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He swallowed visibly.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing, that’s just… rough,” he said.
But she could tell she’d hit on some truth. So, he also thought teachers were overpaid jerks. Fantastic. No wonder he had gotten a little weird when she was putting on her skates.
In her grumpiness, she almost asked him what he did for a living, so she could tear that apart mentally.
But she stopped herself at the last second.
Exactly what he did really didn’t matter. He made enough to pay for this program. Her benevolence and travel fees would be astronomical, and they were probably the tiniest piece of the puzzle.
It probably meant that his job was so high level she wouldn’t even understand it. And even if she did, she certainly wouldn’t be in any position to poke fun at it.
But how could he possibly earn that kind of money when he looked only a little older than she was?
She briefly considered that he might have inherited his money. But nothing about him was refined or snobbish.
“Oh wow, there’s a speed bump up ahead,” he said, rousing her from her spiraling thoughts.
Sure enough, a large section of the road ahead was raised and glowing, and it totally blocked their path forward.
“Should I try to go in the grass?” Chloe wondered out loud.
Before the words were out, she saw that the speed bump actually extended into the soil. The raised mound of grass went out in both directions as far as she could see.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to avoid it,” he chuckled. “Why don’t I take it first, really fast? Then you can approach slowly, and I’ll pull you over.”
“That sounds good,” she said, barely holding in her sigh of relief.
“Hang on,” he told her, letting go of her hand.
She watched him approach the bump.
Although he started off with long, swift glides, he began to slow down the closer he got to the bump.
“Bergulian barber buckets,” he muttered when he reached the bump and his skates stopped.
“That’s weird,” Chloe said. “But this place is AI controlled, so I guess it doesn’t have to work like the real world.”
“I’m still real,” he protested. “And presumably the skates are, too. But it’s like someone’s putting on the brakes.”
“Maybe they are,” she mused, approaching him. “Maybe the skates stop you if you’re not doing it right. Oberon said we were supposed to work together.”
“So, they want us to go over this thing together,” he said, looking back at her. “Pretty slick.”
His eyes on her did odd things to her belly.
She ignored the feelings and nodded.
“Come on,” he said, reaching out his hand. “We’ll go back and try to get over it at the same time.”
“I’m going to wipe out and take you down with me,” she said sadly.
“Maybe,” he said, shrugging. “But we’ll be okay. And doesn’t it seem worth it, to get to whatever is at the end of this road?”
She tore her eyes from his and looked at where the road ahead curved out of sight.
