We all sat down at the dinner table, garnished with Mom's cooking. She had made Rabbit Foot Noodles that were drenched in crocodile sauce along with a fresh winter mint salad that contained spicy berries and nuts. It would've been the perfect dinner if it had not been for Professor Unknown who decided to sit across from me.

     “So, Keith, how is our daughter doing in your class?” Mom had to ask as if it was a requirement once you met your daughters’ teacher.

     Professor Unknown grabbed the bowl of winter mint salad and began to dish it upon his plate, “Well, if I can be honest, Ninety-One does skip a lot. And it’s not just for my class either. She's known for holding Cement Water in the halls amongst the first year Spades.”

    Mom frowned, glaring at me and I gulped, “I see…So she skips. What else is she doing?” She stabbed her fork into the salad and continued to stare me down.

     “Nothing else...” I whimpered.

     “Fighting is the number one thing Ninety-One does.” Professor Unknown admitted, not noticing that he's placing me on a deathbed, “But she's making OK grades.”

     “Wait...Did you just call our daughter Ninety-One?” Mom questioned and Dad, who was praying that Mom didn’t backhand me at the table in front of the guest, perked up.

     “Yes! It’s on our Register that her preferred name is Ninety-One.” He stated.

     “Mikel!” Mom shouted at me, “Are you still going underneath that ‘Ninety-One’ name?!”

     “Uh well...yeah?” I stammered.

     “Bitch that isn’t what’s on your damn certificate!” She jumped out of her chair, “Your name is Mikel Orlando Dorian, you got that?!”

     “Y...Yes Ma'am.” I accepted my fate.

     “Good!” She happily sat back down and started to eat.

     “Wow Marley. You sure haven’t changed since back then.” Professor Unknown commented.

     “I have too! I’m not that aggressive anymore.” She laughed.

     The three talked about them being back in Kin'Kelly, a city located a few hundred miles away. Apparently, Dad and Professor Unknown had grown up there and they rekindled all the fun times they had. It was the first time I had heard anything about my Dad having four other brothers who and him being the middle child. He had a strict father who didn’t allow them to have that much fun and required them to only study. That’s why he moved as soon as he graduated from The Last.

      Mom, on the other hand, was an adopted child who lived in a house filled with Ultiers. She fought with her adopted mother every single day and did whatever she wanted. They were two people completely on different scales of personalities and attitudes. Professor Unknown had asked them why they moved so suddenly out of the city but they never responded. 

     I silently ate my food, hoping to hide back upstairs before Mom killed me with her anger and I knew she was still angry. She never liked me calling myself Ninety-One. It always brought her back to that time she regretted the most. It was a time when she couldn’t protect me like she wanted too and started to straighten up as a parent. Quickly I finished up and rinsed off my plate and headed upstairs to text Maybe.

     “Marley, do you work too?” Professor Unknown questioned and I stopped walking up the stairs.

     “I do.” I heard her laugh, “I’m an Alchemist.”

     I inhaled, bolting up the stairs. Mom is an excellent Alchemist and runs her own business called “Lupity’s Imaginary World” where people from different realms request special potions from her. The name came from someone she met who helped her get started which was Lupity NoMare, a Dremare Verse. However, here’s the issue. I failed Madam Edna’s recent Alchemy quiz a few days ago.

     “Mikel!” I heard her roaring voice scream from below as I closed my door and locked it shut. I grabbed my phone off my bed and hid in my closet. 

Professor Unknown told her I failed.