Life Before Tyler Bennington

Chapter 1

Chester

I was sitting on a curb, crying, when I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder. I jumped up and looked at them, startled. It was a boy about my age, with blue hair and earrings.

"I- I'm sorry." I told him as I wiped my tears.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you." he looked down.

"It's fine." I sighed.

"I'm Mike." he held out his hand.

"Chester." I shook it. He looked at me and smiled.

"Aren't you in my chemistry class?" I questioned.

"Yeah. And I sit behind you in your other classes."

"Oh." I blushed. I didn't notice that.

"It's ok. We better get going, the bell is about to ring." he looked at his watch.

"Alright." we walked to our American Lit. class. I'm still a little embarrassed that I didn't notice that he was in my other classes.

"Hey, Chester. You, me, my house, tonight?" Sean said as he caught up to me.

"I'm not feeling it today, Sean." I didn't want to deal with him.

"Please, babe. I can get that stress off you." he put his hand on my arm.

"No, sorry." I snapped at him and turned my attention back to Mike.

"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked when we got into the classroom.

"Not really. He just likes to use me. I keep telling him not to." yeah right, if "using" means rape. My head taunted.

"Oh. And, I'm sorry if you didn't want to answer that. I was just a little curious."

"It's alright." our lesson started. I took out my notebook and started drawing and writing stuff.

Sadly, the bell rang. I slowly collected my stuff and went outside the school property.

"Chaz! Wait up." Sean yelled.

"Please, just leave me alone!" I screamed at him. He turned to me and slapped me. The stinging in my cheek faded when I started running.

I made it home. I slammed my bedroom door shut and just played Stone Temple Pilots.

"Chester? I'm home." my dad said. Feeling like it was safe, I went downstairs.

"How was school?"

"Fine," I replied short.

"Ok. I'm going to be leaving in about an hour."

"Alright." you see, we never try to get in each other's business. We just end up screaming at each other.

I went back to my room and ended up falling asleep.