This ficlet is based on a real kid who turns 18 today, and on his birthday is moved from Juvie to adult prison. He's been weighing on my mind lately, and it's both of our birthdays, so here you go. This one's for you, Deondre.
TW: Takes place in a prison. Mentions of drug abuse.
You should know by now I don't own Ocean's 11.
It was safe to say that this was not a good day for Dylan. The stress of moving to adult prison was dragging him down, and he had been snappy and irritable all day, especially when his lawyer came around before he was transferred. He felt bad about going off at her when she told him about the court's ruling, which made him even angrier.
"Hey," Sadie had greeted him, walking into the cafeteria and sitting down across from him. He had said nothing. She was carrying a container, and slid it across the table to him. "I got special permission to bring you these. My daughter made them." Dylan opened the lid. Chocolate chip cookies. Normally he would have made some snide comment, but instead he picked one up.\
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"It's her birthday today, too, right?" He asked, before taking a bite. Sadie smiled.\
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"Yeah." They were surprisingly good. "So."\
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"Spit it out." Sadie frowned, but didn't comment. \
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"I just came to say that I hope moving goes as well as it can." This was a nice gesture, but Dylan was annoyed.\
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"Ah, come to bid me farewell, huh? Rub it in my face? Or is this for your conscience? Come to be nice to the troubled freak?" He raised an eyebrow, begging her to make a retort. Maybe then he wouldn't feel as bad. Instead, she kept her face impassive. \
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"No. I'm sorry you feel that way." Dylan felt rage flare up inside him, at himself, at the judges, at his parents, at the world. He picked up a cookie and hurled it at the wall. It shattered on impact, a pile of crumbs on the floor. Sadie sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be on my way, then. I'm really sorry, Dylan, I am." When she started to head towards the door, he called out to her.\
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"Wait! You don't have other clients you also came to see?" He asked. She smiled at him.\
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"No." Turning around, she headed out the door, getting in her car to start the two hour drive back home. Dylan folded him arms on the table and put his head down. \
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His first day in prison was so much worse. The other inmates whispered when he walked past, all about "The new kid who got transferred from Juvie", a couple of the men tried to grab his butt, and he didn't know anyone. It his first day at a new school, except this was a school of ex-convicts. To be fair, Juvie was too, but those were kids and he was one of the oldest. \
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Dylan's cell was right in between a loud Hell's Angel and and old man who was constantly sleeping and constantly snoring. Not ideal.\
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He was escorted into the cafeteria for lunch. Chicken nuggets. They were even worse than Juvie's. \
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He sat down at an empty table, desperately hoping nobody would sit down yet disappointed whenever someone walked past. Picking at his meal, he watched the other men. \
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A guy with short dark hair with bits of grey slid into the seat across from Dylan. Dylan looked at the man skeptically, one eyebrow raised. The guy laughed.\
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"You're the new kid, right?" When Dylan nodded grudgingly, the guy went on. "Bad birthday, huh? I'm Danny. Danny Ocean." \
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* * *\
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"So, what are you in for, Dylan?" Danny eventually asked, after much conversation. Dylan looked away. \
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"I, uh, after my dad left I started doing drugs, and stealing stuff." Danny nodded.\
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"I stole stuff, too." Dylan looked up at him.\
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"Really? What kind of stuff?" Danny smirked.\
"Matrimonial head masks." Dylan blinked. \
So I know it was kinda short, but last chapter was longer than usual and I didn't really feel I had anything else to add to this. I know this kind of breaks the pattern of happy chapter, sad chapter and so on but I guess this could be considered light. I didn't write it that way as it's based off a real person and therefore more meaningful and heavy to me, but no one died (surprisingly) and it's not too dark. Sorry about the weird slash things