Sylvan's social life was about to end.

So maybe he hasn't been very responsible and got in some trouble with the law but that doesn't mean he has to be cut off from his friends and do community hours at the hospital. He slides his feet on the ground a few times to hear it squeak and then the door opens.

"Hello Sylvan, I'm Dr. Batisse. I will be the person you report to everyday for the next few months. As you already know you will be a junior hospital volunteer. Because you are new here, you will only work with one person. It's your job to make sure that they are eating and smiling." The doctor takes up a notebook and flips through it until she finds the page she is looking for. She smiles and looks at him with a mischievous glint in her eye. "His name is Oliver Mugford. I'll give you some more information on him when you start Saturday. Now run on home and we'll see you then." She turns her back on him and Sylvan gets up slowly.

He mutters some curses to himself about anything and everything as he leaves the room and Dr. Batisse smiles fondly to herself; He reminds her of herself at that age, old enough to be going to university but not mature enough to want to grow up and take responsibility.

Dragging his feet as he walks down the hall, Sylvan wants to take as long as he can to get home. His parents are hard working people but after work they're always cranky and snap at him for one wrong move. It pisses him off to no end but from what he's seen in his nineteen years of life, being cranky is the luggage that comes with taking the responsibilities of an adult. If that happens to everybody he doesn't want to become one.

Without realising it, he pulls out a smoke and lights it. After one or two puffs on it, it's ripped out of his mouth and a foot's stomping it out. "Are you crazy? You can't smoke in here, this is a hospital. Go outside to do that." A nurse scolds him, but he's only half listening as he continues to walk. She sneers after him but sighs and shakes her head. Kids these days have no respect.

Once outside he takes out another cigarette and lights it. Sylvan takes the long way home and doesn't see many people. He`s thankful for that at least because people other than his friends and family bother him with their constant small talk and their awkward silences.

A block away from his house, he feels his already low and baggy pant slip lower so pulls them up and burns himself with the cigarette in his hand. "Uck! That freaking hurt! Shit!" He jumps around waving his hand in the air cursing loudly.

"Well, well, well, looks who's here and listen to the potty mouth on him." The boy and his entourage laugh obnoxiously and start hurling insults at Sylvan. In this neighbourhood there are two gangs, Sylvan and his friends' gang and Marc and his friends' gang. They have never seen eye to eye and enjoy fighting each other or getting the other gang in trouble. The gangs weren't rivals till the two boys took them over, now they are run solely on the pure hate between the leaders.

Clutching his burnt hand to his chest, Sylvan glares at the group of people. "Shut your gobs and get the hell out of here before I make you." He spits viciously. He might not be able to see his gang anymore but that doesn't mean he doesn't have their reputation in his hands as their leader.

"Yeah? How is one little boy going to stop ten of us. We'll beat the shit out of you before you even know what's happening." Marc sneers and the group laughs again. They stop when Marc lifts up a hand and points at Sylvan. "Get him would ya?"

Knowing what's about to come, sylvan doesn't bother to run but stands his ground. He gives what he gets until one of the people knock him down with a punch to the stomach and another kicks him in the ribs. No longer able to get up, they over power him easily and he blacks out.

-----

He wakes up some hours later dizzy and cold, its dark out so he knows his parents will be mad but he could care less now. Him muscles are aching and that's all that matters. He walks slowly home stopping every once and awhile to catch his breath. His ribs are aching and it hurts to breath. People are out now and they stare and whisper from afar. They don't bother to go and help; they know who he is and are afraid of him.

When he finally gets home his mom yells at him and his dad just ignores him. He walks up the stairs to his room and collapses on his bed in exhaustion. He doesn't care if his mom's upset or if his dad ignores him, he has one more year in this house and then he's gone, never coming back. He plans on going to university, he has the grades and one has already accepted him but he's worried about the gang either way. They're his friends and family, they love him for him and he doesn't know what he'll do without them. He stays awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling. It doesn't bother him if he goes to bed late; he isn't going to school tomorrow.

---

He's two streets away from his house; his parents think he's at school but really he's outside an apartment building with his friends. He's not supposed to see them, his parents specifically told him that he was not to see them ever again, but since when has he ever listened to them?

A girl seeming just a few years older than Sylvan and his friends steps out of the apartment building holding a travel mug and a bag. His friends call out to her rudely and laugh.

"Hey look, it's the fucking rude old lady!" Calls Bree, a thin girl with chubby cheeks, her haircut doing nothing to hide that fact. Sylvan stares at her in surprise, they've met this girl before? Why wouldn't they tell him of this encounter? He's the boss, but has he lost his hold on them already? No of course not.

She looks at them calmly and states in a cold voice, "If you guys don't have any business here, I suggest you leave. If you don't, I will be forced to tell the landlord that some idiots have been loitering around his building and harassing his tenants. Now scat!"

She's older so she has more authority over them and Sylvan's pretty sure she'd follow through with her threat so he motions for the gang to leave. They do hesitantly, they look worriedly at each other, they are used to leaders who don't back down. He might have a bad attitude but he knows when they'll lose a fight and when not to start one. He calculates my moves beforehand but sometimes in the heat of the moment it just doesn't work.

The girl continued to walk down towards the sidewalk and deciding that she seems familiar Sylvan follows. He catches up quickly enough and starts to apologise for his gangs actions and words towards her.

"I'm sorry for the way they treated you, they don't know when to keep their gobs shut and under control." He says it gruffly so that he doesn't seem soft, he would love to be soft but with his life it just wouldn't work. "I'm Sylvan by the way. And you are?" He asks with a nod in her direction.

"Tegan, I live in that apartment building." She has a nice voice when it's not cold and threatening.

"So you work at the hospital right?" He asks this because he knows why she seems vaguely familiar, Dr. Batisse had mentioned her and she had a picture of her on the desk in her office.

"Yeah, why?"

"I was wondering if ya know a patient with the name Oliver."

She thinks for a moment and nods her head in the affirmative. "Yeah he's on a different floor then me but he's there. He's new and the nurses and doctors don't know much about him because he's really quiet. Hey are you the new volunteer?" He says yes quietly and looks at the ground. She smirks and asks him if he could get some information on a new doctor seeing as he's a delinquent, but no offence meant by that. He shrugs and agrees and the part ways a few minutes later.

He has an advantage now, and that's all he needed. He knows a bit more about the hospital thanks to Tegan and he knows that this Oliver is quiet. It's good that he's quiet; it means that Sylvan can sit and watch the TV, or read. He might be able to smoke without the kid saying anything because of it too. Those are pluses that he hadn't thought about before and now that he is thinking of them he's pretty sure that the few months volunteering is going to pass like a breeze.