JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 9: Silver Soul

Her Silver Lining Part 1

Ding.

Jolene nearly threw herself at the laptop, opening the new email without even looking at the subject.

Dear, Jolene Joestar

Congratulations! You have proven yourself to be an exceptional and above all else passionate student. It is an honor to offer you admission to the Florida Institute of Technology[...]

She rubbed her face in disbelief, a wide gaping smile grew as she wriggled in her seat. Soon enough she was giggling and tugging at all twenty-four inches of her sun hat. The eyes of angry customers threatened to poke holes in her mood and the waitress already started stomping towards Jolene but she didn't even bother to notice. The crowning jewel to top off her birthday week had finally come!

Click.

Refresh.

Ding.

Two new emails.

Click.

Refresh.

Ding.

Three new emails. All of them, letters of acceptance.

She leaped from her seat.

"YYEEEEEEESSSS!!!"

"Game Over. New Highscore," chirped the old laptop.

Everyone turned to stare at Jolene. Goosebumps spread across her skin, now that she could see the café's icy glare. She let her arms sink to her sides and lowered her head. The eyes weighed heavier on her back with every clip of wire and string of solder she picked up from the floor to pack into her suitcase.

"MISS! I need you to leave the establishment immediately!" Shouted the waitress.

The waitress' impatient taps echoed in Jolene's mind, a metronome to tighten her pace. She ended up tossing her personal laptop into her hand bag and carried the old laptop under her arm, bolting out the door desperate to leave the cold stares behind and greet the warm Floridian afternoon outside.

Her hat and dress danced in the wind alongside the rows of palm trees that dotted the sidewalks. She sighed, the Fort Myers heat lifted her soul and brought out its inner warmth. She smiled.

Jolene hefted the bags as she walked toward her old mini van, an antiquated 2008 model sandwiched between a chrome convertible and a glistening black car. She felt a little embarrassed at the sight but the thought that the rest of her life lay right in front of her was too joyful, she knew Uncle Arthur and Aunt Dona would be ecstatic. All her bags were thrown into the back seats while the old laptop was seated in the passenger side and with everything set she drove off into Fort Myers.

The city was left mostly untouched by the technological revolution of past years. The swaths of streetlights, government surveillance systems, advertisement holograms and massive corporate city blocks were all absent in the City of Palms due to its nature as a tourist location. Jolene drove through streets of short buildings cut at the corners and vibrant with color. Bright palm trees lined the low sidewalks, the breeze blew at a pleasant pace and the sky remained the heavenly oil painting it had always been with white strokes lining the atmosphere. Fort Myers was an open field in the form of a city.

The beater turned onto Tarpon Street, an empty road speckled with houses and the odd parking lot, grass lawns that crawled onto the street and trees that formed a majority of the population. She arrived at the end of the line, the pier's entrance lay hidden under a canopy of trees.

While parked at the edge of the river, Jolene flipped open the old laptop and completely ignored the new high score of seventy-two million four hundred and fifty-two thousand three hundred and twelve.