A Hole in the World (7 page)

‘I’m also ‘real’ serious,’ Bianca says, with air quotes. She shoves him back towards the princess. ‘Alexandra,’ she says, gently, ‘tell Scotty who you are and where you’re from.’

‘I am Princess Alexandra of Calpaea!’ she exclaims, with a smile. ‘My Prince Charming rescued me from the evil enchantress who wishes to steal my throne.’

‘You couldn’t have left that bit out?’ Bianca says, with a groan.

‘Prince Charming?’ Scotty says. ‘Then why are you with...’ He trails off and looks at Bianca. ‘No!’ he exclaims, starting to laugh.

‘Shut up,’ Bianca grumbles.

‘Seriously? She thinks
you
are her Prince Charming? Oh, that’s
priceless
!
You’re not a prince and you’re certainly not
charming
!’ He laughs harder, doubled up and holding his sides.

‘She
is
my Prince Charming!’ Alexandra exclaims. ‘It was foretold by my Fairy Godmother that I would be kidnapped by an Evil Enchantress and Prince Charming would rescue me and protect me until the day we return to the Kingdom together to be wed!’

Scotty stops laughing. ‘Is she
serious
?’

‘Deadly,’ Bianca says.

*

‘Okay, so I don’t get it,’ Scotty says, as they walk to school. ‘If she’s some princess from some fairy tale land... why is she here?’

‘I don’t know.’ Bianca shrugs. ‘I didn’t know what else to do with her.’

‘Eh?’

‘I went through that hole. Last night.’

‘Could’a waited for me!’ Scotty splutters.

She ignores him. ‘And I found her imprisoned by a troll in this... cave. Looked like something out of a game.’ She sighs. ‘She was in this pink poufy dress with one of those conical hats with the silk coming down.’ She gestures madly, trying to describe the hat. ‘You know the ones?’

‘Never been a big fan of the more feminine fairy tales, but yes.’ He looks across at Alexandra, who is staring around at the world in wonder as she trails behind Bianca, clutching on to the other girl’s hand.  ‘So, why is she going to school with us?’

‘What else am I meant to do with her? I can’t leave her at home and I certainly can’t leave her to wander because last time I did that she almost got hit by a truck!’ She throws up her hands and Alexandra recaptures the left one as soon as it drops back down. ‘I just have to hope the teachers don’t notice she’s not supposed to be here.’

‘Poor girl,’ Scotty says, mournfully. ‘She falls into our world and we subject her to
school
right off the bat.’

Bianca snorts and pulls a hair band from her pocket slowing down and placing a hand on Alexandra’s shoulder. ‘Hang on a sec, Alexandra.’

They stop walking as she gently turns the blonde around, running her fingers through the girl’s long hair. She braids it loosely down her back and smiles when it’s done, turning her back around. ‘You blend in a little easier now,’ she says. ‘Although you’d blend in a
lot
better if your hair was shorter.’ She fingers the end of the plait, the straggling ends of her hair half way down her back.

Scotty sighs, ruffling his own hair, drawing the girls’ attention back to him. ‘So, are you going to have to go to her kingdom with her?’

Alexandra looks at Bianca, expectantly, but Bianca shakes her head, takes Alexandra’s hand again and starts walking. ‘Nah,’ she says. ‘Eventually, the real Prince Charming will turn up to bring her home and I’m good with that.’

‘No, no, no!’ Alexandra exclaims. She wrenches her hand free and jumps back a few steps, towards the wall. ‘You cannot leave me!
You
are Prince Charming! You must not leave! You must not!’

‘I’m not going to leave,’ Bianca says, rolling her eyes and catching Alexandra’s hand with her own once more, tugging her down the street. ‘I’ll make sure you’re safe.’

‘You realise we’ve both gone insane, though, right?’ Scotty enquires, as they start walking again, Alexandra clinging more tightly to Bianca this time. ‘You honestly believe this girl is a princess?’

‘There was a troll, Scotty,’ Bianca says. ‘A
troll
. Once you’ve seen a
troll
you believe anything.’ They turn the corner, walking towards the large grey building of the school.  ‘And have you
heard
how she talks?’

‘She’s going to get bullied into oblivion, and that’s just by our
friends
,’ Scotty says with a sigh, as they approach the school. They slip in with the rest of the uniform-clad teenagers and follow them into the school.

‘At least she’s our age, okay?’ Bianca says.

‘I have been alive seventeen years!’ Alexandra exclaims.

‘Okay, a little older.’ Bianca shrugs. ‘But close enough. There was a girl at St Mary’s who looked like she was twenty-five.’

‘I bet she was horrible,’ Scotty says, pulling a face. 

‘She was actually the loveliest girl I’ve ever met...’ Bianca says, with a smile. ‘I miss her, actually.’

‘Huh. You miss something of St Mary’s. Maybe you
are
human.’ They push open the next door inside the school and stop.

‘We missed form,’ Bianca says, distractedly. ‘Think they’ll call my parents?’

Scotty shakes his head. ‘I’ve missed form hundreds of times. As long as we make it to at least one class we’ll be okay.’

‘Where are we first?’ Bianca enquires.

‘Maths, so, uh... one-two-one.’

Bianca nods and pulls Alexandra down the halls, Scotty following behind her. She squeezes the blonde’s hand and says, gently, ‘In this class, you need to be quiet, okay? Keep your head down, look like you’re doing work and try not to talk too much. Hopefully the teacher won’t notice you, then.’

Alexandra gives her a wide-eyed nod. ‘I will follow your direction,’ she says.

‘Good.’ Bianca pulls Alexandra into the classroom, keeping their joined hands hidden behind her bag, and leads her over to the desk.

‘Nice of you to join us, Scott,’ Sands says, without looking up.

‘Sorry, sir. My alarm didn’t go off,’ Scotty lies, smoothly.

‘Keep using that excuse and I’ll buy you one for Christmas,’ Sands says, looking up finally and quirking an eyebrow at the class as Bianca and Alexandra sit down at the back, opposite Cory and Daisy, a redheaded girl with flashing green eyes. Scotty slides in beside them.

‘Who’s this?’ Cory enquires, casting Alexandra an appreciative gaze and quirking an eyebrow, his interest obvious.

‘Alexandra,’ Bianca says. ‘She’s new.’ She squeezes the blonde’s hand under the table one more time before releasing her and moving around to retrieve her maths book from her bag.

‘Nice to meet you, Alexandra,’ Cory says, with a grin. ‘I’m Cory and this is Daisy.’

Daisy gives her a smile and Alexandra smiles blithely back in response.

‘Don’t you talk?’ Daisy says, after a moment.

‘You can talk to these two,’ Bianca says, quietly, as she opens her maths book and finds the page specified on the board.

‘I do communicate,’ Alexandra says.  ‘However, Bianca thought it best for me to stay quiet in... class.’ She stumbles over the word, as if trying to be sure she’s using the correct terminology.

‘That’s ‘cause she’s a B-I-T-C-H,’ Daisy says, winking at the blonde. ‘But don’t you worry; stick with us and we won’t tell ya not to talk.’

Alexandra tilts her head, mouthing the letters to the word Daisy spelled out. ‘I am not familiar with this word,’ she says, turning to Bianca. ‘What is its meaning?’

‘My
god
,’ Cory says eyes wide, ‘are you from another world or something?’

‘It means a nasty person, usually a woman,’ Bianca explains quickly to Alexandra. ‘And Cory, shut up. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.’

‘Yeah! And Biancs is definitely
not
one of those!’ Scotty exclaims, always the first to dive to Bianca’s defence.

‘Indeed she is not!’ Alexandra says, almost rippling with indignation. ‘She is my Prince
Charming
!’

There’s a dull
thump
as Bianca’s forehead hits the desk.

‘They’re in a play together,’ Scotty explains, quickly, before Daisy can say anything.

 ‘Uh huh.’ Daisy nods, unconvinced.

‘Ah, Bianca...’ Sands walks across at that moment and smiles, pleasantly. He leans on the table, looking straight at Bianca. ‘I believe you required tutoring in your maths?’

‘Yes, please, sir,’ Bianca replies, with a smile. ‘Thank you.’

‘Come over here then.’ Sands gestures at an empty desk.

Bianca stands up, her chair scraping noisily across the floor, squeezes Alexandra’s shoulder and disappears.

‘You spent the entire of double maths being tutored by Sands,’ Cory says, as he, Scotty, Daisy and Bianca – being trailed by a fearful looking Alexandra – leave the classroom.

‘Tell me about it.’ She groans. ‘I think my brain is about to explode. Or implode. Or just overload. I need food. I need chocolate. I need a new brain. I need
lunch
.’

‘Come on then,’ Cory says. ‘We’ll go get food.’

‘We’ll catch up,’ Bianca says. ‘You, Daisy and Scotty go ahead. I’m going to go outside with Alexandra and get some air.’

Cory nudges Scotty and gives him a significant look. Scotty kicks him in the shin. ‘Idiot,’ he mutters. Bianca rolls her eyes.

‘Boys,’ she mutters. ‘Come on,’ she says to Alexandra, tugging on her hand with a smile, ‘let’s go outside.’

*

There’s a small patch of grass on the outskirts of the school grounds, well monitored enough to discourage the smokers, but not forbidden, inviting a small group of quiet, well-mannered friends to congregate and enjoy their lunch in peace and quiet under the sun, no matter how cold it is on any given day.

It’s there that Bianca leads Alexandra and the two sit; side by side, under the only slightly warm winter sun, on the damp patch of sloping grass.  Alexandra tucks her legs delicately up beneath her, whereas Bianca just sprawls and starts rifling through her bag with about as much grace as a blind elephant trying to get a stick out of its bum.

‘Here.’ She retrieves two sandwiches from deep within her bag and offers one to Alexandra, who accepts it, gingerly, unwraps it from within its plastic bag and takes a bite. ‘You don’t have to act like it’s poisoned,’ Bianca chastises. Alexandra gives her a grin, makes happy sounds and continues munching, settling back on her elbow to enjoy the rest of the sandwich in comfort.

‘So,’ Bianca says, with a smile, licking her fingers and tucking into her own sandwich, ‘tell me about your kingdom.’ She suspects she’s not enjoying
her
food nearly as much as Alexandra is.

Alexandra smiles, dreamily, and leans back a little more, casting her eyes up to the sky above her. ‘Our castle is by the ocean, set into the cliffs and rising high into the sky. The ocean is clear as crystal and as deep blue as sapphire. In the summer, the servants’ children and I run down to the water with no shoes on and play in the small waves. The grass around the castle is the brightest of greens, greener even than this!’ She gestures at the grass beneath them. ‘And everything is clean and shines in the sunlight.’

‘It sounds beautiful,’ Bianca says, tearing off a small piece of sandwich and placing it in her mouth. She chews on it for a moment but it doesn’t taste as good anymore. Once she’s swallowed, she says, ‘I guess my world seems pretty rubbish in comparison, huh?’

‘No, no, not at all! This is the adventure I have been awaiting throughout my short lifetime! And I get to experience it with my Prince Charming!’ She grins and takes another bite of sandwich.

‘Mm... I’m still not your Prince Charming, you know,’ Bianca says. She puts her sandwich down, suddenly not hungry.

‘
Why
must you say that?’ Alexandra says, with a sad look. ‘You are more Prince Charming than any
man
could be!’

‘But I’m not
the
Prince Charming. You know that, right?’ Bianca says, reaching across and placing her hand on top of Alexandra’s. ‘I’m just the girl who rescued you by mistake.’

The blonde’s blue-green eyes flicker down to look at her lap and she shakes her head. ‘You must be,’ she says, ‘for I was meant to be rescued by
the
Prince Charming...’

‘I’m sorry.’ Bianca swallows and wishes she still had her sandwich to concentrate on.

Alexandra shrugs and Bianca is suddenly hit by the realisation that the blonde is barely any older than she; a young girl who spent her entire life waiting for Prince Charming to save her life, take her in her arms and marry her. Instead, she gets her bubble burst by a stupid teenage girl who doesn’t know better than to climb into holes without knowing where she’ll end up.

‘I’m
really
sorry,’ Bianca repeats. ‘I... God, I’m so sorry.’ She retracts her hand and groans.

‘You need not be sorry,’ Alexandra says, with a smile. ‘You quite possibly saved my life! That is nothing you must ever be sorry for.’ There’s something shining in Alexandra’s eyes and Bianca suspects it’s the desire to call her Prince Charming again.