"We're moving...where?" Hailey asked, she wasn't sure if she heard her mother right.
"Correction, I am moving. You're an adult, I don't know why you haven't moved out on your own yet. You're nineteen, for goodness sake! You could have moved in with one of the many boyfriends you're so good at picking up."
"But..." This isn't good, not good at all. Hailey had a good thing going, living with her mother. Her mother was always too busy working to bother her and she didn't have to pay any rent or bills. All of her own earnings went to her own passing fancies and she liked that. Why would she give that up? "Yeah but why are you moving back to Mariford? There are way better places and way better jobs than what you had there."
While Mother and Daughter stared each other down, Hailey could hear the front door open and then close. When she turned to see who it was, the figure who walked in the room was Professor Davidson. Her jaw dropped in shock, as he moved to stand next to her mother, placing his arm around her side. Her mother smiled to him, before looking back at Hailey, "Because I'm not going back to work. Malcolm wishes for me to join him as his wife, we love each other."
This didn't feel at all right to Hailey. Her world felt like it was suddenly crashing down. No longer would she have a free ride. Sure, she could get some help from boyfriends, but they weren't really the sort to want a girlfriend they had to shell out money for. It wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as what she had with her mother. Her thoughts were interrupted by Professor Davidson, "Personally, I feel your mother has been entirely too lenient on you, she still is. Your behaviour is not suitable for a girl of your age. You may be nineteen, but I feel you haven't earned the priveliges that go with it. You have been a freeloader, there is no other way to describe it, that is going to change. Isn't that right, Mina?"
Her mother nodded emphatically and a feeling of dread passed over Hailey. Her mother had always been an easy person to push around and take advantage of. Why else would the status quo have gone on for so long? But Professor Davidson was a different kettle of fish. One would only have to look at him once to know he was a dominant man, used to getting his own way. He had a look about him that suggested that she should get out of there. "I...I guess I'll get going then. I didn't wanna stay any longer anyway. Derek had been begging me to move in with him and now I can."
She stepped back and turned away, she intended to go to her room to pack, but Professor Davidson's voice halted her in her tracks, "I'm afraid it is too late for you to leave, young lady. We feel responsible for what you have become. You owe your mother for years of failed schooling and money spent, but we don't feel you are in a position to pay that debt."
Hailey turned around slowly, anger tinged her voice, "What do you mean, I owe her? She's my mother, mothers are meant to care for their children." She started walking towards the front door, she even grasped the handle and tried to turn it.
