Ghost-Writer// Victoria De Angelis // English

10| I'll teach you

I woke up to my phone buzzing on my night stand. It was my mother. Oh no.

I picked it up.

"Hello mom!" I sighed, pulling the covers off me. "Hi Rianna." She sounded different. "What's up?" I rubbed my eyes. "Nothing much. I'm just worried about you. We never talk anymore." She sighed.

"Of course we do! You called me just the other day!" I was confused. The sunlight burned my eyes.  "Yeah but you don't tell me anything. You just say your life is good and that's it." She accused me. I guess she had a point.

"Well what do you want to know?" I stood up from bed, blocking a yawn. "For starters, hows your studying coming along?" She asked. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention I told my mom I was coming to Milan to study Italian culture. Now, it might sound bad, lying to my mother, but it's the only way she would let me go.

"Great, yeah! We went into the town last night and-" "We?" She cut me off. "Me and Ethan's band mates." I explained. "Oh. Making new friends eh?" She laughed. "Yes. I have to if I'm going to be writing for them." I nodded, walking into the bathroom.

"Oh right, that." She sounded disappointed as usual. God I looked a mess. My hair was awful and I slept in my makeup. "Yes 'that'." I mocked. "Doesn't the band already have a writer? What's his name... Damien?" She asked. "Damiano, yes but he wants me to write on the English songs since it's not his first language." I clearly explained.

"What are the others like huh? Ethan is a sweet boy so I'm sure he has nice friends right?" My mom inquired. For some reason all I could picture was Thomas twerking on Victoria and I which made me laugh. "Yes, they're lovely." I smiled.

"Ok honey. Stay safe and if a guy wants to-" "I'm not banging anyone mom." I giggled. "Yeah I'm just saying if a nice Italian man wants to-" "Ok that's enough goodbye." I laughed and hung up.

I washed my face then went into the shower. I wasn't that hungover which was great.

Oh right. You must be wondering how my mom knows Ethan.... here comes the story of Ethan and I:

My school had an exchange student program for teens around 15. That might sound young but it was just how it worked. All my friends were gushing over the fact a new Italian guy was going to be in our school, but I was hardly bothered. He wouldn't be able to speak much English so what was the point in interacting?

As soon as the school year started we began to get closer though. We would always have the same ideas and perspectives and argument points. I began sitting with him at lunch and we would write poems and sketch art. He seemed like a perfect match for me. I felt like a complete outsider without him. Of course I was teased by the girls in my class because they all thought I was madly in love with him.

I would invite him over to my house so we could study and talk on hours on end about random stuff. Everyone suspected he was gay because he rejected (very politely I might add) any girl that asked him out. He began to just be at my house every single day. My mother grew so used to him that we joked like we were his new host family.

She liked him a lot more than any of my other friends because he was so polite and respectful, although, she didn't like his long hair so much.

Anyways, when it was time for him to go, we exchanged all our social medias. We kept in contact and FaceTimed almost every day. He was like my best friend who lived across the world.

Years went by and we still were so close when he joined a band but we slowly began to grow more and more distant. I would text him and things but he would answer a few days later. Then I saw him on Eurovision and nearly lost my mind.