The middle of a park, around noon. A large stage, the curtain down, behind it various random items as well as a piano and a raised platform, strangely quiet...
Screech.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!" Trini, a black-haired, dark-skinned teenager, stopped playing with the sound system and picked up a small plastic dinosaur. "What's this for?" She examined it carefully. It appeared to be a velociraptor with bizarre purple spots. The spots looked freshly painted.
"Who knows?" Haley shrugged and sat back in the black round chair a few feet from the piano bench, blond hair sticking up randomly from lack of brushing. "It's almost all improv anyway."
"The real mystery is when Constance is getting here with my drums," Jasper muttered. As if summoned by his words, a battered green van with the faint outlines of letters on the side pulled up next to the stage. Constance opened the door and jumped out on the driver's side. Lyn, an Asian-looking girl with long black hair, jumped down from the other side.
"Hey, Jasp." Constance opened the back of the van. "I've got your drums." She eyed him critically. "You look like a mop."
"I know," he moaned, jumping off the edge of the stage. He was already tall and skinny, but his literal interpretation of the word "moptop" finished off the impression.
"I hope your friend gets here soon," Lyn muttered. "We have no security here. Why did we have to come play in Alameda anyway?"
"I was bored." Constance helped Jasper move the drums to the platform on the stage.