Jerome also made Deja want to snatch herself bald but because he was giving his majors and minors too much thought. She hadn’t even known that was possible, but it seemed he was in her office every other week with the idea of picking up another major or two minors or a certificate program and on and on and on, and asking Deja to run through the next two years of class schedules and help him research post-graduate career paths. It was frustrating and inspiring. Deja knew Jerome wanted to make the most of his time in college. He didn’t want to miss a thing, and she wanted to make sure he didn’t, but she also wanted him to settle on a second major or minor or whatever so he could finish his prerequisites and not add another semester or year to his time there. She also wanted him to leave her alone about this, but she couldn’t say that.

“Stats will add another year of math,” she reminded him. “You can take some of them over the summer at a community college, so this might affect your ability to work when you go home. Also, you need to rest as much as you can between semesters. I keep telling you this.”

“I know, Doc, but I gotta save money for books and stuff,” he said, his face scrunching in concentration as he tried to figure out how to process this new information.

They walked in silence for a bit. Deja understood Jerome’s position well. Like him, she’d been a first-generation college student. She’d worked a part-time job during the semester and a few part-time jobs in the summer to save money. She’d spent all her free time in the library reading her assigned work and more because she was terrified that one day in class her professors would make a reference to something — a book, an author, a concept — that she didn’t know but all of her classmates would, and she’d be crushed by the weight of her inadequacy. She understood Jerome’s impulse to take every class, do everything, read everything, see everything, but she also knew what would happen if he spent the next three, five, or ten years with that kind of frenetic desire.

He’d turn into her.