[X] The Go-Getter
"I don't know who could have possibly made such a mistake," you say, feigning amusement. The mistake you are referring to, of course, is undermining someone under the protection of Joanna Joestar. Lying is a sin, after all.
Del purses her lips. "So there's no truth to it?"
"Really, Del, can you imagine Dio in Bethnal Green?" You nod at the cricket pitch, where your foster brother has just scored a run. "Look at his carriage, his command of language! If he's a guttersnipe, I'm a sewer rat."
Your companion stares after the blond boy. "I suppose..." she says hesitantly, before turning back to you. "But then, where did he come from? Why does he have no other family to take him in?"
"It's not a question of there being no one else," you reply, stung. "My father and I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for Dio's father; the Joestars do not shirk their debts. Anything we can do for the Brando family, we will."
"Oh, my." Del's eyes widen. "I apologize, I didn't mean to pry."
You nod, smiling indulgently. "Perfectly understandable, Adelaide; I know you worry."
"But Jojo... aren't you the least bit scared?"
You are dumbfounded. "Of Dio? Whatever for?"
She bites her lip. "He's... unusual," she says finally. "You must have noticed."
"Unusual?" You cast a glance across the pitch once again. "By Abney Park standards, certainly. I personally find it refreshing."
"I meant that-"
"Adelaide," and where before the name held affection, it is weighed down with warning, "I will not permit you to continue to speak ill of my brother."
"... of course, Miss Joestar," she says quietly.
The matter settled, you turn the conversation to other topics.
=
The weeks roll by, and soon spring gives way to the earliest days of summer. You're amazed and pleased at how quickly Dio befriends the entire male segment of the student body, and his marks are easily the highest in your class. Soon he's begging off your boxing lessons every now and then to tutor the younger lads.
The lessons themselves are going quite well. There have been no recurrences of the elbow-in-the-eye incident - indeed, you've had to reprimand Dio several times for going too lightly on you. Nonetheless, you feel you've made some progress; you're aware of your surroundings now in a manner you weren't before, and your body feels lighter somehow. You can almost keep up with Dio now.
The servants may suspect what the two of you are up to, but if they do, they haven't told Father. Not that they would have had the opportunity; your spectral assistant has sent him off on a new tangent of research, and he hasn't been home much in the past month or so.
Finally, one evening at dinner, he asks, "Jojo? How would you feel about attending school on the continent?"
"Not go to St Trinian's?" you exclaim.
"I've been speaking to reputable experts, vouched for by my colleagues," Father goes on, wincing slightly at the disappointment in your voice. You'd always expected to attend your mother's school when you were old enough. "They unanimously recommended the Common School for Girls in Naples as being the best place for ladies of... unique circumstances. It's a smaller academy, but well thought-of - founded by a Lady Adkins, of the Bamburgh Adkinses."
[X] Confound the Bamburgh Adkinses! You have no intention of permitting your phantom to control your life, and certainly you have no desire to be poked and prodded by strangers for it. You shall attend St Trinian's as mother would have wanted.
[X] Italy? For real and for true? How marvelous! And perhaps, if Father's friends are correct, you could learn the true nature of your abilities.
