An acoustic guitar is exactly what I was going to suggest. I've been playing for... seven years now? The best thing I did was to first learn to play on an acoustic. It strengthens your hands and fingers so that when you start playing electric you won't have much of a problem. Also, be sure to learn your basic chords first.
As for picking out a guitar, don't pick one yourself if you don't have to. If available, bring someone who seriously knows what they're doing and let them at least narrow your choices down to something that's worth a damn. No one expects you to know how to pick out a good guitar at this point. You really wouldn't know what qualities to look for without quite a bit of experience. This is also the reason many people give up too quickly... they assume a guitar is good, they buy it, then quickly realize it won't hold a tune and the strings are too far from the fretboard to actually play it.
