“Hi,” she said meekly, waving feebly in their direction.

The blond stopped strangling the one with the fro (she couldn’t remember their names, although she knew them by sight) and the one with glasses was staring at her like he’d never seen a girl before. He had of course seen a girl before because their audiences were mostly of the female variety.

Frank seemed satisfied that all attention was now on the doorway, so he cleared his throat importantly. “This is Mack--” he turned to Mackenzie and lowered his voice. “Can I call you Mack?” She laughed and nodded. “This is Mack Carter, she’s here to keep you dickheads in check.”

Introductions finished, he flopped down on the floor and grabbed a controller that had been dropped earlier in the fight.

“I thought we had a zoo keeper,” the blond said, scratching his head and kicking Frank in the shin to get his attention. “I was playing that, ass.”

Frank shrugged. “Oh, Mack. This is Bob,” the blond waved and then scowled at Frankie as he attempted to retrieve his controller. “The dude with the hair is Ray, and this is Mikey.” He patted the knee of the one with glasses.

“Hi,” Ray said with a smile. “You can sit.” He threw some magazines off the vacant seat and patted it until she sat down. “So what are you really doing here? You can’t be the zoo keeper, because, as Bob said, we’ve already got one.”

“One who is a bitch,” Bob chirped, grabbing the controller out of Ray’s hand and preparing to annihilate Frankie.

“I’m from The Scene,” Mackenzie explained, setting her pocket book on her lap. “I’m on the tour for a couple weeks, doing some in-depth articles on a couple of the bands here.”

“Us?” Mikey asked curiously, leaning back in his seat.

“Yeah, I think,” Mackenzie replied, laughing. “Unless my boss decides to stick me with some other band. All I know is that he’s a dick, and is coincidently named Dick, and wants me to ask hard-hitting questions not relating to anyone’s favorite colors.” She shuddered just thinking about him, and how she’d have to deal with him in a few days.

“I like black,” Frank said helpfully from the floor. “Dude, you can’t use that move. It’s illegal.”

“Fuck off, man. I’ll use whatever move I want,” Bob retorted, using said move again.

“Cheat codes,” Ray explained, shaking his head. “There will be a riot any minute now.”

Mackenzie glanced at Bob and Frank, who were glaring daggers at each other and alternately watching the screen. “I should probably go then. I don’t wanna have to fill out a police report.” She stood up and headed for the door. “It was nice meeting you all. I’ll see you around.”

“You wanna meet Gerard?” Mikey asked, standing up and following her into the kitchenette. “He’s in his bunk, lemme just go attack…I mean wake him up.”

“Oh, no, don’t wake him up on my account. I’ll meet him later. I’m supposed to be meeting…” she paused and pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag. “…Fall Out Boy at five for a preliminary.”

Mikey nodded. “I can show you where their bus is if you want.”

“It’s really hard to find,” Ray said, coming up behind him. “It’s off the beaten path, you know. Off on Fall Out Boy Lane down the street next to Coheed and Cambria Drive.”

Mackenzie laughed. “That’s helpful, thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Mikey leaned against the counter, and watched as Ray dug around in the cupboards for something to eat. “What time do you do our preliminary?”

Ray turned around to listen.

“Your handler set me up with a meeting tomorrow at lunch, I think,” she replied, scanning her itinerary (which was really just a piece of notebook paper filled with her messy scrawl).

“You talked to Bitchy McBitch?” Ray questioned incredulously. “How many names did she call you?”

Mackenzie raised an eyebrow, feeling confused. “None. That I heard.” Mikey and Ray exchanged quick glances, and Mackenzie stepped forward. “What? What have I missed?”

“Bitchy---I mean Sandra---isn’t, uh, the nicest person. We’ve been trying to get rid of her for a long time, by pissing her off. She hasn’t left yet.”

Ray nodded in agreement. “She’ll outlive us all, I guess.”

“Why don’t you just fire her?”

Mikey and Ray looked at one another again, then started laughing.

“Well, because that would be the easy way,” Ray said after a minute.

“Also because we hadn’t thought to,” Mikey continued. “We’ve never really fired anyone.”

“Except Matt,” Ray contributed helpfully.

Mikey gave him a look. “Shut up, Ray.”

Ray shrugged good naturedly and turned back to the cupboard, leaving Mackenzie time to slip out quietly.

[lyrics: My Chemical Romance, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”]