I walked down the street quickly, avoiding looking people in the eye. My glasses felt obnoxious on my face and I growled inwardly. I couldn’t wait until I turned sixteen and I could get the eye surgery. Not to mention I could ride an ZBoard then. I glared at the people riding them down the street, feeling more than a little bitter.

It was cloudy out, fitting my mood. It really wasn’t my fault though. If Mr. Yelt wasn’t such a stickler when grading essays I wouldn’t be so grumpy. I mean, I how was I supposed to know everything about atoms, I was fifteen for crying out loud! I sighed to myself and made my way home. My school uniform jacket was way too thin for this kind of weather and I was shivering. I had forgotten to grab my thicker jacket this morning.

“Hey Jim Jam,” Sophie said, walking up behind me.

“Not in the mood Soph,” I said.

“What’s wrong Jamie?”

“Oh, just the D I got on Mr. Yelt’s paper,” I said glumly. Sophie made a sympathetic noise but didn’t stop grinning. She was an abnormally cheerful person, not always a good thing.

“That’s too bad Jim Jam,” she said, referring back to her nickname for me. “But you are in luck because I just got my very first pay check and I know what will make you feel better. Frozen yogurt!” I refrained from pointing out that frozen yogurt is what makes her feel better and not me. Then again, who am I to refuse a free treat?

Inside the yogurt shop there was a small crowd. As we waited in line, I listened to the music that was playing in the background. It was techno and a little obnoxious but it was the “hot” music at the moment.

“You know you really shouldn’t make a habit out of spending your paycheck money the day you get it. There is a reason you took that job in the first place,” I said once I securely had my frozen yogurt in my hands and we were walking outside again. Sophie just stuck her tongue out at me.

“Last time I buy you something to make you feel better,” she said, stomping in front of me a few steps but then stopping and waiting for me to catch up. She was already smiling again. I laughed and so did she. I lied, maybe always being happy could be a good thing.

It was then I heard a sound I had never heard before. It was soft and nice. I liked it immediately. I looked towards it and saw a boy sitting with some wooden thin across his lap. He was brushing his fingers against the string on it and his mouth was moving but we were too far away to hear. I nudged Sophie. “Look,” I said.

“Whoa,” she said. “Hey that looks like a guitar,” she said. I gave her a blank glance. “Oh you know we saw them at the music museum. They were played like one-hundred years ago but fell out of fashion once tech became popular.

“Wow that thing must be like ancient. I wonder where he got it.”

“I guess some people still collect them...” By now we were almost to where the boy was sitting. He looked to be a little older than them, maybe sixteen or seventeen. He was cute; no doubt about that. His light brown hair flopped into is green eyes. He repeatedly threw his head back, trying to get his hair out of his face while his hands were busy but it just kept falling back. When we were in hearing range of his singing I swear my heart melted.

His song was one I didn’t recognize, maybe from the time period of his guitar. His voice ran over the words and somehow changed them to mean something more. It was like liquid sugar and I felt like I could almost feel it around me.

I openly stared at him until Soph grabbed my arm and started to drag me away. The song ended and I stumbled away with her. I looked back once, to look at the guitar and when I looked at the boy he was looking at me. I smiled shyly, embarrassed for being caught staring and he winked at me. I turned back around quickly, thankful I didn’t blush.

“Wow Jamie, why are you blushing,” Soph asked me. I laughed a little. So much for that, I thought. I hoped he hadn’t seen. I shrugged and Sophie wasn’t interested enough to press the topic.

“Daddy it was amazing, you should have seen it. He was actually playing a guitar!” My dad was away on business so I was talking to him on the ZPhone. The small mic was connected to my ZComp. His image was generated above the platform to form a 3D image of his head and shoulders. It was so real he could have been there, except my hand went right through his form, disrupting the pixels. His image wavered for a moment.

“Jamie is everything okay? You went out of focus for a second,” my dad said worriedly.

“Yeah Daddy sorry that was my bad.” He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Well anyway honey I wouldn’t expect to see much more of him and his guitar,” my dad said. “The government outlawed street performers when the techno musicians complained about their equipment getting broken or stepped on.”

“But Daddy he had a guitar. And didn’t street performers ask for money. He wasn’t begging, he was just singing. I’ve never heard anyone sing before except for the digitally warped voices on the CDs!” I was disappointed that my dad wasn’t as excited about it as I was. Normally we had the same interests, like baseball, the only remaining physically played sport, and the latest tech like ZBoards and ZAutos.

“That’s nice honey, I’m glad you had that experience. Anyways I bought us tickets to go see the Angels play the Yankees at the World Series, would you like to see that?” He was teasing me now, knowing the answer.

“Yes! Of course I want to see that,” I exploded, jumping out of my seat. “Thank you Daddy, thank you so much!” The Angels hadn’t won the World Series in thirty-nine years and it was beyond their time. As I talked to my dad about the game and how the season had gone the boy with the guitar and green eyes was pushed to the back of my mind, not completely forgotten.