A Hole in the World (8 page)

Bianca sighs because she doesn’t want to do more bubble bursting today. ‘Tell me... Tell me about your family. Do you have any brothers or sisters?’

Alexandra shakes her head. ‘No, there is but me. Yourself?’

‘I have an idiot brother called Topher.’ Bianca shrugs and reaches for her sandwich again, despite not really having an appetite anymore. ‘I sometimes wish I was an only child.’

‘Why?’

‘Because Topher’s really annoying!’ Bianca exclaims. She laughs. ‘He drives me crazy.’

‘But you love him?’

‘Says who?’ Bianca scowls at her new friend.

Alexandra smiles. ‘He is your brother. Of course you love him.’

‘Eh. I guess. I’d still rather be an only child, though. That would be so much—’ She breaks off when Alexandra places a finger on her lips and just sorta blinks at her.

‘It is lonely.’ Alexandra gives her a sad smile, not moving. ‘I was raised by a Fairy Godmother and the Queen... There were no others around me until I went out and found them... But you! You have never been quite alone. You do not wish to be alone.’

Bianca sighs as the finger slips free and Alexandra goes back to sitting, contentedly, on the grass, looking around at the scenery. She doesn’t feel like any response will be appropriate, so instead she falls silent and eats pieces of her tasteless sandwich.

‘About that Fairy Godmother thing!’ Bianca exclaims, after a moment. ‘I want to know more about that!’

Before Alexandra can reply, Cory appears from nowhere, dropping down to sit behind them and announcing, ‘We thought we’d come find you!’ Daisy and Scotty sit either side of him as he continues with, ‘You and your...
Princess
.’ He snickers.

‘You
told them
?’ Bianca snaps at Scotty.

Scotty throws his hands up. ‘I didn’t
mean to
!’ he exclaims. ‘It was just... Daisy said she acted like a total princess and I... may have slipped.’

‘Scotty!’ Bianca exclaims.

‘I’m only human!’ Scotty exclaims. ‘I’m not used to keeping secrets! And... it’s only Cor and Dais.’

‘It’s not true, though, right?’ Cory says, still snickering. ‘I mean; she’s a fairytale princess?
Really
?’

‘I am Princess Alexandra of Calpaea!’ Alexandra says, smiling happily.

‘Oh, this is
priceless
!’ Cory laughs, clapping his hands together. He turns to Scotty. ‘Mate, your friends are
nuts
.’

‘Shut up.’ Scotty glares at him.

‘I can prove my claim to be naught but the truth!’ Alexandra announces, standing up. She turns her face up to the sky, takes a deep breath and shouts, ‘Nissa! Nissa!’

‘Alexandra,’ Daisy hisses, grabbing at her skirt and trying to pull her down, ‘people are staring!’

‘You really can’t do this,’ Bianca says, quickly, ‘especially not if you want to blend i-’ She breaks off, eyes widening as a dot of light appears in the air before Alexandra, expanding and brightening until it gets to be bigger than the group.

The four students flinch away as the light explodes, but Alexandra stares into it as it transforms into a tubby older woman, who appears to be floating about two meters off the ground. 

‘This,’ Alexandra says, grandly, ‘is my Fairy Godmother, Nissa.’

‘Are you
crazy
?!’ Bianca hisses. ‘You brought her
here
?’

‘Only we are able to see her,’ Alexandra replies, smiling up at the Fairy Godmother hovering above. ‘Thank you for heeding my call, Nissa.’ She does a little curtsy before the woman in the air.

‘At least act normal!’ Scotty hisses, grabbing her by the back of the blazer and dragging her down to a sitting position.

‘That’s... that’s...’ Cory points up at Nissa in bewilderment. ‘Where are the strings?!’

‘Strings?’ Alexandra asks, confused.

‘There have to be strings!’ Daisy says, standing up and walking around the Fairy Godmother, waving her hands through the air surrounding her. ‘How are you
doing this
?!’

‘Magic!’ Alexandra exclaims, with a smile.

‘What do you need, child?’ Nissa enquires, reaching out and tucking the blonde’s hair behind her ear as Daisy sits back down.  She casts her gaze around, and then breaks out in an enigmatic smile. ‘Ah!’ she shouts. ‘Your Prince Charming came for you!’

‘I am afraid not, Nissa,’ Alexandra says, regretfully, but Bianca can tell she doesn’t believe her own press. ‘The one who pulled me from that dreadful place is this maiden.’ She gestures at Bianca, who flushes and looks at Scotty, who’s snickering.

‘Shut up,’ she hisses at him.

Daisy leans over. ‘Doesn’t ‘maiden’ mean a female young or unmarried virgin?’

‘Shut
up
,’ Bianca repeats, as the group begin to laugh.

‘This is not funny, children!’ Nissa exclaims. They fall silent. ‘If Alexandra does not find her Prince Charming, she will be doomed to remain alone for all eternity!’ She turns back to the girl in question. ‘Are you positive it was not your Prince who rescued you?’

Alexandra casts her eyes down. ‘She insists she is not a prince. She is adamant that she is merely a girl in the right place at the right time.’

Nissa looks across at Bianca.  ‘You are sure?’

‘I’m no Prince Charming, ma’am,’ Bianca says, quietly.

Nissa sighs, dramatically, floating up another couple of inches, then down a foot. ‘In that case, I do believe I must inform the kingdom. They will send out search parties for your retrieval.’

She moves to click her fingers, but Alexandra catches her hand. ‘Tell them... Tell them not to be too hasty, Nissa, please.’

Nissa smiles and clicks her fingers, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

‘So,’ Cory says, quietly, still in shock, ‘you really
are
a fairytale princess.’

Alexandra just smiles casually at him in response.

*

The rest of the day passes mostly without incident, thanks to Alexandra’s presence being covered up now not only by Bianca and Scotty, but also Daisy and Cory. Cory and Daisy also seem to have taken it upon themselves to protect the girl from bullies, teachers and, in Cory’s case, spiders, although Bianca suspects that’s more of his own phobia than Alexandra’s.

The walk home is uneventful, although punctuated by Bianca and Scotty yawning at regular intervals even whilst Alexandra bounces like a five year old on a sugar high.

They say goodbye to Scotty on the corner, Bianca with a hug and Alexandra with a shy smile and wave, and the two girls sneak quietly into the house, so as not to alert Bianca’s parents to Alexandra’s continued presence.

‘So, when are you going to be taken home?’ Bianca asks, breezily, as she and Alexandra walk into her bedroom. She drops her bag on the bed, shrugs out of her blazer, hanging it up in the wardrobe, unbuttons the top couple of buttons of her shirt and tosses her tie over the chest of drawers, then joins her bag by flopping face-first into the pillows.

‘It could be any time!’ Alexandra says, with a smile. ‘It could be now... or not for a year!’

‘A
year
?!’ Bianca squeaks, raising her face up from within the pillows. She takes a breath. ‘Okay,’ she says, after a moment, sitting up and tucking her feet beneath her, ‘if you’re going to be stranded here for that long... I guess I should teach you how to fit in with normal society and
not
let many, many people know you’re a princess from some faraway land called Calpol.’

‘Calpaea!’ Alexandra exclaims.

‘The point still stands.’ Bianca gives her a weak glare.

Alexandra grins, excitedly. ‘Show me how to live!’

Bianca smiles. ‘Let’s start with the iPod,’ she says, with a smile, walking across to her iPod dock and guiding Alexandra by the hand to follow her. ‘You like music, I gather?’

‘Music is surely the most beautiful thing to permeate the air!’ Alexandra exclaims.

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Bianca says, rolling her eyes. She holds Alexandra’s hand in her own and directs the blonde’s slender finger towards the buttons. ‘Press this button to turn it on,’ she says, pressing down on the menu button, ‘and slide your finger like this to navigate the menus.’ She slides her finger around in a gentle circle and Alexandra gives her an amazed look.

‘This is wondrous magic!’

‘Not magic. Just an iPod.’ Bianca laughs and scrolls down, still using Alexandra’s finger. ‘Here, we’ll go for a random song, okay?’ She presses the centre button down on ‘Shuffle Songs’ and Alexandra jumps back a couple of paces as the beginning beats of John Barrowman’s version of
Uptown Girl
fills Bianca’s bedroom via her iPod Dock.

‘That is miraculous!’ Alexandra exclaims, staring around in disbelief.

‘Come on.’ Bianca guides her back across to the iPod with a smile. ‘I’ll show you how to choose your own songs.’

‘What are you doing?’

Bianca pauses in front of the mirror and turns around to face Alexandra, who has walked into the bathroom and perched on the side of the bath. She’s watching Bianca with obvious curiosity, the kind Bianca is growing slowly accustomed to seeing on the other girl’s face.

Bianca looks down at the eyeliner in her hand, then across at Alexandra. ‘I’m putting makeup on. Don’t your people wear makeup?’

Alexandra shakes her head silently, slipping her hands between her knees and leaning forwards a bit to peer at Bianca. ‘What is the purpose of this...
makeup
?’ she enquires.

‘Um... well...’ Bianca turns away from the mirror to lean against the sink, almost perched on the cool ceramic object. ‘We use it to enhance our features... like, eyeliner makes your eyes pop, as does eye shadow and mascara makes our eyelashes look longer. Lipstick and lip gloss makes our lips more attractive.’

‘Attractive?’

‘Kissable. It makes you want to kiss someone more if they have lip gloss on.’ Bianca flushes a bit as Alexandra eyes her and her mouth, thoughtfully.

‘I would not need this... lip gloss,’ Alexandra announces, after what seems like a lot of thought. ‘I would be content without.’

Bianca blushes hotly and turns away again, supressing the rising heat in her cheeks with a cough. ‘You don’t wear lip gloss?’ she says. ‘Your lips are that colour naturally?’

Alexandra smiles and nods. ‘Oh yes,’ she says.

Bianca sighs, jealous. Alexandra’s lips look soft and plump and slightly shiny without needing help from cosmetics. It’s not really fair.

‘What is this?’ Alexandra is at her side, retrieving her foundation and eyeing it curiously.

‘It covers up blemishes, makes your skin look smoother.’ Bianca takes it off her and opens it up. ‘Here.’ She starts applying it to Alexandra’s face, careful not to put too much on, and then follows with eyeliner, shadow, mascara and a small, thin layer of light pink lip gloss. She doesn’t need it really, not like Bianca, but it never hurts to give it a try.

When she’s done, Alexandra has a small amount of blue eye shadow on her eyelids, matching and bringing out the colour of her eyes. Bianca turns her, gently, by the shoulders towards the mirror and points.

‘How very peculiar...’ Alexandra says, touching her face and examining her eyes. ‘This is a strange practice. You do this every day?’

Bianca shrugs. ‘Sometimes,’ she says. She grabs a makeup wipe from her makeup bag and starts wiping at Alexandra’s face. ‘You don’t need it though,’ she says. ‘You look gorgeous without makeup.’

It’s Alexandra’s turn to blush and Bianca can’t help but smile as she gently removes the makeup.

‘You don’t need makeup either,’ Alexandra says, quietly.

Bianca smiles and keeps on wiping. 

*

‘Should we not be attending school?’ Alexandra enquires when Bianca leads her by the hand in the opposite direction from the high school. ‘I believed it to be mandatory.’

‘So is skipping a day once in a while,’ Bianca replies as she takes a right and slips down a small, almost hidden path. ‘It’s a rite of passage for a teenager.’

‘I see...’ Alexandra hurries after her as she takes a few more turns, going past small cottage-like houses and climbing over a stile. ‘Where is it you are taking me?’

‘You’ll see.’ Bianca helps Alexandra over the stile and they carry on across the grass. The tall blades tickle at the blonde’s knees and the dew clings to her skin and shoes. She doesn’t seem to mind, though, instead just running after Bianca, carefully avoiding holes in the ground.

‘I used to come here all the time as a kid,’ Bianca tells her, ducking under a fence and into another field. ‘I still do as a teenager but it’s not the same. Ever been to a park?’

Alexandra shakes her head and grabs Bianca’s hand again when she loses it. ‘What is a park?’ she enquires.

‘It’s a place with fun things to do. Ever been on swings? A roundabout?’ More shaking of Alexandra’s head follows and Bianca sighs. ‘You’ve been repressed,’ she informs her. ‘Come on.’

They walk for the next five minutes in silence and then Bianca leads Alexandra into a small copse of trees. They duck under a few branches and keep walking until they emerge into a clearing.