The summer of 2005 was full of changes for the Thompson family. Hailey was to start High School that coming fall and had been accepted into the National Honors Society based on her previous academic accomplishments. Never receiving attention from her parents and having to entertain herself with basic household items had its obvious disadvantages, however good things did come from it. During the school year Hailey's books became her entertainment source and rather than making musical instruments out of kitchen utensils, as she often found herself doing, she preferred to spend her time studying. Her achievements in school were overlooked by Jerry and Georgia who at often times seemed to forget they even had a daughter, but that mattered little to Hailey who thrived off the praise of her teacher's. It was for this reason that Georgia's death had little impact on Hailey that summer.

After leaving the diner late one evening neither Georgia nor the blue route bus driver noticed one another. Her death was instant the second the city bus hit her and the series of events that it set into place were devastating, even for Hailey who was often teased by her peers for having no emotion. Jerry's world was shattered. He quit his job and spent the months that followed in the solitude of his room. Hailey, whose bedroom consisted of the living room couch, spent as much time at the library as she possibly could. If it wasn't for the money that the city had paid Jerry after the death of his wife neither Hailey or her father would ever have eaten again. After the library closed in the evening Hailey would go home to make a dinner of whatever cheap canned food she had picked up that day. It became a routine. Jerry would leave a few dollars out for Hailey in the morning before returning to his room to be in solitude until Hailey brought him what little bit of food she had managed to afford that day. By the time Hailey was 15 the settlement and insurance money had ran out and Hailey took a job tutoring a group of Junior High students.

One night Hailey was asked to stay late in order to held one of the younger students prepare for a math test the next day. Needing the extra few dollars that would result of doing so, Hailey agreed. Jerry, who had become dependent on his daughter being home at the same time, every night, with his food was forced to provide for himself that night. Although he hadn't left the apartment since the death of Georgia he went out that night and found himself at the liquor shop just down the corner from the apartment. With a six pack of beer he returned home and by the time Hailey got there he was too drunk to reason with.

It didn't take more than a few days for Jerry's drunkenness to become a new part of their routine and just a few weeks after that the abuse started. Fortunately Hailey had a smart head on her shoulder's and refused to let it last long. She did her research and not more than two weeks after turning sixteen and securing herself a job at a local pet store she took her father to court. Hailey's grades in schools and her work history were enough to convince a judge to grant Hailey emancipation from her father.


Hailey transferred herself into an Independent Study program and the lawyer who had aided her through her emancipation process secured her a job as a receptionist at the office where he worked. Within a few months Hailey had a new job, legally changed her last name and was making herself at home in an apartment in the heart of Chicago.