I've always hated inspirational quotes.

Seriously, they're so easy to prove wrong.

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." What If I fall six times? What if I fall eight times? What if I never fall? What if I can't get back up? What about when you die? When you fall and die, can you still get back up? I think not.

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear." False. When you're being loud, you can hear the sounds around you, as well as the sounds you are making. When you are quiet, there are no sounds that you make, so you can only hear the sounds around you.

And how is that last one inspirational? What is it inspiring me to do, be quiet? Oh hey, I just got abused by my mother for four or five months, should I just do nothing about it and keep quiet?

Yes.

"Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger."

I stuck by my promise that I would listen to Save Rock and Roll as soon as possible. In fact, the next day, I walked around Chicago, looking for a music store. It took almost an hour, but I finally found one where you could listen to full albums, not just snippets of them.

It was a small store, yet it was very comforting. The navy blue carpet matched the color of the walls, yet they were hardly visible, as they were lined with musical instruments, including some of the most beautiful basses I had seen. The center of the store was filled with rack upon racks of CDs and vinyls. I spent a good ten minutes rummaging through them, looking at all the records I wanted a copy of, but never had the money to afford.

Once I broke my trance of fangirling over the records, I quickly found a CD of Save Rock and Roll. I went over to a small machine in the corner of the store, right by the basses.

I was currently in the middle of Miss Missing You when I heard that line. The thing that I loved about this album was that it sounded all happy go lucky, but some of the lyrics were darker. For example, "C'mon make it easy, say I never mattered." or "Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger."

Although I said I hated inspirational quotes, I absolutely loved them in music. Probably because they weren't always inspirational, they were just extremely relatable. Just as the song Death Valley came on, I realized my siblings were running around the store, screaming. I groaned in frustration, I loved them to bits, but they were a handful.

"Hey Ryan, Rose! Do you wanna listen to some music?" I asked them as soon as I got to calm down. They nodded. I led them over to the CDs and watched as they picked one out.

"Skye, can I listen to Justin Beiber?" Rose asked. I snatched the CD out of her hand.

"No!" I almost shouted. "Justin Beiber is a terrible artist. You'll be wasting your time. I'm not raising you to like him. Now go pick something else out." I put the CD back where it came from. I rolled my eyes. Three year olds, am I right?

I turned around once I heard a soft chuckle behind me. "I'm glad you're one of the few people that still has good taste in music." Stumpy said. Wait, Stumpy?

"Can I call you Stumpy?" I blurted out, as his cheeks turned a light red. "Sorry, it was just a random thought. You don't have to answer that."

"No it's okay. I kinda like it." He said, looking down again.

"Stranger danger!" I heard Ryan yell as he grabbed on to my leg. Rose soon followed and did the same thing. I winced, I had some bruises there. I hope Patrick didn't notice. I pulled down my sleeves a bit, just to make sure no bruises or scars were showing.

I'm sorry I mouthed to Patrick, before looking down at them. "Don't worry, he's not a stranger. This is my friend, Patrick. I was talking to him in the subway yesterday." They still didn't move. "C'mon, say hi." I said. They still wouldn't budge.

"Aw, they're cute." He crouched down to them. "I'm Patrick. What's your name?" He said with a smile as they ran away. I tried to cover up a small laugh.

"I'm sorry, they're not very social." I tried to cheer him up once I saw him frown.

"They're your siblings?" He asked.

"Yea, they're twins, they're only three. Their names are Alex and Alexa, but I call them by their middle names, Ryan and Rose, and even then, I still get confused."

He laughed. "My parents said if they ever had another child, and it was a girl, they would name her Patricia. I don't get why people do that, it confuses me so much."

"Be glad you have an actual name. My parents named me Skye." I scoffed.

"But that's pretty! At least your last name isn't white or blue or anything." I frowned at his comment. "What?"

"My last name is Black." I said, looking down.

"Skye Black. It has a nice ring to it. What's your middle name?"

I looked down again. "Blu." I whispered as I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Blue, as in the color?" He said.

"Yea. Take the e off of the end, and add it to my first name. Skye Blu Black." I felt my face getting redder and redder.

"Man your parents must have been something." I bit my lip at his comment. I'm sure my face was burning bright red.

"Something like that." I whispered, trying to fight the flashbacks. It didn't work, and I could feel my eyes tearing up. Goddamit Skye. I turned away before he noticed. Too late. Just as he was about to say something, Rose rushed over with a CD.

"What do you have there, Rose?" I asked, praying that she didn't grab One Direction this time. Instead of showing it to me, she ran to Patrick.

"It's you!" She squealed. I turned around, confused. I looked at the CD she had. Soul Punk by Patrick Stump.

"Damn, you just love your own music, don't you?" I asked with a smile, referring to when he asked me to sing Sugar, We're Goin Down.

"There's nothing wrong with liking your own music." He flashed a smile. After a minute or two of silence, I finally spoke again.

"Well, we should really get going now." I grabbed my bag and guitar, before starting to walk out with Ryan and Rose.

"Hey!" He called after me. I turned around. "Why do you still have your bags? I'll help you if you want, I can give you a ride to your home-"

"No, no, it's okay!" I cut him off. "Uh, we just got a new hotel right in the area, so we're moving there for a bit."

"But there's no hotels near-"

"Bye Patrick!" I ran off before he could ask any more questions.

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Baby you were my picket fence

I miss missing you now and then

My voice ran throughout the station once again. Miss Missing You has been stuck in my head all day yesterday, ever since I listened to the album, so I couldn't help but play it. I had a fairly decent memory, and could more or less remember what chords the song used. I'm sure I played it completely differently than how it actually goes, I think I left out a verse, but no one seemed to care.

I counted my earnings in my case. I had about seven dollars, as I played for longer than I did the other day and yesterday. Not bad. I thought to myself. Apart from the $70 Patrick generously gave me, I only made five dollars the other day, and yesterday I only made about three.

That reminded me. I rummaged in my bag before pulling out the neon orange post it note.

Your voice is amazing. Call me sometime? (555) 555-5555 -Patrick ;)

I smiled before writing him a text.

To: Patrick

Hey Patrick, it's Skye from the subway station and the music store :)

I hit send as Ryan came over to me, complaining. "Skyeeee, we're hungry!" He whined. I grabbed a wattle bottle out of my bag.

"We'll eat later, okay? Share this with Rose, but don't drink all of it. It'll make you less hungry, and it's starting to get hot, you need to drink more water." He nodded before taking the bottle and running off to God knows where. I know, I'm a great babysitter. My phone buzzed beside me with a text.

From: Patrick

Why are you texting me?

I was taken aback by his text. He probably put two and two together and found out I was some homeless girl. Why would a famous rock star want to talk to me?

From: Patrick

I told you to call me, not text me ;) (sorry if I came off as rude)

I let out a side of relief before dialing his number.

"Hey!" I said, probably with too much enthusiasm.

"Hey, sorry if my text came off as rude. I tried to be kinda funny or whatever but I failed, sorry." He apologized.

"No, no, it's fine." I waved him off.

He paused for a second before speaking again. "Skye, are you okay? You seemed upset when I mentioned your parents."

"I'm fine." I lied. "Uh, they're just on a business trip right now, and I miss them a lot." I'm pretty sure he could read right through my lie. But he just let it slide.

"So, what's up?" He asked, nonchalantly.

"I just finished playing in the subway again. In fact, I even played Miss Missing You. It's a shame you weren't here, you would have loved it."

I heard a laugh from the other side. "I'm sure I would've. And wow, that was fast. You couldn't have heard that song any earlier than the other day."

I giggled. "I'm pretty sure I butchered it. I think I left out a verse, and God only knows how many notes I missed. And yea, I heard that song yesterday in the music store. I actually didn't get to finish the album, that's the last song I got up to. My siblings are.... a handful." I giggled again. Wait, I giggled? Twice? I wasn't the type of girl to giggle constantly. What the hell?

There was a pause on the other line for a good minute. He probably heard my giggle and figured I was just a fangirl or something.

"Skye..." He said slowly.

"Yes?" I asked skeptically.

"You're still at the subway station, right?" He questioned.

"Yes, why?" I was still confused.

His voice turned serious. "Don't move. I'm coming to get you and your siblings. You have some explaining to do."