The relationship between Waverly and her mother in the short story Rules is very complicated. The mother is overprotective and wants to control the daughter, while the daughter refuses to be controlled. This causes them to constantly be annoyed with each other.
One Christmas, Waverly’s brother Vincent got a chess board from their church. Waverly played a few times with her brothers and became really good at coming up with strategies. She played with some older people in a neighborhood park and learned even more strategies. She starts beating everyone there and her mother enrolls her into a competition. Soon, her face is in magazines and newspapers.
Waverly’s mother likes to watch her as she thinks of more strategies because she thinks of herself as a protective ally. Waverly, however, cannot focus when she does that. But, the mother gets angry when she tells her to leave. After some time, her mother starts telling everyone on the streets that Waverly is her daughter and Waverly cannot stand it. When Waverly tells that to her mother, she takes it the wrong way. She thinks that Waverly is ashamed to be her daughter and gets really mad. Then, Waverly runs away.
As you can see, Waverly and her mother do not have a perfect relationship with each other. In fact, they are kind of enemies. The mother wants to take control of the daughter and the daughter wants to avoid that. So their relationship is kind of like a cat and a mouse. Forever chasing each other.