The grey sky still carried a touch of the night. An ember peaked through the thick clouds. The still monotone of the night headed towards a serene hospital-white. The world carried the air of purgatory.

Thin black poles lit the parking lot. He sped up as soon as he saw how empty it was. The spots of light flickered as he weaved through them.

His body grew tense as he neared the end of the lot. He shifted his weight towards his left foot. He attempted the turn. A few seconds later he was sprawled out on the wet asphalt.

"Fuck," he muttered as picked himself up.

He was wearing a hoodie and jeans. Not enough exposed skin for anything more than a few scrapes. He jumped back on the board and went around the school, heading towards the back entrance.

The clouds finally gave in and scattered drops started to fall from the sky. There were a few buildings, separate from the main structure, on the backside of the school. Nicer and more modern than the main building. They lined the edge of the forest. He headed towards one with a plane slanted roof. The red facade starkly stood out against the backdrop of dark green and muddled grey.

It started raining harder. He got off the board and quickly ran across the grass towards the main entrance of the building. He tried the door. It was locked. He took his phone out and opened his notes folder.

"5-6-9-8-3-4-2 pound," he muttered to himself as he pressed the numbers on the keypad.

A green ring lit around the lock and it let out a shrill, "beep". The door opened. The rain became pebbles dropping on a tin roof. For a few seconds, it was all he could hear. Then he opened the door that led into one of the school's storage spaces.

A wall of music greeted him. Lina was practicing one of her old jazz solos, A Night in Tunisia. She was killing it. He stood at the door for a few seconds, simply watching. Ben was just getting his bass out of the guitar. He looked at him and nodded. He nodded back and went back to watching Lina.

She hit the hi-hat too early and stopped playing.

"Crap," she said.

"That was really good," he said.

"Thanks. Four years of after-school jazz band at work," she said.

He started walking towards the locker where he kept his guitar.

"Man, if we stand any chance at not sucking it'll be thanks to you," Ben said.

Ben put his arm through the bass strap and started testing a few notes.

"Is it out of tune?" Ben asked.

He looked at Lina. She shrugged. He looked at Clint.

"Don't look at me. I know less than you do," Clint said

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Clint left his backpack on a chair near the entrance. He walked to the back of the room and took out a guitar case from a locker. He took the guitar out and put his arm through the strap.

He strummed a few chords.

"Sounds right," he said.

"Check the tuner," she said.

Ben and Clint looked at each other, somewhat embarrassed.

"We don't know how to use the tuner," Ben said.

He pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"What?" she said and stopped adjusting the height of the hi-hat.

They both gave blank expressions. She stood up, the hi-hat fell. The metallic clink briefly filled the room.

"You did buy one like I told you, right?" she asked the both of them.

"Yeah," Clint replied.

"I got mine at Steve's," Ben said.

"I got mine on eBay," Clint said.

"I don't care where you got it. Let me see one." She held her hand out.

Ben walked towards his bass' case and got out a red-white aluminum square. He walked back and handed it to her.

"Okay play a note, Clint," she said.

He played a G.

"Are you trying to play G or G#?" she asked.

He looked down at his finger and thought for a second. He moved it up and down the third string.

"G" He said.

"Well," she laughed, "you are way too sharp."

He looked down at his guitar again. He pinched the string with both fingers and followed it up the neck.

"This one, right?" He said as he pointed at one of the tuning pegs.

Lina looked at him blankly.

"Let me see," Ben said. Clint turned around and showed him the headstock.

"Yeah, that looks right," Ben said.

"How do I use the tuner?" Clint asked as he turned around to face Lina.

"Like this." She said.

She placed it on top of a music stand and turned it on. She went behind him and grabbed his left hand with hers. His shoulder was at her eye line. She had to stand on her toes to see the guitar. He looked behind and laughed.

"Gotta be at least this tall to ride this ride," he said as he drew a line a few inches above her head.

"Don't make fun of me," she said, laughing.

He shrugged, grabbed a chair, and sat down.

"Better?" he asked.

She muttered something under her breath.

She leaned her head over his shoulder. Grabbing his left hand again.

"Okay," she said, "play the G"

He played the awfully sharp note.

"See how far off that is? It's gotta be dead center." She said.

He continued playing the note as she moved the tuning peg his fingers held.

She let go of his hand and stepped back.

"There," she said.

He closed his eyes and listened to the note as he played it.

"Oh," he said, "I see. Yeah, that was so off," he laughed.

"Yeah, it was. Can I see my tuner?" Ben asked.

Clint jumped up from the chair. He threw it with a curve. Ben barely caught it.

"Asshole. This is a $40 tuner," Ben said.

"What the hell. Mine was $5," Clint said.

"Are we ready?" Lina asked.

"Give us a second," They said in unison.

She went back to adjusting the hi-hat as the two of them finished tuning. Ben looked at Clint. Clint nodded.

"We're good," Ben said.

"Let's warm up first," she said.

"Why?" Clint asked.

"You're always supposed to warm up first," she answered.

"It takes too much time," Clint said.

"I do have to study with Claudia before first," Lina said to herself.

"See, extra 5 minutes of study time," Clint chimed in.

"Okay well, how about Freebird ?" Lina asked.

Ben nodded. Clint quickly ran to his backpack and pulled out some loose sheets. He ran back to the music stand.

"Listos?" Lina asked.

"Ready." Clint said.

Lina held her sticks up then did a four bet tap, "Un, dos, tres quatro."

The three of them opened in perfect unison. They made it through 2 measures before Ben started missing chords. Clint looked over at him which made Ben miss more chords. Somehow Clint switched to D major. Lina stopped playing shortly after.

"What the hell," Clint said as he let the song die in the middle of a lick.

"You switched keys," Lina said.

"I don't know what I'm doing," He laughed, "Ben stopped playing and that sounded better," he said as he continued messing with chords.

"Don't blame me," Ben said.

"Let's try again?" Lina asked.

"Sure," they both said.

The rest of the morning practice did not go much better.