Free A Hole in the World by Sophie Robbins Page B

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    ‘Probably.’ Bianca lounges back in the grass. ‘But I don’t care. It’s been worth it. You know she’s never been on a swing before today?’
    ‘Blasphemy!’ Scotty exclaims.
    ‘Exactly! I had to teach her how!’
    ‘Alexandra, you are a strange one,’ Daisy says.
    Alexandra grins. ‘Swings are fun,’ she says. ‘When I return to my land, I will make it so every village has a set!’
    ‘Now, that’s a law I can get on board with,’ Daisy says. She grins and leans against Cory’s shoulder. She’s shivering slightly so he takes off his blazer and drapes it around hers. ‘Thanks,’ she says.
    ‘No problem.’ Cory smiles at her, she smiles back and Scotty snorts.
    ‘It’s too cold to be out here anyway,’ Cory muses, goose bumps rising on his now bare arms.
    ‘Yeah.’ Bianca shivers.
    ‘What else hasn’t Alexandra done?’ Scotty enquires.
    ‘There’s a list,’ Bianca replies.
    ‘Hmm...’ Daisy sits up. ‘There should be .’ She pulls her homework diary out from within her bag and clicks the top of her pen. ‘Let’s make one. We can list things Alexandra hasn’t done or tried and then we can introduce her to them.’
    ‘Cinema,’ Cory suggests immediately. ‘I bet she’s never seen a movie. We could take her to see the new Harry Potter.’
    ‘Cool. Adding it.’
    Bianca watches, amused, as everyone starts listing things. Scotty wants Alexandra to try his Xbox, Cory wants to take her bowling, Daisy wants to have a sleepover and do manicures, pedicures, face masks and have some kind of pillow fight and watch DVDs (she jokingly suggested the Princess Diaries or Enchanted) and, finally, after the list has reached four pages, Bianca says, ‘Supermarket.’
    Everyone looks at her.
    ‘She’s never seen half the stuff we eat, guys,’ she explains. ‘I gave her basically everything in the house for breakfast and she’d never even seen toast before. I could get some money and we could go to the supermarket and just... buy her some things to try.’
    ‘Marshmallows!’ Cory exclaims.
    ‘Bananas!’ Daisy counters.
    ‘Chocolate,’ Scotty suggests.
    Bianca looks at Alexandra. ‘You okay with this?’ she says, gently.
    Alexandra nods, excitedly. ‘Oh yes!’ she exclaims. ‘I cannot help but wonder of your world and the wonders it contains.’
    ‘Well, it’s not like we have unicorns,’ Bianca says. ‘But we have some cool stuff. Disneyland, for instance is pretty cool.’
    ‘Disneyland!’ Cory exclaims.
    ‘We are not taking Alexandra to Paris,’ Daisy tells him, deadpan.
    ‘Who was talking about Paris?’ Cory retorts. ‘Florida, baby!’
    ‘We’re not taking Alexandra out of the country!’ Scotty shouts.
    ‘Fine, but when she doesn’t know who Mickey Mouse is, don’t come crying to me.’
    ‘Ooh.’ Daisy writes something down. ‘Early morning Disney Channel.’
    ‘Agreed.’ Cory leans over her shoulder and eyes what she’s writing down. ‘Bubble bath?’
    ‘Every girl should know the wonders of a bubble bath, Cory.’
    *
    Bianca’s hand is almost numb from where Alexandra has been clinging to it throughout the film. They decided to cross ‘cinema’ off the list to start with and went to see the newest Harry Potter which, incidentally, scared the living daylights out of Alexandra. And Cory.
    It took them until about half way through the film to finally convince Alexandra through hushed whispers that it wasn’t real , that it was fiction and entertainment. Then, no matter how scary she found it, she started to quite enjoy it.
    Daisy has already promised to break out her DVDs to show her the rest.
    ‘Come on, let’s do the supermarket next,’ Bianca says. ‘I don’t know about you guys but I’m hungry.’
    ‘Popcorn not enough for you?’ Cory says.
    ‘No, because you and Alexandra ate it all.’ Bianca smirks and runs on ahead with Alexandra, leaving the other three to walk a few feet behind. ‘You having fun?’ she asks Alexandra,