Delinquent •Joshler•

Chapter 1: Volunteers

"You are dismissed, have a blessed day." The pastor said to the congregation. Tyler sighed in relief as his family got up and began making their way to the main aisle.

"Joseph family! Might I see you in the back for a quick word?" The pastor said gesturing them to follow him. Tyler groaned internally wanting nothing more than to go back home and play his video games.

"Of course! We'll be right there. Come on kids, this will only take a minute I'm sure." Tyler's father said already walking towards the back room. His mother put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly as he followed behind.

When they got to the back room, Tyler noticed there were a few other families already there waiting. He saw his friend and went to stand next to him.

"Do you know what this is about?" Tyler whispered to his friend Nick as another family came in behind them.

"Not a clue." Nick whispered back watching the pastor come in and closed the door.

"Thank you everyone, I'll explain what's going on. Now I've been contacted by the local Juvenile Agency for a program that they started up again." The pastor said pulling out a stack of papers. "Troubled teens who have no family to come home to are offered to stay with a family of the church in hopes of rehabilitation. I told them that I would ask a few families from our congregation if they would like to house a teen instead of them going back in the system. I understand that this would be a drastic change but I urge you to consider it.Now is anyone interested?" Pastor said passing around the forms.

Tyler looked around and saw some parents whispering back and forth to each other before a mother shook her head adamantly. He didn't really blame them for not wanting a delinquent in their house.

"We'll sign up." Tyler heard his father say, scribbling their information on the fill out form. His eyes widened as he saw the form being passed back to the pastor.

"Dad are you sure?" Tyler asked as he saw a two more families pass their sign up sheets forward. "There's more families doing it we-"

"Tyler this will be a good experience for us. For all of us. This is about doing the right thing even when it's hard." Tyler's dad cut him off looking at him and Madison.

"It'll be fine." His mother chimed in, smiling widely.

"You guys are so screwed, you remember the last time a kid from juvie came to our school." Nick whispered to Tyler. Madison's eyes widened with worry.

"Shut up they're not all the same." Tyler said a little too loudly causing his mom to tug on his ear. "Sorry."

But Tyler and his sister did remember. His name was Ian and he was a complete train wreck. At the end of the year he had taken a baseball bat to the principle's car, and before that he had taped a load of fireworks together and set them off in the microwave in the lunchroom causing the school to go under a bomb threat. Tyler heard that Ian almost never came home and bossed his foster family around.

Was that what was in store for the Joseph's?