Slow Tempo

Jack waited for Red outside of his class, wearing his maroon hoodie and black baseball cap which he peered under watching the minutes go by, leaning against the sickly green lockers along their school walls. The bell suddenly rings and he hops from his spot and up to the classroom door.
Red walked out of his class ignorant to his surroundings with his note's in hand which Jack quickly snatched up
Red looked down at his hands bewildered on where they'd gone then looked towards Jack looking through them mischievously "Really Jack?" Red says with an unsurprised tone.
Jack shrugged and laughed taking their conversation off to the side more so they were no longer in the class doorway, "I have their class last hour of the day, and I'm already failing most of the tests, so I really need this, alright." he says with a slight pleading wince to keep the papers
Red rolled his eyes with a slight groan looking at Jack's face "Maybe if you start paying attention it'll help, anyways, how'd you get out of your class early?"
Jack Raised a brow with a slight smirk "I walked out of the classroom, like an absolute genius." he looked at Red as if he was even stupid for asking such a question.
Red stared at him for a bit and just narrowed his brows and nodded,
"uh-huh, okay Mr.F in 3 classes." He says in a Sarcastic tone
"Yeah yeah, I get it I'm shitty at school, anyways," Jack put up five fingers "Zero said he was gonna go eat with his girlfriend for lunch, Sally is still sick and Ciya is skipping," Jack put down a finger as he talked about each friend as he thought until he ended up with one finger up. "So I guess it's just us today for lunch." Jack says as he wiggled the finger that signified Red
"I don't mind, I planned on going to one of the practice rooms for lunch anyways" Red says as he took the papers back from Jack
"Eh? -'' Jack was caught off guard; he didn't even notice the papers were taken from him "Wait, why? you can only go if you play an instrument."
"My mom signed me up for piano lessons, she thought focusing on something would help my anger issues, so I've been practicing lately. " Red spoke in a slight mumble as if he was slightly ashamed.
"Piano lessons?" Jack looked at Red confused as if the piano didn't really fit Red.
Red looked back at Jack and smirked with a shrug as he walked to the practice room, Jack noticed his friend leaving him behind and quickly caught up with him.

Red walked into the practice room and looked at the small school piano as he flicked on the light, he stood there for a minute wondering where Jack had gone, he was right behind him walking there after all. Jack soon bursted the door open, Violin case in hand.
"You gotta show me what you can play." Jack insists excitedly as he puts down his case on the ground and looks up at Red.
Red scratched the back of his head nervously, "need sheet music" he watched Jack open up each lock of his case and retrieve his Violin. "Wait here." Jack says as he scurries off to the other room.
Red sat back at his seat in front of the piano lightly tapping keys quietly thinking about the recent events that basically consumed his life as of junior year, his recent break up, his fathers passing and his struggling mother. Thinking of things like that made Red have a burning feeling on the back of his neck with realization he could do nothing about these things as a Teen made him feel helpless. right as Red was getting acquainted with the silence in the room Jack burst back in with sheet music which caused Red to jump slightly in his seat.
"Miss me?" Jack says with a gleeful smile
"no." Red replies bluntly
Jack stared at him keeping his smile then nodded "reasonable, uh the school had some sheet music though" Jack looked away for a second to remember what they were doing, once he realized he placed the papers on the piano he sat back on the floor next to his case and tightened his bow "play a bit for me, I'm curious of what you can do."
"....face away from me and I'll play" Red mumbles
"alrighty capt'n" Jack says as he turns his body away from Red. Red let out a heavy exhale before he had started to play. Jack closed his eyes and listened, his ear's twitching with each note counting how many Red would play incorrectly. this would continue until the 12th note Red had missed. Jack quickly got up and faced Red in obvious annoyance, Red stared at him abruptly stopping.
"...y-yea?" Red says in an awkward tone.
"Okay, I'm not gonna bust your balls too bad I just have major pet peeves, yes you're playing fine although you're playing faster than you should be and getting waaay to ahead of yourself." Jack inhaled and looked at Red, who looked back at him as if asking 'well what should I do?' Jack sighed and got up, he stood next to Red pointing to the time signature on the paper "this is here for a reason you know," Red looked at him a bit unsure, Jack looked back at him unimpressed, "You haven't been taught time signatures?"
"I've been learning for 3 weeks Jack, you can't expect me to be a god at pressing buttons"
"keys, but that's besides the point, time signatures are literally like one of the first things I learned other than reading the damn notes-" Jack stopped himself and closed his eyes, "anyways, here, I'm gonna play with you and you cannot play ahead of me."
Red shrugged in response and looked down at the keys "yeah okay."
Jack stood behind Red to look at his sheet music and placed his violin under his chin, "be glad violin and piano play on the same clef and this is music for middle schoolers"
"Just start playing." Red responds in slight annoyance.
Jack let out a breath and began playing, Red sat there a second before realizing he needed to play as well, he looked at the measure Jack was on and joined him stiffly, almost immediately rushing the notes, Jack jabbed him in the back and Red looked back at him with a scorn before taking a breath and adjusting himself to keep in pace with Jack. he seemed to have loosed slightly as he played. Playing at a slower pace allowed him to hit more notes correctly, but other than that Red seemed to enjoy the restriction of pace, it caused him to slow down and take time, it felt calming to him, the most calm he's been this year. After they were finished Red sat at the piano in silence for a minute staring at the keys, this was the first time he felt in control of something in his life for once.
Jack looked down at him expecting some kind of snarky comment and was confused when his friend was silent.
Red raised his head silently, "...do you think we can play another song?"
Jack looked at Red's steady hands and smirked to himself, "yeah, alright"