Class was silent and gruelling. Everyone danced, catching breaks only when the teacher stopped to demonstrate a specific piece of choreography. And then she would expect them to do it perfect, taking them through it repeatedly until she felt the entire group had mastered it. Even as fit as she was, Alice found herself running out of energy by the time the bell rang, releasing them from school. Ace shuffled to her locker, wanting nothing more than to grab her uniform, use the showers and then go home to sleep. The front of her locker had gained new decoration, this time it was a bunch of sharpie penises drawn all over the front. It wasn't even offensive to her, instead she burst out laughing at how badly drawn they were.
                              
"I don't see what's so funny about that." Mal- Mr. Vega said, standing at Alice's side. She grinned up at him, still trying to swallow her giggles. She could see Lexi and her friends standing just a bit down the hallway, obviously afraid to harass Alice right in front of a teacher.
                              
"It's hilarious. Either they were drawn by children with no concept of physiology or whomever drew them has way too many expectations." she indicated one obscenely large drawing. "Or wishful thinking." she added in, seeing a smile quirk the corners of his mouth.
                              
"Be careful Mr. Vega, you don't know what you might catch from her." Lexi insinuated snidely as she walked past with her friends.
                              
Malcolm- Mr. Vega turned to scold Lexi for her off hand remark when Alice shot her hand out and grabbed his wrist. He gave her a surprised look and she let go of his hand, mumbling an apology. "It's not worth reacting to her. Even before the whole school found out, she hated me. I don't know why, I didn't do anything to her but..." Alice shrugged.
                              
"It's easy to see why she's like that Ace. She's threatened by you." Malcolm smiled as he said it. Alice looked confused by his comment.
                              
"Why would she be threatened by me? I'm the new girl with a checkered past." she shook her head.
                              
"You really don't get it do you?" he smiled as he said it. The hallways were almost deserted by now, but neither noticed. "She's threatened by you because you're beautiful. Far more beautiful than she can achieve, and she knows it. So she's trying to tear you down." he explained. Alice looked down, fighting the urge to blush as he called her beautiful. She knew she had a great body, and wasn't bad to look at, but it was the first time she'd been called beautiful.
                              
"Thanks Mal." she smiled, still looking away from him. "Well, I gotta shower. I'm pretty sure I stink." she changed the topic, not wanting him to take back the compliment.
                              
"You need another ride home?" he offered, having seen how far away she lived.
                              
"Ah... sure, why not?" she agreed with a shrug. "I'll be super quick ok?" she offered and ran off to the showers. It's amazing how quick it is to shower off sweat compared to scrubbing off body glitter, and Alice was cleaned and back out to meet Malcolm in less than 10 minutes. Her hair was still wet from the shower so she twirled it up, tucking it into her hoodie so it wouldn't soak her shirt.
                              
"I thought girls your age were supposed to take forever to get ready?" Malcolm teased, looking at his watch like he was surprised.
                              
"Guess that just goes to show that you don't know as much about girls my age as you thought." Alice joked back.
                              
"That or you're not like the other girls your age." he added in, and it didn't sound like a joke to Alice. It made her palms suddenly clammy, thinking about how no other girls her age had given him a lapdance.
                              
"You should be careful. Anyone overhearing this conversation would think you were taking me on a date, not giving me a ride home." she pointed out, only half joking. She didn't want him to stop, no she very much wanted to go on flirting, but she also wasn't deluding herself into thinking that he had any interest in her that way. Not that it should matter, she didn't like him that way either, he was her teacher, she reminded herself and got into the passenger seat.