the ghost of you - j.d

one

After high school, my life changed.

For the worst but also for the best. I am now known as Ella Rose

My phone started going off with its annoying ringtone.

"Hello?" I grumbled as I wiped a hand down my face as I tried to wake myself up from my sleep.

"Ella, are you awake?" I heard my assistant, Alison, ask me through my phone.

"Do I sound like I am awake?" I mumbled as I sat up and swung my legs off the bed.

"Well consider this your wake up call. You need to be dressed and ready for me to pick you up by 6 am, you need to get on the tour bus," Alison began to explain. I looked over to my bedside table at the clock and saw it was 5:15.

"Okay, Okay. I'm up. Who exactly am I touring with?" I asked groggily as I made my way down the hallway to the kitchen, slowly remembering the meeting I had with Brad, my manager. The meeting was mainly based around contracts I had to sign and how I had to keep up my appearance on the road but not much was said about the band I had to open for.

"Twenty One Pilots," Alison told me. I nodded as I placed a coffee mug under the dispenser of the coffee machine and turned to go back to my room.

"All good, give me 10 minutes and I'll be ready," I yawned.

"You better be, see ya then," Alison laughed.

"See ya," I replied, ending the call and throwing my phone on the bed. I quickly got dressed in denim jeans with a nice white top that I had laid out and ready yesterday.

I quickly threw the last few items that I needed into my suitcase before rolling it out to the kitchen to grab my coffee and leave.

As I closed the door, I saw that Alison was already waiting.

"Ella! Let's go!" Alison yelled from her car. I quickly locked the door and grabbed my bag, running to her car.

"It's too early for this," I groaned as I buckled up the seatbelt.

"Tell me about it, but it's the life that people dream of," Alison laughed. I felt my stomach drop as my mind travelled back three years. Alison didn't know who I was before I was Ella Rose. No one knew, only Brad. No one knew what I sacrificed for this.

"You can sleep if you want, it's gonna take an hour and a half to get to the drop-off," Alison told me but I was already one step ahead of her, as I started to doze back off to sleep.

***

I felt like I was back in high school again; invisible and insecure. We had arrived at the drop off point where everyone was packing the vans and getting on the tour buses. I stood next to Alison's car staring in fear at everyone packing and getting ready while Alison pulled my bag out of the trunk.

"Just remember what Brad has told you to do," Alison whispered in my ear as she stood beside me. "I have to talk to their manager, I'll be back," She told me as she walked towards a small group of people. I watched as she began to talk to one of the taller men. SHe gave him a hug and then shook hands with two other men. Alison pointed at me and all the men turned around to look at me.

Suddenly, my breath got caught in my throat. One of the men that were looking at me was him. The guy I thought I wouldn't see again after high school. Joshua Dun. I tried to recompose myself as they began to walk closer to me. Although I was a bit worried that he might recognise me, they both held warm smiles that I kindly returned.

"Hi, I'm Tyler, that's Josh," Tyler introduced the both of them as they stopped in front of me and shook my hand.

"I'm Ella Rose," I smiled at them. I tried not to stare at Josh for too long but he had grown up. He was still as polite as he was in high school but he just looked older. I quickly diverted my eyes back to Tyler as he started to speak