tonight, i need you to stay.

Chapter One

Tyler groaned as his alarm went off for the first time in months. Summer was over and all Tyler could think about were the dreaded halls of Polls High. He could practically smell the fresh polish on the marble floors just thinking of them.

Mumbling something indecipherable under his breath, Tyler slowly pulled the checkered comforter off of his thin body. Once his bare feet hit the solid wooden floors, he felt a shiver flow through his body.
Tyler never understood why the floors in his house were so damn freezing even during the summer.
Making his way over to his closet he blindly grabbed a slightly oversized sweatshirt and picked up a random pair of pants off of the floor, slipping the outfit on, not caring enough to change his boxers.

Tyler stood in front of his full body sized mirror and let out a sound that sounded more like a 'hmph' instead of a sigh.
He could never get used to looking at himself.
The way the circles under his eyes caved inward represented his lack of sleep, his disheveled hair showed his lack of caring for appearance and last, oh but certainly not least, his overly scrawny figure showed his lack of self care.
Tyler never took the time to eat a good meal, even when his body was screaming at him to shove something down his throat, he never listened. Only when his mother or one of his siblings said something would he eat a sandwich or a bowl of cereal, not wanting them to worry.
He never took the time to go out and soak up some Vitamin D either. Don't let that fool you, he loved the outdoors, he just never has enough will to go...outdoors.
Sometimes his mother or father would yell at him for not doing anything, calling him lazy, forgetting the diagnoses they were devastated to hear of when he was a kid. Tyler always wanted to tell them they were wrong, that he wanted to do normal things that boys his age should be doing. Yet, he never had enough will to do that either.

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Josh awoke to the sound of banging on his door and his stepfather yelling at him to "get his lazy ass up".
He wrapped his pillow around the backside of his head, desperately trying to block out the sound of that pigs' voice.
He realized his attempt had horribly failed when he felt his pillow being ripped out of his grasp and his stepfather yanking him up by his arm, yelling in his face until Josh had told him that he'd had enough, he was awake.

Josh couldn't stand first days. He didn't enjoy seeing how people have changed, he didn't care. He didn't try to impress everyone with a "back to school" outfit. No, Josh was the completely opposite.
Flicking on his light, Josh made his way over to his "barely able to stick my whole arm in" closet and grabbed the first couple pieces of clothing he laid his eyes on. Limply pulling on his shirt and jeans, Josh thought about how he would get through today.
He planned on walking through the halls to his classes quietly and preferably with a hood over his head, if one of the teachers hadn't yanked it off.
The only thing he didn't have a plan for was lunch. Where would he sit? Would he have to sit on the floor? Would he have to sit with a group of people he didn't know, making awkward small talk?
Josh decided on the latter if it came down to it.

Giving himself a once over in the mirror he pulled his bright red beanie on and made his way downstairs.
He was greeted by the sight of his stepfather on the couch, sipping a beer and watching whatever action movie was on at this time of day.
He felt disgusted at this sight, how could his mother allow a man like that to reside in their home. It wasn't even 8 o'clock yet.
Rolling his eyes, he walked into the kitchen and found his mother setting plates of pancakes and cups of orange juice down on the table. He knew this was only to make Phil, his stepfather, happy but he enjoyed the sight of his mom making breakfast. It reminded him of when they were actually happy.
But now that was gone and all he had was this.
His mother making food for a man who didn't give two flying fucks about her, he only stayed because he would never be able to support himself on his own. You'd think he'd treat us better considering his financial situation but no. Phil has made sure that Josh's mother was terrified of him, making it practically impossible for her to file for a divorce.

"Hey I'm gonna head to school." Josh had stated this, hoping he could slip by without having to stay for a family breakfast and endure Phil's disgusting remarks.
"No you're not. You're going to sit down and have breakfast with me and your mother, Joshua." A gravely voice said from behind him. He swore he could feel the alcohol in Phil's breath, on the back of his neck.
"Alright." He stated with an empty voice. He never showed emotion around Phil, you know, other than hate.

Josh knew that if he was going to have Phil force him to do this every morning, that he would have to find a way to take his mind off of things. No matter what.

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I know this isn't very interesting but I promise you it is going to get SO much better with these next few chapters and all of the chapters to come! I just wanted to get this intro out of the way so you guys could get a good feel on the story right now!
I'm not quite sure if I'm going to have a specific day I update this but if I do decide to have one I will let you know!

Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoy the story, bye bye! xx