Note: I am so sorry I literally just realized I published this part before the part that was supposed to come before this so obviously none of this makes sense to the people who have already read this... even if that's like 6 people lol

Me and Jotaro just looked on in silence at Mr. Suzuki. It makes sense.. I thought. I just.. didn't expect it really, for whatever reason. I looked up at Jotaro to see if he hopefully looked unsurprised, however his shocked face only confirmed my suspicions. He had no idea. Shit. Who would it be? It can't be my mom or Kotaro. Maybe Mrs. Kujo? Not Jotaro's dad, he's on tour. I mustered up the courage to say something. "Can me and Jotaro discuss this in the hallway, please?" I had to come clean to Jotaro about the fight with my mom. While it was a huge advantage that his mother is American and speaks English, my mother also does. It doesn't seem fair to dump this all on Holly if both of our moms are capable. Jotaro looked at me questioningly. I nodded to him in reassurance while I led us out into the hallway, smiling at Mr. Suzuki through the gap in the slowly closing door.

"What's this all about?" He eyed me concerned, as if I might have one of my weird freak out "freeze" situations.

"It's about who's going to be our chaperone." I started slowly, not wanting to lay all of the information about the fight all at once. It would probably be a lot to take in, even for Jotaro, who doesn't strike me as someone who would really care.

"Oh. I already arranged that. It's gonna be the old man. He has to go back to the US anyways, he might as well come to Florida, check out the real estate." He stated as if I knew this all along. I, however, was shocked.

"Wha- But- You looked so surprised earlier when Mr. Suzuki told us we needed a chaperone!" I said whisper-yelling.

"Oh. Did I?" He tipped his hat down in front of his eyes in his usual fashion. "I forgot to tell you. I guess I was surprised when he brought it up." He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Is that alright with you, Joseph coming?" He asked almost eagerly.

"Uh. Um. Yeah sure." I said, telling him about the fight would have to wait. He took that as an end to our conversation and opened the door back up to our classroom. We walked back up to Mr. Suzuki's desk where Jotaro stated his grandpa would need to head back to the US anyways so he was gonna basically fund and supervise all of our travel. I felt guilty that he was telling all of this to our teacher. I was going to be such of a financial burden to Mr. Joestar, no matter how much Jotaro told me not to worry, I did. It didn't help when after Jotaro was finished explaining Mr. Suzuki gave me a pitying look and told us to have fun and get lots of work done, as if I was just being brought along to make good grades for Jotaro while he had a nice, long vacation. Who's to say that isn't what he is doing? It very well could be. Was the only reason this project was "important" to Jotaro was because of the time off of school? My thoughts spiraled until Mr. Suzuki caught me off guard.

"I also hope you get to tour that college, Jotaro." He beamed. Jotaro on the other hand just flushed a bright red before nodding and grabbing my wrist and dragging me out of there, so swiftly I though he might pop my shoulder out of its socket. He drug me all the way out into the school courtyard before letting go.

"Uh. What was that?" I asked, taking my wrist and rubbing it a little bit. Jotaro noticed.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked concerned, but not overly protective over my wellbeing.

"No, no. I'm fine. I just didn't expect to get dragged out so quickly." I laughed, but quickly became more curious over why Jotaro fled after our teacher mentioned a college. "What did he mean tour a college?" I asked, trying not to sound too prying. Jotaro rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. He looked like he wanted to give me an entire explanation, but he summed it up into one phrase.

"Florida has a college I want to go to." He stated, seemingly not about to dive further into the subject. However, I started to connect the dots.

"Ah, that's why the trip is so important. College." I said, looking down and rubbing my toe into the dirt. I don't know why, but I always just assumed I would just stay in Japan for university. I never really thought I had a choice to leave, but I guess I do. It almost filled me with a new hope, a fresh start, just maybe.

"I guess you could say that." He said looking at me and pursing his lips, always looking like he's holding something back.

I had grown relatively comfortable with Jotaro in the short weeks I've known him. While he hasn't necessarily reciprocated, he doesn't seem bothered by it. I had made note of that thing in his pocket, and while formally I would be afraid to ask, now I didn't. Maybe it would help him be a little more forthcoming, and not look like he's holding so much back.

"I saw you playing with something in your pocket. What was it?" I asked, just curious at this point. He looked a little taken aback, and shoved his hand right down into his pocket again, as if confirming it was still there, but he didn't pull it out. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, a tinge of pink on his cheeks. Something I thought I would never see from him. To my surprise, he spoke, elaborated, even.

"It's embarrassing you know." He said, slowly retrieving the item shrouded in mystery from his pocket. I looked on intently, unsure of how something so small could be embarrassing. He lifted out what looked like a small keychain with the keyring on his middle finger and let it dangle in front of me. It was a small, clear plastic dolphin with blue water swishing around on the inside with white sand and some brightly colored, obviously fake shells. Upon closer inspection, it also had the word Florida printed in bold black letters right across the side of the animal. It had small, black painted eyes, while otherwise devoid of any details. It was quite a cute souvenir, I smiled. "My dad sent it back home for me after he went and played a show in Florida. He does it for every state he goes to. He must've thought I'd like it or something." He said, slowly putting it back in to the opening of his black slacks. I cocked my head to the side and gave him a big grin.

"You must like it enough to carry it around." I teased. He grunted.

"Maybe so."

We made it back to Jotaro's house right before lunchtime. Holly was in the kitchen preparing a large lunch, now that we were off of school.

"I heard from Jotaro that you're going to be staying until you three leave on Sunday, Ocean?" Mrs. Kujo asked as she formed rice balls in the kitchen, while me and Jotaro sat on the floor at the table with Joseph.

"Yes ma'am. If it's not a burden." I said, a little embarrassed.

"Of course not! It's nice to have another girl around here. Did you know the doctors thought Jotaro was a girl? It was so funny when they told me I had a boy. We were so set on naming him Jouko. Or, her Jouko. But Sadao quickly came up with the name Jotaro after he was born. They sound similar don't you think?" She beamed. I was about to respond but Jotaro interrupted.

"That's embarrassing. Stop telling people that." He hissed.

"Okay!" Holly chimed and quickly went back to making lunch.

We all basically ate in silence except for occasional banter here and there. Joseph decided to break the streak by deciding it was a good idea to have a plan when we arrived in Florida and how we were going to manage our time.

"We're leaving Sunday, if there's room on a flight. Now when we land we will be at the Los Angeles Airport. Jotaro that's all the way across the country from Florida." He stated arms crossed, very full of himself.

"I know Gramps, I'm not an idiot." He said smugly.

"We'll all drive to Tokyo early Sunday morning. Once we get landed in LA we should take a flight to Jacksonville. It's around forty minutes away from St. Augustine. I say you should do your project before so we can have all of the time after to do things that you would like. How does that sound?" He asked.

"Sounds great!" I smiled. Jotaro grunted in response. My smile diminished as I wondered if Jotaro was going to be so cold and distant the entire trip. I pondered with a blank look on my face, but a certain feeling arose in my stomach. Not... butterflies. It was hard to explain. I felt like we were warming up to each other, in a "Jotaro" kind of way, anyway. I didn't mind his callused demeanor. I didn't even mind that he was rude. As much as it pains me to say it, there is nothing I dislike about Jotaro. I was content. I was not scared of him like I used to be, not even a little. He might seem like a big ol' delinquent who doesn't care. But for some reason, in the way he groans and grunts and argues at his family, I can tell that he loves them very much. and I feel like they know it too. Sure, Joseph gets on to him about language and the way he treats his mother, but it's playful. He's just a teenager. He's trying to figure things out. If he was so bad he wouldn't have agreed to go all the way to Florida with a girl like me. A girl everyone hates. He could have went along with the crowd, but he didn't. He covered for me, invited me into his home. Surely everyone's opinion about him is just... wrong. Right?