Meeting Mrs. Dee

"Excuse me?"

She looked terrified but my mind wasn't working right now. I acted first before thinking which pretty much contradicts my motto in life to think first before you make wrong decisions in life. I loosened my grip on her arm and bowed my head. "Mrs. Liberty?"

She just stared at me confused. Maybe Mrs. Dee never knew Black in this Earth which will become a problem if I wanted to reach out to Mrs. Dee. "And who might you be to address me as a married single woman?"

My eyes widened in shock so I let go of my grip and stepped back. "Sincere apologies for coming out you like that, ma'am. I mean no harm." When I bowed, I saw her identity card and read what school she's from. St. Peters High. I looked back at her and she was definitely Mrs. Dee. I can't be mistaken. I've known Mrs. Dee ever since I went to school. She was a like a second mother to me in my Earth.

She frowns and fixed her thick framed glasses on the bridge of her nose. At that, she walks away. Now that I found Mrs. Dee, I have to think of how to approach her in a situation like this – when I'm Black and they're not familiar with each other at all in this Earth.

The first thing I did right when I got home is the desktop. I immediately search for St. Peters High and fortunately, they had a school website which means it would be much more easier for me to locate where she goes and easier for me to interact with her.

I scrolled down through the page and clicked on the magnifying glass to search for her name. I was almost done typing her name when I realized something from her reply. And who might you be to address me as a married single woman. If Mrs. Dee is not married here, then her surname must still be her maiden name in my Earth.

Devon Soliven.

Without a doubt, her picture pops up in my screen so I quickly clicked it and her Bio appears next to her picture. She doesn't look anything like what she is in my Earth. In this Earth, she is so simple in contrast to what she is on mine. She always wore makeup but she doesn't seem to wear any in here. She doesn't wear glasses like that on my Earth too but she does in here. She's not married here and she doesn't look too reliable for my concern now.

Reading her Bio, I came across her major subjects which were amusingly still Physics. Now I had more hope that she can help me. If there's someone who can create the portal again, it won't be anyone but Mrs. Dee.

"Kids, are you ready?!"

I quickly threw in unfamiliar clothes in my bag without trying to see if I would pull them off as Black because mother couldn't stop yelling for us to come downstairs and head to the beach. Mom had planned this trip for a few days now, she said. She told us that it was a great opportunity to celebrate Black's comeback which made me feel guilty to see them put in this much effort for someone who's not really their daughter from this Earth but particle-y related.

It wasn't a long drive to the beach. In fact, it wasn't that far at all so when we got there, we immediately positioned ourselves in a vacant cottage which was surprisingly free. Mother laid down the sheet over the table and Blue brings out the food mom prepared for this day while Mint goes and sits down with her red headphones on.

"Put some lotion before you dive in, okay?" Mom said.

Blue wasn't interested at all. She even brought a book with her here. Mint, however, was already set to go for it but she kept pulling me to go with her which I'm interested to do too if there weren't any complications. "Come on, Black! Let's go swim! Let's go!" she exclaims but I shook my head.

"I can't, Mint."

"Why can't you though?" she pouts and stops pulling me. "You even taught me how to swim before. We used to do it a lot."

I paused and wasn't able to think of an alibi fast. "I'm on my period." I whispered so she frowns and gives up on me. She runs next to Blue this time and tries to convince her but just like me, she refused to accompany Mint. I would gladly do it if I knew how to swim but me on Earth A is not a great swimmer despite me in Earth B is shockingly good at it.

"Mom!"

Blue laughs and we both watch Mint whine over father's arms.

After a while, I suddenly hear Blue speaking by herself with hand gestures. I stared at her confused at why she was randomly speaking by herself. I almost thought she was going crazy until I saw her looking at a piece of paper. "I'm practicing for an interview,"

"Oh, good luck,"

"Help me?"

I blinked and stared at the piece of paper she was handing me. "Yeah, okay." I grabbed it from her so she positions herself to face me. I scanned the paper and there were a list of questions encoded there.

"Just ask me one of those questions,"

I nodded and picked a question. "What is one thing you have that can be really useful with our lacking?"

Blue answers the questions fluently and confidently. We did this a lot of times until I laughed and finally confronted her about my observation. "You don't have to practice Blue. You're already good at this."

"I have to practice, Black. I need to be confident. I can't fail this interview. Our future depends on this and I have to do my best."

"You'll do great. I'm sure they will die to have you in their company,"

Blue smiles. "Thanks,"

I was in the living room reading my notes in Physics for an exam when someone suddenly plays with my hair. I looked around me and saw dad's familiar muscular furry legs. He was brushing my hair up with his fingers. "You know your mother and I love you, right?"

I froze and stopped reading my notes.

He ties my hair with something and I could feel his hands shaking and vibrating over my scalp. "Not my best but it's always better to study with your hair up. So it doesn't get in your way." I feel dad's hands over my shoulder. "Good night, sweetie. Don't stay up too long." He kisses my head and leaves the room with a smile before he was out of my sight.

Black's family is the sweetest and I can't believe she was wasting people like them just because of jealousy. If they were my family on my Earth, I would be very glad. If Black was disrespectful with a family like this, it would be her loss. I couldn't even disrespect my own family despite how awful they treat me.

WHEN Monday came, I told myself to skip class in the afternoon and go to St. Peters High to talk to Mrs. Dee. I wasn't even sure if the cab I was taking would really send me there but I didn't have any choice because even I wasn't familiar with the school itself. Thankfully, I did not encounter a killer and reached my destination safely.

The welcoming arc had the name of the school so when I entered, the guard stops me and asks for my intentions. "I'm here to visit a friend," I lied but he gives me a card that states Visitor's Pass.

I was literally exploring the entire campus constantly asking for strangers for Mrs. Dee and they all told me to go to the faculty room which I can't find – and because I already asked so much from people, I was too shy to ask for more – to ask where the faculty room was. "Black?"

I turned and saw an unfamiliar guy – again. Black was an all-around girl that even students from different schools know her. I guess that's one thing we didn't have in common. She was very popular in this Earth. I wonder what decisions I made here to be known by this many people that I didn't make in my own Earth.

"So it's true that you're back. What are you here for? Are you visiting a friend?"

I couldn't speak. I was looking at a Goddess looking face and what I meant about that was he looked beautiful. His eyes were big and his lashes were long and thick. He was very tall as well but he wasn't that fair. He wasn't wearing the same uniform that everyone was wearing in here though. He was in his jersey with an embroidered initial letters of their school.

"A boyfriend?"

"Oh no, I... I was looking for Ms. Soliven."

He frowns in disbelief. "Ms. Soliven? W-Why on Earth would you be looking for—"

"Timothy! Let's go!"

"If you're looking for her, she might be in the library. Find the main park and you'll just see it there. It's nice to see you again, Black. You've gotten a lot more beautiful than we were dating before. See you around." He winks and turns around running towards his friend that called him a while ago.

Now that I was facing his back, I could see letters, still embroidered at the back of his jersey. If he was a varsity, then it should be his surname. Timothy McKinley. I wasn't even surprised now that he just revealed to me that he and Black dated before. He looked like someone Black would play with.

I followed Timothy's directions and found the main park. Right off the bat, I see the tall library just behind the fountain that was positioned in the center of the park. I entered inside and the cold sensation of the air coming out from the air conditioner tingles my skin.

At first, I was hesitant to keep walking forward but the librarian doesn't stop me so I went and looked for Mrs. Dee. I've been walking around this library for rounds but I still couldn't see any sign of her so I gave up and exited that building. I sighed in frustration.

"M-M-M-M-Ms. S-S-Soliv-v-ven! Y-Y-Y-You d-d-dropped s-somet-t-t-t-thing,"

I turned and saw Mrs. Dee hugging her books tight as she walked carefully. The lads behind her threw something and they laughed out loud. Suddenly, they pushed her one guy after another like a ball until she fell on the ground. Mrs. Dee didn't look affected by it and she wasn't doing anything about it so I ran to where she was.

"Ms. Soliven, are you okay?" I bent down and eyed the three guys that were bullying her.

"You're lucky today, Ms. Soliven." The three guys left so I helped Mrs. Dee get up.

She jerks my hand away and gives me a face that one would specifically give out to a stranger. "You," she mutters. "What are you doing here? Why are you following me?"

"I came here to talk to you Ms. Soliven." She stares at me but she steps away when I tried to approach her again. "I won't hurt you. I just really need to talk to you." I convinced more. "About the parallel universe."

At that, Mrs. Dee grabs my hand and pulls me somewhere farther from where we were. She looks at me. "What do you want about the parallel universe? You're not even my student here. Why are you looking for me?"

I sighed and looked a little away. "Ms. Soliven, you're a physics teacher right? I need your help with something that involves the parallel universe. The multiverse."

"What do you want?"

"Is it possible for a person to travel light years through a portal into a parallel universe?"

She looked amused for a moment but she takes a deep breath before she answered me. "It would be impossible for now because no one can travel light years with what we have in this era. Maybe in a century it would be possible but as of now, no one can really gather that much speed to keep up with the light year portal."

"About the people from two different universes, are they completely different people from a parallel universe? Or are their capabilities still—"

"Everything will go down to one ending. Meaning, no matter how different the choices that people made from different universes, it's all gonna result to one certain point in life and everything will end the same – theoretically."

"So if a person, taking for chances, made something in one universe, is it possible for that person to make it possible in another universe too?"

She sighs. "Well, accomplishments from universes are not yet discovered but I believe accomplishments of people may vary— why are you even asking me all these questions? Why are you so interested about this multiverse?"

"Because I am from another universe and you made the portal in my Earth. If there is anyone who can help me figure out how to get back on my Earth, it's you, Ms. Soliven. It's you who made the portal that opens to a parallel universe."

"No,"

"Yes and you said it yourself. That no matter how different the choices people made, it'll all come down to one point. That of which is you making the portal here in your Earth as mirrored on my Earth."