A Hole in the World (6 page)

Surely, she’s lost her mind. And if she hasn’t, she will do soon because she’s
only human
, damn it. 

She takes a deep, calming breath and steps back, moving to stand in front of the princess once more. ‘There.’

Alexandra looks down at herself. ‘May I ask, what is the function of this constrictive garment?’

‘Says the girl in the corset!’ Bianca exclaims. Seeing Alexandra’s confused look, she sighs. ‘It... it keeps your boobs perky and private.’

‘Boobs?’

Bianca pokes the left cup of her bra. ‘Boobs. Breasts. Chest. Whatever. Keeps it perky and it’s so your nipples don’t show and then the boys can’t perv on you. Well, mostly. You’re lucky my bra even fits you.’ She eyes her for a moment. ‘You’re at least one size smaller.

‘It is comfortable.’ Alexandra pokes herself on the chest. ‘Boobs?’

Bianca turns away and lets her forehead hit the bathroom wall. ‘Oh, god help me. I have to take this girl to school with me,’ she mutters.

*

Twenty minutes later, Bianca is, insofar as her attire, all ready for school: shirt buttoned, tie draped around her neck and blazer and black trousers on, and trying to tie Alexandra’s tie for her, even as the blonde complains and tries to figure out what the
purpose
of the tie is.

‘I don’t
know
,’ Bianca says, for the fourth time. ‘I just know we have to wear it, so just let me tie it!’ She pulls the tail through as Alexandra picks up and examines the trousers.

‘Put those on,’ Bianca says.

‘These are meant for men,’ Alexandra announces, wrinkling her nose and holding out the offending garment towards Bianca. ‘Womenfolk are meant to wear skirts and dresses.’

‘I think I just heard a hundred feminists crying.’ Bianca glares at her and
finally
finishes off the tie. ‘Can’t you just wear the trousers? Is that
too much to ask
?’

Alexandra drops them on the bed in disgust. ‘Trousers,’ she says, using the word as though for the first time, ‘are for princes.’ She gestures at Bianca and her trouser-clad legs.

‘And princesses!’ Bianca exclaims. ‘Really! Princesses can wear them too!’

‘It is not proper and I will not do it!’ Alexandra exclaims.

‘Oh... for crying out
loud
.’ Bianca glares at her, pushes past her and walks across to the wardrobe. ‘I might have a skirt in here somewhere...’ She rifles through the articles of clothing lying abandoned on the base and, after a couple of minutes, comes back with a short, pleated skirt from a few years before. It’s multiple sizes too small for her now – something she’s eternally grateful for, since it stops Julia from nagging her to show off her legs – but will probably fit Alexandra. It’s also black, which fits with the school dress code.

‘I dunno if it’ll fit you,’ she says, bringing it back across to the cantankerous princess, ‘but it’s worth a try, I guess.’ She shrugs and moves away to tie her own tie, having paid attention only to Alexandra’s.  ‘Now, come on. We need to go downstairs.’

She pulls the blonde from the room, skirt still clutched in dainty hands, and drags her down the stairs and into the kitchen-cum-dining room. She’s half way across to the fridge when she notices Alexandra just
standing there
.  ‘Are you going to put that on or what?’ she asks, after a moment, gesturing at the small slip of black fabric in Alexandra’s hands.

‘Yes, of course.’ Bianca can’t help but track the skirt’s progress as the blonde pulls it on and up her slender legs to sit, comfortably, on her hips. Although the waist size seems to be perfect, the skirt itself barely comes down to her mid-thigh. Alexandra stares at it in disbelief and Bianca just stares. ‘This skirt... It is
inappropriate
!’

‘Do you want the skirt or the trousers?’ Bianca snaps, stalking across and hitting the button on the kettle to boil it, not even bothering to check there’s still water contained within from the night before. Alexandra pulls a face and Bianca knows she’s won.

She navigates across the room and opens the fridge. She’s about to retrieve food of some description when it occurs to her she has no idea what princesses eat. ‘What do you want? You look like the type to be vegetarian or something.’ Alexandra isn’t forthcoming so she sighs and says, ‘Toast, I think. Toast is usually the lesser of the evils...’ She pulls a carton of juice from the fridge and grabs a loaf of bread from within the breadbin by the sink. When she turns to take it over to the toaster, she notices Alexandra is standing beside the microwave, the damn hat
finally
discarded upstairs, and looking lost, so Bianca gives her a reassuring smile and asks, ‘Toast okay by you?’

Alexandra nods, cautiously. Bianca suspects she doesn’t have a clue what toast even
is
.

‘Okay then.’ She retrieves two glasses and pours orange juice into both, then pushes one of the glasses towards the blonde. ‘Drink.’

Alexandra gives her a wary look, but trusts her enough to pick up the glass and take a hesitant sip. ‘Ahh!’ she exclaims with wide eyes, as the first sip goes down. ‘It is
delicious
!’

‘Orange juice?’ Bianca gives her an unsure look then takes a sip herself. ‘Mm, I guess it is pretty nice.  Don’t you have orange juice where you’re from?’

‘No.’ Alexandra shakes her head. ‘We have wine and water... But we do not have this orange juice of which you speak. I feel I must ask, now, what else do you have that we do not?’

Bianca grins and has to resist the urge to start listing the things she suspects Alexandra’s world is bereft of. The Internet and the things contained within spring immediately to mind. But instead of scaring the girl, she says, with an amused look, ‘
Now
you’re getting interested?’

Alexandra nods, excitedly, ‘Oh, yes, my prince!’ She claps her hands together and she seems so happy Bianca can’t bring herself to correct her over the prince thing again. ‘I beg you now; show me the delicacies of your world!’

‘Morning, Bianca,’ Julia says, as she walks into the kitchen, yawning and scratching at her ruffled hair, robe wrapped tightly around her. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

The two girls are sitting opposite each other at the table, the surface laden with every kind of food and drink Bianca could acquire at such short notice. Amongst the spread there’s orange juice, carrot juice, apple juice, pomegranate juice, toast, all kinds of jams and butter to go with it, every type of cereal Bianca could lay her hands on, fried bacon and defrosted waffles from the freezer.

‘We’re
eating
!’ Bianca exclaims, happily. Upon discovering Alexandra’s appetite and desire to try
everything
, she’d quickly decided to fatten her up so she’d actually fit into the clothes Bianca provided. 

Julia raises an eyebrow. ‘I see.’ She comes over to the table and sits down next to Alexandra and opposite Bianca. After a moment, she turns to the blonde and asks, ‘Do I know you?’

‘Mum, this is Alexandra,’ Bianca says. ‘She’s my new friend. We’re walking to school together.’

‘Not walking with Scotty?’ Julia enquires, reaching for some toast.

‘’Course! I can walk with more than one person, Mum!’ Bianca exclaims. She grins at Alexandra and nudges the jar of marmalade towards her. ‘Try that.’

Julia raises an eyebrow. ‘I’m sure Alexandra has tried marmalade before, Bianca...’

Alexandra removes the spoon from her mouth. ‘Never have I experienced such a wonder!’ she exclaims, with wide eyes.

Bianca looks at her mother with wide eyes. ‘She’s... erm... she’s an exchange student.’

‘Where do you come from, then?’ Julia enquires of the blonde.

‘Calpaea!’ Alexandra says, with a big smile.

Julia smiles, indulgently at her, as though suspecting her of being mentally deficient. ‘I’ve never heard of it. Where is it?’

‘Somewhere in Asia,’ Bianca says, quickly. ‘Tiny, tiny place. They don’t get marmalade.’ She glances across at Alexandra reverently nibbling at a piece of toast, wonder filling her large eyes.  ‘Or... bread.’

Scotty chooses that moment exactly to walk into the kitchen via the back door and drop his bag on the floor by the table. ‘Hello,’ he says, with a grin, grabbing the nearest chair, straddling it and reaching for the food on the table. ‘What’s with the buffet?’

‘Help yourself, Scotty,’ Julia says, rolling her eyes.

‘Don’t mind if I do, Missus W.,’ Scotty replies, piece of toast shoved in his mouth. ‘My mum’s been neglecting me. I’m being starved!’

‘Funny, you
look
well fed,’ Julia responds, with a grin, standing up and walking towards the cup rack. ‘Coffee, dear?’

‘Mm, that’d be lovely, ta.’ Scotty turns to Bianca as her mother reaches for a mug for him, then Alexandra catches his eye.  ‘Who’s this pretty lady, then?’ he says to her, with a grin.

Bianca’s eyes widen. ‘You know Alexandra, Scotty!’ she exclaims, overly cheerfully. ‘From
school
?’

‘No, I don’-’ He breaks off when Bianca’s foot impacts his shin under the table. ‘Oh! Alexandra. Of course. Yes. Of
course
I know Alexandra.’ He stuffs more toast in his mouth, pulls his phone from his pocket and starts thumbing through his text messages.

‘So, what lessons have you got today?’ Julia asks, sitting down again and pushing a mug towards Scotty, who accepts it with a grateful smile and fills it to its brim with black coffee. Bianca pulls a face at him, noting, with distaste, that Julia didn’t bring
her
one and stops Alexandra from reaching for the coffee. The last thing Bianca needs is a caffeinated princess on her hands.

‘I’ve got double maths.’ She groans. ‘Then, English, bio and chem...’ She sighs. ‘I miss fencing. I used to have fencing on Mondays.’

‘You did fencing?’ Julia says, her mug of coffee held in her hands by her mouth.

‘Yeah, Missus W.!’ Scotty exclaims. ‘At St Mary’s, she was one of the best in the fencing class.’

‘Actually,’ Bianca interjects, ‘I was
the
best. I beat the best, in fact.’

‘Which is why she’s not allowed near sharp objects anymore,’ Scotty announces. Bianca sticks her tongue out at him in return. He takes a long swig of coffee and sighs, happily. ‘Missus W., I do believe you make the best coffee in all of England.’

Bianca rolls her eyes, but Alexandra points at Julia and says, quietly, ‘Missus W.?’

Bianca nods. ‘Yeah,’ she says. ‘My mum; Julia Western. Missus W.’

Scotty goes in for some more toast, coffee mug held in the same hand as his phone. He somehow manages to turn his hand over without spilling the coffee and glances at his watch. ‘Biancs, we should go if we want to get to school on time.’

Bianca groans. ‘Okay, okay,’ she says, scraping back her chair and standing up.  ‘Come on, Alexandra.’ She reaches out and catches the other girl’s hand, pulling her to her feet and rolling her eyes when she dives in for once more slice of toast and marmalade. ‘We’ll get you more food at school.’ She shudders to think how much Alexandra will weigh by the time she’s returned to her kingdom.

Scotty grabs his bag from beside Bianca’s and passes hers to her as well, with a smile. She accepts it, gratefully, and throws it over her shoulder, rifling through it as they walk outside. It takes her until the end of the path to realise her error. ‘I forgot my maths book,’ she says, with a sigh, grinding to a halt. She presses Alexandra’s hand into Scotty’s. ‘Look after her for a moment for me,’ she commands.

‘Bianca!’ Scotty shouts, apparently terrified of having hand-holding thrust upon him, but Bianca has already hurtled back into the house.

By the time she comes back a couple of minutes later, Alexandra is in tears.

‘What the hell happened?!’ she demands, running over to her new friend and wrapping her arms around the blonde, throwing a dirty look Scotty’s way.

‘She just... just... she started shouting your name and burst into tears!’ Scotty exclaims, looking as horrified as Bianca feels.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ Bianca whispers into Alexandra’s hair, one hand stroking it while the other holds her close. ‘Scotty’s a friend. He’s safe. Really!’

Alexandra pulls back a tiny bit and looks at her with tear-filled eyes. ‘This world... it is big and frightening. I thought you had left me forever and I became anxious...’

‘I just went to fetch this,’ Bianca says, producing her maths book with a small smile. ‘I promise I’ll
always
come back for you, okay?’

Alexandra nods and smiles. ‘O-kay,’ she says, cautiously.

‘Biancs, can I talk to you for a moment, please?’ Scotty says, grabbing Bianca by the elbow and towing her across towards the potted plants to the left of the path. Alexandra remains by the gate, within Bianca’s line of sight.

‘What?’ she hisses.

‘Who is she?’

‘Alexandra.’

‘No, Biancs.’ Scotty shakes his head. ‘I’ve never seen her before. I know you didn’t meet her at school. And she got
terrified
when you left her. Who is she?’

Bianca cringes. ‘She’s... a princess from another land.’

‘Funny,’ Scotty says, with a glare. ‘You’re
real
funny.’