𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 - 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐡𝐲

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 - 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

"SO, MOM, there's a party tonight at Andrew Adler's, and everybody is gonna be there," Haley said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Ooh, that sounds like so much fun, but I have other plans," Claire said.

"Oh, that's hi-larious. But I'm talking about me."

"That's unusual," Alex spoke up.

"Honey, you said you and Athena would go to your grandfather's tonight," Claire told her. Athena had been invited to family events for as long as they all could remember. The day she became friends with Haley was the day she had been become a Dunphy family member in their eyes.

"See, that's whats so perfect about this. Andrew only lives, like, a couple blocks from grandpa's. So I figured that I could go --" Haley tried to convince Claire.

"Sweetie, you made a commitment."

"But I really wanna go. Plus, every time I go over to Grandpa's, Manny just stares at me the whole time."

"Maybe if you wore a bra --" Alex said.

"Alex," Claire warned.

"What? I can't wait to go to Grandpa's," Alex said as the doorbell rang and Haley walked past her family to the front door.

Haley opened the door to reveal Athena on the other side, her backpack strung over her shoulder.

"Are you able to go to the party?" Athena asked.

'No," Haley sighed, disappointed. "My mom told me I made a commitment to go my grandfather's stupid sleepover thing."

"Well, if you aren't going then I'm not going," Athena told her. "You're the only reason I was going to this party. I don't even really like Andrew. I'm already going with you to your grandfather's thing anyways so it's pointless to bail for a party I don't even wanna be at."

"Who knows how many years he has left," Was all Athena and Haley heard from Alex as they walked into the kitchen.

"What are we talking about?" Athena asked.

"Grandpa," Alex stated, plainly.

"Oh. That's . . . dark."

"Is Grandpa dying?" Luke asked.

"Didn't they tell you?" Alex asked, just trying to mess with him.

"Alex, stop torturing your brother," Claire told her.

"He's not dying," Athena told Luke as she walked by him, patting his head.

"For now," Alex whispered.

"We're getting to that party tonight, Thea," Haley told the girl quietly when Phil and Claire had left the kitchen.

"How? Are we going to, like, sneak out?" Athena asked. "I've always wanted to do that but my dad has security cameras outside."

"If we can't convince my grandfather, we'll sneak out."

"You really think you're gonna convince him? Haley, he planned this whole this for all of us. I highly doubt he's gonna let us go to some party with stupid Dylan."

"Dylan's not stupid," Haley defended but sighed when Athena gave her a look.

☺︎

"There are my little stinkers," Jay said as he opened the door for the Dunphy children (and Athena).

"Well, hello there, Haley," Manny said, walking up the girl.