"You ate at McDonald's!? For your anniversary dinner!?" Miranda asked incredulously. "And Peggy didn't kill you?"
Declan smiled sheepishly. "What can I say? She loves me." Miranda rolled her eyes and tapped the folder in front of her with her index finger. "What's in the folder, Miranda?" Declan inquired, hoping to change the subject to something less embarrassing.
"It's RJ's transcripts.... and all his other official NOU documents." She winced when Declan whistled in amazement. "I got them from a friend in Academic Affairs, but now I'm not sure if I should read them."
Declan eyed her in confusion. "You're investigating him? I thought you were supposed to be tutoring the guy?"
"I am, but it's just... he's just..." Miranda sighed heavily. "When I asked Karen for files, I told them it was for you. She said the strangest thing."
"Yeah?"
"She asked me if RJ was swapping again?"
"Swapping what?" asked Declan.
Miranda shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't get the chance to ask her; there were too many people in the office."
"Hmm..." Declan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Why'd you ask for his info in the first place?"
"I probably shouldn't have, but something doesn't add up. RJ's smart, Declan. He knows the material inside and out, and yet he does poorly on every test and never completes his assignments." Declan gave her a look as if to ask how she knew this. "I asked his other professors," she admitted. "It doesn't make sense." Instinctively, she tapped the folder again.
"You want me to open it?" Declan asked. "You went through all the trouble to get it, you may as well."
Miranda sighed heavily. "No, it should be me," she acquiesced,
reaching for the folder.
*~*~*~*
After her classes were through for the day, Miranda headed straight to RJ's dorm room, folder in hand.
RJ opened the door at her first knock, grinning when he saw her. "Miranda! Hi! You're early!" He stepped aside for her to enter. "I was just cleaning up a bit," he said with an awkward smile.
Looking around the room, Miranda could see he'd been doing just that. The floor was clear, clothes and books all in their respective places and even the bed had been neatly made, with military corners even. RJ had spread a huge throw rug on the floor in the center of the room. It looked like those Miranda had seen on her family's many Italian sojourns. She was impressed at the change from last time, but that wasn't, she reminded herself, why she was really there.
"So..." RJ began as he flopped down in a reclining chair in the center of the room. "Where do you want to start?"
With the truth, Miranda thought ruefully as she fought off the urge to return the smile he was giving her. Calling up all the resolve she could muster, she reached out with her arm, handing him the folder.
"What's this?" RJ asked, giving her a confused look.
"You tell me," she replied. RJ opened the folder and flipped through a few of the pages. Then he closed it with a laugh.
"I was wondering how long it would take you," he said with a chuckle. "A lot less time than the last tutor Dad found for me," he added. "You're good."
Miranda was confused, which didn't surprise her considering how complex RJ was beginning to seem. She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting, but his laughter wasn't it. "You knew I'd find out that you've switched majors six times?"
RJ nodded, beaming proudly. Laying a hand on her arm, he explained, "See, it's like this. All my life, Dad's had these ideas about what my life should be like... a mold of himself he wants me to fit."
"And you don't want to," Miranda added. It wasn't a question; she knew that feeling.
RJ nodded again. "Yeah; I don't want to be like him. Don't get me wrong... I love my Dad, but I really can't stand him all that much."
"So, you're purposely trying to fail all your science and physics classes? Why? You know the stuff, RJ. I've seen your work, spoken to your professors. I know you really don't need me tutoring you."
" 'The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.' " RJ quoted cryptically.
"Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience," Miranda replied, understanding dawning on her.
RJ went on talking as casually as if they were discussing the weather. "I really don't know what I want to take up as a career. Everything fascinates me, so I just keeping switching majors when I find something new that I like." Miranda nodded; she'd known people who'd wanted to be perpetual students. "Dad doesn't understand, though. He wants me to be a scientist, like him..." he paused, blushing as he remembered Miranda was a scientist, too. "No offense, right?"
"None taken," Miranda told him. She understand *exactly* where RJ was coming from. Her own father had a fit when she told him she didn't want to live in his world and become part of the family conglomerate.
RJ smiled at her, looking more like the confident guy from Friday night again. "I actually like science," he admitted. "Like everything else, it intrigues me, but I don't want to make a career out of it. Dad thinks I should, and he keeps bullying me into taking these classes geared to point me in a direction he's more comfortable with." He shrugged non-committally. "So, I fail the classes he picks out, just to piss him off." He grinned at her suddenly, and Miranda found herself laughing. Professor Waldau was a bit of control freak--or an academic tyrant, as Declan had once called him behind his back--and she could really see a guy like RJ not wanting to be just like his father. RJ's laughter blended with her own rather musically.
"I'm sorry you don't have to tutor me any more, Miranda," he said. "I kind of like you. You're something else."
"Yeah... thanks," Miranda deadpanned, having been suddenly jolted back
to reality. RJ was right, she *didn't* have to tutor him any longer.
For some reason, that thought made her a little sad.