Free A Hole in the World by Sophie Robbins Page A

life. ‘Oh my!’ she exclaims as Bianca pushes her hard and she flies upwards. ‘This is...’
    ‘Fun?’ Bianca suggests.
    Alexandra looks like she’s thinking of a whole other word, but then the swing starts to slow down and Bianca sits back on her own.
    ‘Kick off like this,’ Bianca says, walking her swing back and letting go. She stops again when she sails backwards. ‘When you’re swinging, bend and straighten your legs. Watch me.’
    She swings higher and higher, leaning back on the way down and straightening her legs, tucking them up and leaning forwards when she swings back up. ‘See?’ she says, scuffing her shoes against the ground to stop.
    Alexandra shakes her head. ‘I do not see the appeal of this undertaking.’
    Bianca laughs. ‘It’s fun, Alexandra. Just try it for me. Come on.’
    Alexandra sighs and Bianca watches, amused, as her first three attempts at getting any kind of momentum fail grandly. Her fourth, however, results in her swinging back and forth without any problems or complaints.
    ‘Ooh!’ she exclaims as she swings higher.
    ‘Liking it now?’ Bianca says, smiling.
    ‘Oh yes!’ Alexandra shouts on her way past. ‘This is exciting !”
    The amusement grows. ‘I wouldn’t say exciting ,’ Bianca says, ‘but it is fun. All kids do it in our world.’ She gestures at the children on the next swing set, some pushed by their parents, others just swinging happily by themselves.
    ‘What, may I ask, is the round thing?’ Alexandra enquires when she slows down a bit.
    ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ Bianca climbs off her swing and offers Alexandra her hand. The blonde seems reticent to leave her new toy, so Bianca promises, ‘We’ll come back. We have all day.’
    Alexandra beams and accepts Bianca’s hand, following her across to the roundabout and climbing on with Bianca’s assistance.
    ‘Hold on tight and try and keep your eyes on the centre,’ Bianca says, finding the idea of cleaning up Alexandra’s vomit unattractive.
    Alexandra nods her understanding and Bianca kicks off. The roundabout spins, faster and faster as Bianca shoves her foot against the ground. Alexandra squeals, happily, and clings on to the roundabout with one hand and Bianca with the other.
    Bianca almost misses the subtle vibration of her phone in her pocket and when she checks it she can’t help but smile.
Wtf where r u ur missing skool! Txt me! Tell me u didnt die or get eaten by a dragon or sumthing
    ‘I may have forgotten to tell Scotty where we are,’ Bianca says, with a smirk, as she texts Scotty back. ‘He’s worrying.’
We’re skiving @ the park! Wont be in 2day teaching Alexandra about swings & roundabouts. xx
    The roundabout has slowed down so, gingerly, Alexandra pokes her toe off the edge and makes it spin again. Bianca giggles as it goes faster and clings on to Alexandra.
    By the time the roundabout stops spinning again, both girls are so dizzy they stagger together clambering off and drop to a heap in the grass, laughing hysterically.
    ‘The world, it spins!’ Alexandra exclaims.
    ‘I’d like to think you already knew that,’ Bianca says.
    *
    ‘Here.’ Daisy hands Alexandra a cup of jelly and a spoon and the blonde accepts it with a smile.
    ‘You didn’t have to skip too,’ Bianca says, as she tucks into the tuna sandwich Scotty brought her.
    ‘You kidding?’ Scotty says. ‘My choices: double maths and two hours of sex education, with a nice pop quiz mixed in, or spend the day with my favourite girl and her princess.’
    ‘What’s your excuse?’ Bianca aims in Cory’s direction.
    ‘As far as I care, you don’t need an excuse to skip school,’ Cory says.
    ‘Actually, you do,’ Scotty says, ‘but we don’t care. That’s the difference.’
    ‘We’re probably going to get in trouble,’ Daisy muses as she pulls long strands off a cheese string. Alexandra watches her, curiously, so she feeds the princess one, laughing when she gobbles it up from