Chapter 3

The sun dawned a new day and Link sheepishly slid out of bed onto the floor. If the sun wasn't enough to wake him, the sharp thud of his head knocking against the ground sure was. He sat up and rubbed the side of his head before standing up and heading out the door.

First thing as always in Link's schedule: shower. He noticed that the shower was the best place he had found for thinking. He found it rather strange as well that he seemed to plan his day in the shower. Scary thing is, for most people that seems to be a normal thing…

After drying himself off with the green towel he grabbed from the towel rack, he had planned out what he was to do. He had noticed that his strings on his guitar were starting to get rather dirty and a little to rough for his taste. Link never was much for screwing with his guitar anymore than possible, so he decided to go grab a few extra packs of strings from the local music shop round lunch time.

His roommates hadn't even begun to stir yet, not to any surprise. No doubt they had stayed up until five in the morning or so. Link rolled his eyes at the thought and slipped on his usual worn and torn jeans with the old black belt. Slipping on a black Avenged Sevenfold T-shirt, he ran a comb through his hair a few times to make his nice even part that he liked in that mess of blonde hair. After spraying on a bit of cologne and scrubbing his teeth almost to a bloody pulp with his toothbrush, he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door.

As he clopped his way down the stairs in his ratty pair of Chucks, he crammed his wallet into the back of his pocket. Link always wore rather tight-fitting shirts, since he had the body for it. His biceps and perfectly toned abs just seemed to line and bulge out of the shirts. After sliding his Aviator sunglasses on and turning on the "Beast and the Harlot" once again, he tore out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. A smirk grew on his face as he whizzed by other drivers in his jet black Camaro.

"You coming?" Serj asked impatiently.

"Yeah, give me a sec, sheesh…" Zelda whined.

Serj tapped his foot edgily as his sister took her sweet time getting ready to leave. Serj was a rather handsome guy himself. He had messy blonde hair that just sat flatly gelled on his head; fierce emerald green eyes pierced through everything they crossed. He was just about 6 feet tall with not too much muscle on his bones, but enough for everything he did through life. Lack of muscle never hurt him in a fight that was for damn sure. He had very pointed features with his long nose and short eyebrows. He was dressed in an army green shirt with black baggy pants.

Zelda frantically put clothes on the other side of the door. She had overslept and now Serj was waiting on her, oh how bad she felt. She slipped on a pale yellow tank top that really showed off the fullness of her breasts without calling out the word "slut" to everyone that passed by. Zelda was a virgin and was damn proud of it. She wore a pair of short jean shorts that came up about three inches up from her knee; her dirty blonde hair was wavy as usual and stretched down to her lower back. She was shorter than her brother, only managing to reach the height of 5'5, but she never let her petite figure get her down, for she always found it sexy. Her sharp features almost mimicked her brother's it seemed, though her nose was a bit pointier and her face more narrow. Slipping on a pair of pink Old Navy sandals, she grabbed her purse and popped through the door.

"Why are you coming anyways? You don't have interest in my musical style," Serj interrogated as they walked down the giant stairs to the large oak doors.

"What, I can't spend a nice summer day out with my brother?" she smarted off.

"Alright then Ms. Smarty-pants, be that way," he joked and pushed the doors open for her.

They both got into their old but beloved car and searched the local radio stations for some tunes. Serj was happy when he switched it on and found Pantera, while Zelda was more of the Avril Lavigne fan. With the only other option being The Carpenters, they shut it off in a compromise.

Link walked into the music store and headed to the room in the back, where he had been so many times. As he scanned over the rack filled with guitar strings, he noticed his favorite brand and pulled out three sets. As he went to leave, he couldn't help but notice the Eric Johnson signature Stratocaster that hung on the wall. Giving it an evil grin, he pulled it off the shelf and plugged it into the nearest Fender guitar amp.

It was gorgeous, a true beauty to him. It had a candy apple red finish and a maple neck slick as marble. As he pulled a pick from his pocket, he kept the volume fairly low… well, at least low enough to where everyone could hear him, but not so loud he would get kicked out of the store. It wouldn't have been the first time.

He wailed away at hit, pulling out all the tricks in his hat he could think of; his blazing chops running limitless pentatonic scales up and down the smooth fret board. It was like chemistry as he began to play Crazy Train from Ozzy. With another evil smile, he decided to dig a little farther into his repertoire…

"I just don't get why you think my music is oh so bad," Serj argued with Zelda as he parked the car.

"I don't think it's bad, Serj. I'm just not a huge fan of the vocals, you know? That trashy band Slipknot? They make my skin crawl with their cookie monster vocals all the time…"

Serj couldn't help but laugh at the cookie monster comment as he stepped out of the car. He had never heard it put like that, but he had to admit she was right. It was as though the classic Sesame Street character had taken over some of the vocal styling of the day.

"What I don't understand is why it is that you are so thrilled by it. I mean, do you real…"

"Do you hear that?" Serj rudely interrupted.

"No, I wasn't talking," Zelda smarted off.

"Holy shit, whoever that is, is a god!" Serj exclaimed.

He opened the door to the music store; he could actually hear it clear as day outside. The sound was so clean and melodic. He had never heard anybody play it like that. And the fact that this guy was playing "La Villa Strangiato" from Rush was amazing anyways. That was Alex Lifeson's most difficult piece! And Lifeson was no slug!

Serj peered around the corner to see that he was not the only onlooker. Several people had gathered about a blonde haired guy around the same age as himself. With his jaw on the floor and his mind in awe, he watched and listened intently. Serj had confidence in himself, but this was ridiculous. This guy was ripping it off as though he bored!

After watching the man finish his piece, a few people actually applauded and asked him what his name was. Just being modest, the boy would make simple, yet polite comments to people until they finally cleared off. Serj knew the boy must be annoyed, but he didn't care. He HAD to talk to this guy.

After the other onlookers had cleared off, Serj stepped up to the young man as he was putting the guitar back in its place. The teen turned and looked Serj right in the eye, but not at all a look of spite, but of sincerity.

"Hey, my name's Serj," Serj greeted as he extended his hand.

"Hello Serj, call me Link," Link returned as he firmly shook his hand.

"I couldn't help but notice that you were playing La Villa Strangiato man. That was amazing," Serj modestly complimented, though he was very eager to just tackle Link and squeeze the skill out of him.

"You know Rush?" Link stuttered, very surprised that this guy actually knew what song he had just been playing.

"Hell yeah man, one of my fave bands. I'm a guitar player myself, but I've never really gotten into a band, though I've always wanted to. I like to think I'm decent, but I don't know…"

"Well here."

Link reached up and picked the guitar back up and plugged it in. In an encouraging gesture, he handed Serj the guitar. Urging him to play it, Serj began to feel a little uncomfortable. He was good, but not THAT good.

"Alright…"

Serj took as seat and pulled off everything he knew. He was able to come out with some Avenged Sevenfold, a little bit of Rush, that sort of thing. He knew he only had one chance to make a good first impression, and he didn't want to blow it.

"How long have you been playing?" Link asked when he was finished.

"Around four years or so give or take," Serj replied, placing the guitar to rest.

"You know, I've got a band here in San Demas called Prototype… heard of us?" Link asked eagerly.

"No man. I just moved her with my sis and dad yesterday," Serj replied, a little embarrassed.

"Really? You in school still?" he prodded.

"Yeah, senior this year… why?" Serj asked, a little taken aback.

"I'll guess I'll be seeing you around school then," Link stated with a grin.

"Holy shit, you're still in school? I never would have guessed," Serj stuttered.

"Ha! I get that a lot. Say man, I wouldn't mind having a rhythm guitar player in Prototype…" Link hinted as though he just dropped a huge bomb.

"Are you offering me an audition?" Serj stuttered again dumfound.

"You don't even need to audition man; you're more than good enough. I'll let you do a little lead too man. Here's my phone number. We're getting together tomorrow night, what do you say?" Link inquired, knowing that the offer wouldn't be refused.

"Hell yeah. I'll call you later tonight then," Serj replied, very excited if I may add.

"Alright, great man. See you around," Link said as he turned around.

As he started to walk, he noticed a young woman just in front of him. She was breathtaking, to say the least. Link was dumbstruck at how beautiful she was. Realizing that he was staring, and probably had his mouth wide open, he quickly recovered from the awkward moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry mam," he stated quickly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Link. This is my little sister, Zelda," Serj cut in, realizing how rude he had been not to include her.

Zelda only gave Link a half-hearted, half-smug smile. Link took the hint and smiled at her and continued walking to buy his strings. Serj glared at Zelda a bit. What the hell had gotten into her?