Guitar Boy

Beaner-Bop

A/N: One-Shot!

Disclaimer: I own nada sept the plot - you got that you &&#Q#&((&( lawyers!

Note: Unfamiliar Moon is Vance Gilbert's - want the lyrics? Find 'em yourself. I just mention the songs.

She giggled as she walked by her mother's side, looking at the older boy. She ten and he looked to be about twelve, but no matter what his age was, he was cute.

She sighed, knowing that he had to have been smart, too. Anyone who learned at her mother's school had to be. Even she hadn't been able to pass the tests and there was no other way to get into the school! She had to go to the public school that was near by.

She looked up as her mother told her to go and play as she had a meeting with the other teachers. She nodded and began to run to the swings, ignoring the boy, not knowing how to walk up to the boy with the guitar.

Having troubles with Jay was hard - that was what Amber thought of first. The first person who she really talked to, really wanted to be with since Bray and they were having problems.

She shook her head sadly as she sat on a stoop to some random house and began looking around with her hands clasped in her lap. There wasn't much to look at, the street was bare except for a few fires burning and the sky was looking stormy. She bit her lip and wondered if she should start heading back to the mall now but decided she couldn't. Having just broken up with Jay a little more than a month ago, it still hurt to see him looking at her with a sad look in his eyes but it wasn't to bad she mused.

Quite a few people thought that she was crazy - why break up with Jay? Did she have someone else? Was he a bad boyfriend? Did he-

It was driving her insane. Nobody seemed to understand breaking up because it wasn't right anymore. Everyone just stuck together until they were found cheating with someone else or something. No one lets go anymore.

She pumped her legs harder, trying to get herself to 'fly' on the swings. She loved having the wind run through her hair. It made her feel so…free.

She laughed when the swing jerked a little, her swinging going to fast for the chains. She kept laughing until her hands slipped and she fell forward, onto the small little pebbles, and tearing up when they began cutting through her skin, making her knees bleed. The swing came back and hit her in the head, making her cry harder. Her hands were hurting too - telling her she must have hurt them also.

Through her crying, she just barely noticed that she couldn't hear guitar music anymore.

She shook her head and brought her fingers up to her forehead to rub her temples lightly, thinking of one of the main supporters she'd had through all this. As shocking as it may be, Ram seemed to shrug and said he 'understood'. What he understood, Amber wasn't sure - but he wasn't questioning her or Jay. So, maybe he didn't care that they broke up, but still, he wasn't bothering them with it either.

Amber was about to finally admit it was time to get back to the mall if for no other reason than it was going to rain soon. She got up and dusted herself off when she heard something that she had for in a while.

It was the sound of a guitar being played. She turned around, the mall forgotten as she began looking for the guitar playing…person.

The boy had run over to her and fell to his knees, dropping his guitar on pebbles beside her. She felt him softly turning her over, asking her in a hushed voice if she was okay, and could she show him where she was hurt?

She nodded and wished silently that she wasn't such a baby. She was ten years old! Not five! She shouldn't have been crying about skinned knees and hands!

The boy didn't seem to notice the battle that was going inside her mind, only noticing her cuts.

"Hi, guitar boy." She whimpered out, remembering her manners. He grinned at her lightly.

"Hey, Swing girl. You're going to want to clean these out." He told her. "Give me a second, I'll be right back." She watched as he ran into the large school building, sniffling, idly wondering what he was doing.

It was really soft so she had to backtrack a few times but in a few moments she could hear it pretty clearly and was able to figure out which house it was coming from…just as the first crack of thunder and lightning made itself known. She jumped at the sound before running into the building. As the rain began to fall, she was safely inside the abandoned house with just the guitar player.

She took a minute to review how stupid she'd been - she didn't know who the guitar player was, what if he was some maniac kid that would kill her the second she'd show her face? She tensed slightly but shook her head determined, she'd come this far to figure out who was playing the music, why not finish figuring out who it was?

She did however to resolve to be careful about it, no reason to get killed because she was stupid.

When guitar boy came back, he had a bottle of water and a wet rag, tissues and band-aids. She sniffed and leaned back a little as he began patching her up. He squirted water onto the cuts, used the rag to help him clean some, padded them dry with the tissues and them carefully applied the band-aids to her.

"Is that better?" She nodded but then shrugged at his question.

"Better, but still hurts." He smiled at her.

"I can't do anything for the hurting…but…what if I play some music? Would that make it better?" She nodded slowly.

"Yeah!" Guitar boy laughed and began playing.

It was coming from the room beside her, and she was finally able to recognize the song somewhat, though she didn't know why.

The door was open, but just a crack so whoever was on the other side couldn't see her, and she couldn't see them. She sent a little prayer to anyone who was listening and began to lightly push the door, happy that it didn't make any noise. She got it open enough just to stick her head in and take a peek.

Her eyes widened as she looked and saw that it was-

"RAM!" She winced at the sound the guitar made when he grasped it from shock, but on a whole ignored it. "What are you doing here?" Ram glared at her, his dark eyes shining. Recently, she couldn't recall him looking that angry and felt some guilt seeping into her but made sure that he didn't see.

"I'm getting the Techno's back together, I'm planning to take over the mall, I'm planning something so evil to do to you that you'll never be able to stop me!" He glared at her, standing now, and holding the guitar neck tightly in one hand. He rolled his eyes and turned away from her, crossing his arms. It was somewhat uncomfortable, what with the old electric guitar that wasn't hooked to anything but could still play acoustic, but he managed it. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He mumbled out lightly.

Amber bit her lip, wondering what she should do. It didn't take her long to figure out that she probably just destroyed his haven and couldn't help mentally slapping herself for doing it. They needed to trust Ram, and the first thing for getting someone else's trust, is to let them know they can trust you.

She just made the wedge between Ram and the Mallrats that much larger.

She sat on the floor, the sound of it causing Ram to turn around, hitting the only thing in the room besides them and the guitar, a stool, lightly.

"Will…will you, play some more?" She looked at his face, and realized that he was looking at her seriously. For the first time ever, it dawned on her that Ram was rarely ever serious. He seemed to be carefree-ish. Not so much as everyone, but much more so then say…her or Jay. He always seemed to know he'd have a back-up plan to fall back on.

She mused that being a genius gave you that sort of net.

He wasn't looking at her carefree-like now though. She had a sinking feeling that she really hurt the mallrats chances of changing the city when to her surprise he walked over, ignored the stool, and sat across from her, setting the guitar in his lap.

"Does the lady have any requests?" Amber couldn't help the surprise on her face, but she thought quickly and told him the first thing that came to her mind.

"Marcus!" Her mother yelled out when she saw Guitar boy playing. Amber winced as her mother's voice cut through the playground, "What are you do- Amber! What did you do, you stupid girl?" Amber felt stung at her mother's harsh words. She didn't want this boy to know she was stupid - at least in her mother's eyes.

"I…I fell off the swing, mommy." Her mother huffed out in impatience.

"How many times do I have to tell you? When we're on this school's grounds, I'm 'mother' or 'Mrs. Sirbe'. I'm never 'mommy'. Do you know how unprofessional that sounds?" Marcus interrupted her there though.

"Missus, Amber, she fell off the swing and really hurt herself. I did my best to get her cleaned and patched up." He waved a hand at Amber and she showed her mother her knees, that each had one large band-aid on them.

"Thank you, then, Marcus, but your assistance was not needed…and honestly! Why on Earth would you bring that thing," She pointed to his guitar when she said this, "here? Don't you know things like that will only interfere with your studies?" She huffed and grabbed Amber's hand, ignoring the young girl's yelp of pain. Amber felt a few tears slip out but she turned to wave good-bye to Marcus.

"Bye Guitar Boy." She said to him and he nodded to her and smiled.

"See ya Swing Girl."

"Unfamiliar Moon?" She asked, not sure he would know any folk music. To her surprise, he began playing the music and she leaned back, nodding her head to the music. When the song ended, he began to play another song, one of his choosing but she couldn't place it, though she was sure that it was folk too.

He'd played the final strands before getting ready to ask her what she wanted him to play next.

When he looked up at her though, he noticed that she was looking at him strangely.

"Ram…what was your name before the epidemic?" She asked him. Ram's eyes widened at the sudden question but then shrugged it off.

"Why does it matter?" He asked. She huffed and leaned farther back.

"Can't you ever give a straight answer? Must you question everything?" She asked him. He shrugged, put his guitar on the floor gingerly, before copying her stance on the floor.

"If I don't question something, then how will I know if its right?" She didn't answer but neither of them really cared that much.

"Why does it matter?" He asked again. Amber shrugged.

"I guess I just want to know. I'd make a deal with you - you know 'tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine' but the thing is, is that I didn't change my name. I've always been Amber." He smiled at her.

"There's nothing wrong with that." He said. She nodded.

"Yeah…I suppose you're right. Is there anything wrong with being Ram?" He snorted at her question.

"From having an empire, to having nothing, to accidentally setting loose the face of Zoot onto the computer system and taking control… Nah, there's nothing wrong with being Ram." She nodded, and the two of them went silent again.

"What was your life like before the epidemic?" Ram asked her. Amber shook her head, not answering but she found herself thinking about it. She hadn't really told anyone what she was like pre-epidemic. It had never really mattered. She didn't even notice that she opened her mouth and began telling him.

"I don't remember much of my dad. He and my mom got divorced when I was pretty young. I grew up with mom, not seeing to much of my dad. She was strict as hell - a school teacher for a 'smart kid' school. She was always angry at me because of how 'dumb' I was. I wasn't able to get into the school that she taught at and she was always angry at me for that… I have a sister, who, for all I know, is dead in a ditch somewhere. Our ages were kind of close so I doubt that she got hit with the virus but who knows, right?" Ram nodded and it was then that she noticed that she had just completely spilled out her past to him. She was about to get up and apologize for bothering him when he grabbed her hand tightly, but not enough to hurt her.

"Amber, sit back down, tell me more." She was going to leave, still, not able to stay when he said something that he never said with sarcasm or contempt…but he didn't say it like that now, "Please."

She sat beside him and leaned back, thinking of what she was supposed to do now when Ram started talking instead.

"My dad, he was a military general. He'd always quiz me about war and history. I knew more about bombs and guns then I did football when I was eight years old. My mom was a secretary at a doctor's office near our house so both my parents were working, though my mom only did her job as sort of a 'I'm to bored to do nothing' job, and whatnot. I'm an only child, so I know nothing else, I was the pride and joy of my parents, though. I was a genius. I knew everything and more about everything." He snorted. "Except about football."

"What's so important about football?" Amber asked him. Ram shook his head.

"Nothing much, it's just…all the other kids my age could play it - but I couldn't. I never got the chance to learn." He snorted again. "I was to busy studying." Amber couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter making Ram look at her bemused.

"I…I finding it f-funny ab-about our lives." She told him. Ram watched her lips as she talked, watched how they moved when she laughed and talked at the same time. Before she could catch him staring at them he snapped his eyes up to hers. "Our l-lives are we-were complete-ly oppo-opposite!" She gasped out through her laughter. Ram tried to remember seeing her laugh like this but couldn't think of any. He felt some pride in being able to get her to smile.

"They are sort of opposite, aren't they?" He asked her, with his arm around her shoulders, it felt natural to both of them so neither stopped it, no knowing that anything was even 'strange'. She nodded, leaning more into them.

Amber noticed the sun shining through one of the windows for the first time and realized that it had stopped raining she stood up then and held her hand out to Ram. He took it, having Amber somewhat amazed at how he could stand without putting barely any weight onto her hand and somehow able to hold the guitar in his other hand - basically standing with no hands.

It's a talent for few.

She shook her head and was about to go out the door with a quick 'bye', when Ram stopped her again.

"Hey, Amber?" She turned back to look at him.

"Yeah, Ram?" He rolled up his guitar's cords around his hand and Amber was somewhat surprised at how much muscle he actually had after being confined to a wheelchair for so long.

"About my name…"

"Yeah?"

"It was Mark."

- I'm American, but I do mean Soccer…I mean, football, I mean - ergh!