Prove It - Haley Dunphy

Chapter 33

[Delia]
"Benita is slowly but surely driving me a little crazy."

"She didn't come home last night and just waltz through the front door this morning as if nothing happened!"

——

"Benita, where were you? All night."

Delia gets ignored, Benita storms to her room, slammed the door and locked it.

"Benita! Open the door right now." Delia knocks, "You're seventeen. You can't just stay out all night and not let me know where you are. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Benita didn't respond. Of course. Delia's anger just kept growing. Eventually, she gave up and just carried on with her chores. At least a whole hour had passed. The mother gives up for now, retreating to her own room to get a change of clothes before running errands.

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"Delia? Hi!" Claire bumps into her at the grocery store.

"Oh. Hi, Claire."

"Are you okay?" Claire asks, pushing her cart closer.

"Benita pissed me off by staying out the whole night." Delia scoffs. "Then she just slams her door on me and ignores me? I wanted to talk to her after I cooled off a bit, but no- she didn't want to hear any of it."

"Oh, Haley has done that plenty of tines." Claire scoffs, pushing her cart closer. "Know this feeling all too well."

"Well, now, Haley's great." Delia mentions, "Meanwhile, my daughter's gone from bad to good, to worse."

"There's still room for improvement- you know? They're all growing up, they're bound to rebel. Teenagers tend to do that."

"Tell me about it." Delia laughed, grabbing a pack of instant-cook oats off the shelf.

"You were a difficult teenager?"

"I mean, duh." Delia squints, "I was a teen mom. Nearly gave my parents a heart attack."

"My parents were furious. Dad still doesn't really like Phil- after so many years. It sucks, honestly."

"Oh, I hate that I know that feeling so well. They love Benita but hate my guts. It's been seventeen years. I don't know how many times I've already apologised."

——
[Benita]
"I was at a friend's house. I got tired and decided to crash there for the night."

"Yes, I know I should've at least told my Mom so she could've maybe came by to pick me up. In the moment, it just didn't occur to me. Okay?"

——
[Haley]
"I've run into a little problem."

"I think Aurelia may be drinking again." She whispers.

"I tried to talk to her so many times over the last week, but then I chicken out."

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"You were at a friend's house? Was it a party?" Delia asks.

"No, it was just me and three other girls from Social Studies and homeroom." Benita answered, "After school, we went to the mall, watched a movie. Then we went back to one of the girls' place to hang out. I eventually got too tired to come home myself so I decided to just sleep there. I know I should've at least texted you to let you know."