison.
“Bob, come help us,” Mikey said pulling him up from the floor.
“Well, I’m already standing,” he shrugged. I laughed and let Mikey and Bob lead the way to the kitchen.

I sat down at one of the stools next to the fridge. “What would you like?” Mikey asked me.
“Do you have any rootbeer?” I asked hopefully.
“Unfortunately no, we need to get some.”
“Um, I’ll just take some Pepsi then,” I said. As he was handing me the can he stopped. It was like he was seeing me for the first time today.

“What happened?” Bob asked.
“Mikey, are you ok?” I asked.
“What happened to you?!” He exclaimed. I sighed and slumped in my stool.
“Your face! Your hands! Does Gerard know about this?” Bob got up from his seat at the table to look at me.

I pushed my bangs back to let them see. Bob whistled solemnly. “I know it’s bad,” I said.
“Who did that to you?” Mikey asked.
“Well, this,” I pointed to my cheek, “is from my mom.”
“Why did she hit you?”
“Remember when we were on the phone and I told you guys that I got in trouble for coming home late after I finished hanging out with you guys? Yeah. So in addition to getting my phone, iPod, and computer rights taken away I got slapped.” They both shook their heads. “And this,” I continued taking off my glasses and pushing more hair away from my right eye, “happened because I bumped into some kid in the hallway after school.” I slumped back in my stool again happy to be done with explaining all of my injuries.

“Ahem. Your hands?” Mikey said expectantly.
“What about my hands?” I asked looking down at them. I didn’t see anything wrong with them.
“Your fingers he means,” Bob explained. I looked down at my hands again and raised my fingertips closer to my face. Even though I had used a pick, my strumming fingers were a little on the light purple side. “That’s from me playing guitar,” I said.
“How long have you and Frank been practicing?” Mikey said with a look of shock about his face.
“Maybe four hours,” I shrugged.
“You didn’t take any breaks in-between?” He asked with the same expression on his face.
“No.”
“Mikey, she’s just really dedicated,” Bob said. I nodded in agreement.

“I’m just shocked you didn’t say anything,” Mikey said.
“I have a pretty high tolerance for pain,” I shrugging. “Why would you think that I would ever stop one of you from teaching me something anyway?” I asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said resting his chin on his palm.

We sat there in silence for a while. Bob kept rearranging the order of the cans on the counter, I massaged my aching fingers, and Mikey was staring out the small kitchen window lost in thought…

“How long does it take to get a few fucking drinks?!” I heard Ray shout.
“Come on guys,” I said taking a few drinks off of the counter. We walked into the living room as if our conversation never happened. “Ok, who wanted a Pepsi?” I asked. I saw Gerard pause the game with his controller and walk over to me looking at the variety of drinks in my hand. I was holding one bottle of beer and two soda cans; one Pepsi, the other Coke. “I’ll take a Pepsi,” he said.
“Here you go,” I smiled and handed him the can.
“Thanks,” he said returning my grin. He didn't even notice.

After we all had our drinks I noticed that Mikey was still contemplating whatever thoughts had crossed his mind before in the kitchen. I got up from the rug and sat down next to him on the couch. I made sure to keep my distance.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
“Well, before, when I saw how willing you were to listen to us and take in all of the knowledge that you could, it got me thinking,” he explained.
“Thinking about what?” I encouraged him trying not to sound impatient or nosy.
“What if you learned a little bit of everything from each of us instead of learning about just one instrument?” he wondered.
“That would be cool,” I smiled nodding my head.
“You would seriously do that?” he said shocked.
“Yeah! It would take a while, but I’d definitely be interested in learning a little bit of everything. I would be willing to commit enough time to everything,” I told him.
“I’ll mention it to the guys later and see if they would go for it.”

“Cool. We have to get going soon,” I said.
“What? It’s still early! What time is it?” he asked searching his pockets.
“It’s ok I have my phone,” I said holding a hand up signaling for him to stop searching for what ever he was looking for. I pulled out my phone and pushed the lock button. “It’s almost 4. We have to catch the bus and we still have to find Melissa,” I told him sighing. I sat back on the couch and raked back my hair with my hand.

I felt Mikey get up from the couch and I brought my feet up and draped them over the side. It was a short couch and I was a fairly tall girl. I shivered suddenly cold. Next thing I knew, everything was quiet and dark.

***************************************************************************************************

“Jules, wake up,” I heard a voice whisper. I simply ignored it. I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Jules, come on, we’re at your aunt’s house.” My eyes flew open and I propped myself up on one elbow. I saw a blurry hand holding my glasses out to me. I put them on but it did no good. My eyes were still clouded from sleep. I looked around. Gerard was kneeling in front of me on one knee and it was surprisingly dark. ‘Wait. What’s Gerard doing here? Where am I?’ I thought. I heard footsteps coming towards us. We both turned our heads to the half opened curtain. Melissa’s head appeared.

“Melissa!” I croaked. She smiled lazily and said, “Come on, get up. We’re home.” I sat up slowly and looked around. “Where am I? How did I get here?” I asked.
“Oh, I thought you’d be more comfy in a bed instead of sleeping on the couch so I brought you back here where we take naps sometimes,” Gerard said.
“Thanks. I just got tired all of a sudden,” I said.
“Don’t worry we all fell asleep back here too,” Melissa said reassuring me. Danielle magically appeared. “Let’s go Julie,” she said.
“Ok, ok. I’m getting up,” I said sighing.

I pushed myself up and slid to the edge of the bed. “Watch your head,” Melissa muttered rubbing the back of her own head. I laughed and stood up slowly. I had to blink a few times to adjust to the brightness of the living room.

“There she is!”
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty!”
“Get enough rest?”
“Geez guys she just woke up.”

“Hi everybody,” I croaked again. “What time is it?” I asked suddenly remembering everything that happened.
“It’s almost 5,” Frank said putting his phone back in his pocket.
“Wow, that was fast,” I said impressed.
“That’s because we have Garry!” said Ray.

I looked down past the kitchen to see a heavy set man wave at me through the bus’s rearview mirror. I looked out the window and sighed. I didn’t want to leave.
“I guess it’s time to go,” I said glumly.

“We’ll meet up again soon don’t be sad,” said Bob half smiling.
“Thank you guys so much for everything!” I said stepping forward to hug everyone.
“Bye!” said Ray.
“See ya,” said Bob.
“Bye Juliet,” said Mikey.
“Bye Jules,” said Gerard.
“Jules?” I said curiously as I stepped back.
“Do you mind if I call you that?” he asked.
“No, it’s just different,” I explained to him.
“We’ll all call you Jules from now on,” Ray declared.
“Ok, fine with me!” I laughed.

As we made our way to the front of the bus, I noticed a little heap of clothing on the counter. I leaned closer and laughed. It was by hoddie! “Wow Jules,” I heard Melissa say. We kept walking. Just as we were about to step off the bus I heard Melissa exclaim, “The Carnival stuff!” I turned around puzzled and saw her run to the back of the bus shoving everyone out of the way as she went. ‘Carnival stuff?’ I wondered. Then I remembered we wrote in our note that we were going to the carnival at the mall.

“Whoa,” I muttered as Melissa came barreling down the isle again. This time she had a humongous bag of cotton candy in her arms. “I didn’t want us to seem suspicious,” she explained. After I made sure we had everything, Danielle, Melissa, and I piled out onto the sidewalk. “Thanks again for everything guys!” I shouted over the roar of the bus’s engine.
“Call us!” I heard Gerard shout as the bus pulled away. We all waved until the bus was out of sight.

I turned around and faced the giant house before us. ‘Back to boring old life,’ I thought. We walked up the long path leading to the front door and rang the doorbell.
“Let’s do this,” I said more to me then the girls. Somehow, I felt we had a lot of explaining to do…