Chapter 8 - Money For Nothing

Friday, October 16th, 2020

Jonah was in his last class of the day, an honors college lecture. Sitting next to him in the auditorium that late afternoon was also Emily, who shared the class with him. For every lecture, the professor brings in a guest speaker to talk about certain current events, corporations and issues as a way of engaging the students with the values of the honors college. However, the two stand users had spent most of the hour ignoring the guest speaker and whispering to each other about their pasts and interests. Jonah had talked with her a bit beforehand through text messages, but Jonah was pleasantly surprised when he realized they shared a course together. He just hadn't noticed her before due to his introversion. Jonah was normally an introvert, but due to him being assigned as an impromptu leader of their group of stand users, he wanted to make more of an effort to be approachable. He was beginning to feel a small boost in his confidence, and wanted nothing but to chase that high.

"So, how did your father come across the arrow?" Jonah asked, remembering the conversation from earlier that week.

Emily stared up at the ceiling for a moment in thought. "He doesn't remember much about it. I just know that he went on a business trip back in mid-1999, somewhere in Japan. He was passing through a smaller town, I forgot the name of it. While he was taking a smoke break, he was shot with an arrow out of nowhere, out of a decrepit old house. He ran away before it knocked him out, and after he woke up in the hospital he flew back." She recalled.

Jonah raised an eyebrow. "So, did he end up developing a stand himself?"

"Sadly." She uttered, the emotion draining from her face.

"What do you mean, sadly?" Jonah questioned.

"He always called it [Money for Nothing]. It was a simple ability. Once a day, he could view in his mind a still picture of what he will be looking at exactly 24 hours from that point."

"What did he do with it?"

Emily groaned. "He got into stocks. Every day he'd make a habit of viewing specific stock prices at the same time every day, then seeing into the future with his ability. As you would expect, he made a fortune. Even made some losses on purpose to stop people from suspecting insider trading."

"Why would you be upset about that? Um.. pardon me asking." Jonah added.

"No, you're fine." Emily assured him. "He ended up quitting his job and living the high life. Pretty sure he still is to this day. He met my mother at a casino when she was down on her luck at the blackjack table, and they hit it off. One thing led to another, and then I was born. He stayed with us until he lost interest and wanted another taste of the high life, leaving my mother to take care of me alone. I was only three at the time."

"Oh shit, that's really terrible." Jonah whispered, struggling to think of a worthy response. "I guess a stand is more defined by its user than I thought..."

"Either way, we managed." She continued. "My grades ended up getting me enough scholarships to get here, so that's a start."

"I'm surprised your stand varied so much from his. I guess that's for the better, though." Jonah commented. Emily took a second to focus back on the class's guest speaker while she thought of what to say next. However, Jonah's thoughts did not return to the lecture in front of the classroom.

I may have just met this girl a few days ago, but she's already telling me her life story. He pondered. Why? Is it because we're both stand users? Probably not, she wouldn't need to say anything about her past to help our group. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to? No, snap out of it, Jonah, don't be that guy. People make fun of guys like that. Then again, this sounds like she doesn't really open up to people often, but hell if I know. Jonah would've continued his tirade, but his train of thought was interrupted as his classmate met his gaze once again.

"I'm sorry if I've come off weirdly, but I wanted to make some friends. Truth is, I also need some advice, and you seem level-headed enough to give me some pointers."

Jonah had no clue where she was going with this, but he felt an odd feeling in his stomach that he never really had felt before. "Oh, it's no problem at all! What do you need help with?" He said, attempting to keep his voice somewhat quiet to hide his excitement.

Emily was about to respond when the lecture was dismissed and everyone in the auditorium began filing out of the double doors at the back of the room.

"Finally, want to get something to eat? I'm starving." Emily stood up and offered a hand to him.

"Oh, sure. I guess we can pick up where we left off there." He said, grabbing his bag and taking her hand to get lifted out of the seat.

Holy shit, I'm holding a girl's hand! Jonah's thoughts raced through his mind. The contact only lasted a few seconds, but Jonah was pretty desperate for any human contact at this point, so he decided to ride the high as far as it could go.

…

"Oh, so how long have you been coding for?" Emily asked, taking a sip of her tea. They were both sitting down inside one of the school's cafeteria halls, with trays of food in front of them. Jonah never really ate too well, but he wanted to give a good impression this time so he got grilled chicken with rice and greens. It turns out that he didn't hate it as much as he thought he would. This was a surprise to him, as the quality of the university's cafeterias was only slightly above that of your average U.S. high school.

Refocusing on her question, Jonah put down his fork. "I started in high school with a basic comp science course, and then found out that I had a niche for it. I asked for a Python book for my birthday one summer and went through it pretty quickly."

"What do you mean by a Python book?" She cocked her head a bit. Jonah found this to be cute, but refrained from saying anything about it to not sound stupid.

"Python's a programming language. I started with it, but since then I've also branched out to other languages like Java and C++." He stated proudly.

"Are these programming languages anything like regular languages?" Emily prodded. "Are they harder to learn?"

Jonah had to take a few seconds to formulate his answer. "I never really tried learning actual languages. For coding, it's tricky at first to learn a new language, but many of them share some basic rules and statements and it becomes easier to get a feel for them. It's all hard-logic based. They all take time, though." After a second, he added. "How is it learning another language on your end?"

This time it was Emily's turn to think herself through. "I don't remember too much of the process, since my mother taught me both German and English at a young age. However, the two are somevhat similar to your programming languages in the fact that they both are more practical, and share many basic syntax rules. However, I will admit that some phrases don't translate well, and slang is alvays changing in each. I vould hate to learn any language at this age, though. Lord knows how hard it is to pick up another tongue after your early teens." She said with a chuckle.

Jonah joined in on the laugh. "I will say that your English is great, though."

"Oh, danke!" She smiled. "I do apologize for my accent, though. I can mostly hide it when I'm thinking about it, but it tends to come out more when I'm speaking casually." She explained before taking a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich. The cheese tasted a bit like plastic, but to her it was better than nothing.

"Don't worry about it." Jonah assured, raising his palms. "I barely notice it." This was an outright lie, but Jonah did find the accent endearing. However, he then remembered their conversation in the auditorium. "So, what was it that you needed help with before class got out?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes, I forgot!" Emily's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together. "So, I had been talking with an old online friend over the summer, and I found that we were going to share a class together from now on as he transferred into our university last week. This was great news for me, as I had been forming a crush on him for the past few months."

Jonah's eyes widened as the color seemed to drain from his face. It took all of his willpower not to glitch through the chair he was sitting in by unintentionally using his stand. If he were to have been taking a sip of his soda at that point, it would've been all over Emily's face. He pushed that unnecessary thought aside as he stuttered out a sentence. "So... what happened next?"

"Well, we had always been close friends, but over the past month or so, he's been avoiding speaking to me. We don't even really text anymore now, much less talk in person." She continued, oblivious to Jonah's reaction.

"What's his name?" Jonah asked nervously.

"His name is Naka Hamura, and he's a Japanese transfer student." Emily admitted. "He's actually been going here for a bit longer than I have, but he's having trouble switching classes so I almost never see him."

"He's Japanese, huh? Does he speak English?" Jonah joked in disbelief.

"Well, obviously. Did you expect him to know German? Oh, very funny." She scoffed at the previous subject matter. "We've been friends for years, and he always told me stories over the phone. For example, his dad's an oceanographer, and this past summer he took Naka with him to explore a shipwreck on a research mission."

"Oh that's neat. What was the name of the ship?" Jonah asked.

"I don't remember, all I know is that it vas an old warship." She replied. "Anyway, I have my first class with him after this, and I want to know how to approach him. I mean, I never really did anything to piss him off, we just sort of lost contact in der past few veeks."

Jonah was still taken aback by what she was saying, but he forced himself to look a bit more rationally. I just met her a few days ago, why would I think I would have a chance for anything else this soon? Plus, she seems to trust me enough to ask me for help with all this. It's only fair for me to at least try and help her through this. His thoughts bounced around his mind like ricocheting bullets.

He cleared his throat. "So, what are you thinking?"

"Well I don't know!" She raised her arms in frustration. "How do you approach someone you haven't seen in months? I can't just waltz up to him and go 'Hey, vhat's up?' like nothing's changed. What would you do?"

Jonah rested his hand on his chin. "I guess I'd sit near the guy and wait for a quiet moment in the class to re-introduce myself. Then I'd ask to talk later after class and ask what happened then."

"That's a little blunt." Emily scoffed.

"To me it sounds like you need to be blunt. I think you deserve an explanation for why he cut ties." He responded while taking another sip of his drink.

"Well, maybe you have a point." She admitted as she checked the time on her phone. "Scheisse! I only have 5 minutes until class starts!" She gasped, getting up quickly.

"I can put your plates back for you." Jonah tried to calm her. "Go ahead."

"Thanks, I'll tell you how it goes!" She yelled while stuffing the rest of her sandwich in her mouth. Jonah watched as she barreled out the door, nearly knocking over a skateboard parking rack as she went.

"Well, this day has been a rollercoaster." He muttered to himself. He didn't really feel the appetite to finish the food on his plate.