My Italian Summer (On hold indefinitely)

My Italian Summer[1]

I have very few rules in my life, well very few rules that I abide by anyway.  But when I do have rules I stick by them like glue- and tonight was no exception of that. My rules for sneaking out-or sneaking back in in this case, were simple. Firstly; be very quiet, the slightest sound is really all it takes to wake up my hawk of a mother. Secondly; be stealthy, one trip or stumble is all it takes for the first rule to go ricocheting out the window. And lastly; don’t get caught-because the consequences could be astronomical.

Wanna guess which rule I broke first? You guessed it; number two. As I was climbing the tree outside my window I accidently tripped and stepped on a newly growing branch-or twig and it snapped, well... number one and two then. The sound probably wasn’t even heard a few metres away by a normal human being but I knew it would have been enough to wake my mother from the grave. Damn her and her Italian heritage! I paused slightly and cursed silently to myself before sighing and making the dive through my open window and onto my bed. The landing was brilliant in my own humble opinion and very quiet.

Not that it mattered, of course. The twig was apparently deafening enough to wake the devil herself, I flicked my long brown hair out of my eyes and tried my hardest to look sober. My mother glared down at me like I was some kind of anti-Christ, which-to be fair, I probably was to her. I guess you could say I hit the trifecta and broke all three of my rules in one go. What can I say? I have talent.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?” She hissed angrily and I pretended to think about it for a moment before turning back to her with a big grin on my face.

“No non lo faccio [No I do not],” I replied cheekily before batting my eyelashes at her with a sombre smile on my face.

“You going to ground me or something? Go ahead; it worked excellently last time Ma,” I sneered and rolled my bright green, slightly bloodshot eyes at her annoying behaviour before starting to get undressed for bed. She let out a low angry growl and grabbed my arm tightly; forcing me to turn and look her in the eye- I had to stoop a bit seeing as I was significantly taller than her but I still felt very intimidated.

Gemma Smith had the tenancy to do that to a person, despite the fact that she was fairly short and most people thought she had a friendly face I knew she had a fierce side that could make you tremble on the spot-well it could make you tremble on the spot if your weren’t drunk, high and stupid anyway. Luckily for me-I fell into the latter category.

“No I am not going to ground you. You and your stupid friends seem to find my orders far too easy to violate,” she growled and I let a dopey grin take over my face. Yes, yes we did.

“But,” she began and I turned to her in surprise. Dammit! Just when I thought she was going to give me up as a lost cause she throws in a ‘but’.

“I am going to send you to stay with my friend Viola in Italy for the summer,” she finished and I think it would be safe to say that my jaw dropped.

“Fuck off! I am NOT going to Italy!”  I snarled loudly and ripped my arm out of her grip, giving her one of my iciest stares, which, in my defence, usually worked brilliantly. She simply rolled her eyes at my before stepping back and smiling smugly.

“You’re going, there is nothing you can do about it-Or your little friends,” she announced before turning away and heading for my door. Oh hell nah woman, hell to the Nah.

“I’m not going and I’m not leaving my friends,” I told her stubbornly and she merely shrugged before briefly turning and staring straight at me.

“You are going and you are leaving your ‘friends’. I will not sit back and watch you make the same mistakes I made at your age,” she told me and I angrily punched my wall before yelling after her.