Queen of Spades (House of Car...

Despite her best intentions to sneak back into her own room before the night ended, Alice fell asleep in Malcolm's bed and missed her chance to sneak in before Lexi returned. In fact she only woke up after Butch knocked on the hut door and Lexi answered it with a tongue lashing and a slammed door.

"Oh shit, she knows I spent the night away..."Alice breathed, worry making her heart race. Malcolm kissed her hair, fingers gently wrapped around her arm as she pulled on her skirt. Thank god no one had seen her change clothes yesterday, they wouldn't know she was wearing the same thing. Ace kissed Malcolm one last time and snuck down his stairs, managing to edge a little out of view so Butch wouldn't spot her creeping away. And then she spotted Kim staring at her, eyes wide and a little 'o' of comprehension on her face.

Ace felt a weird rushing in her head and her gut dropped. She could read it in Kim' eyes that she had just connected the dots and figured out who's room Ace was sneaking out of this morning. Alice smiled at her friends and hooked her arm through Kim's. "I'll explain everything later just please, act like I spent the night at your room ok?" she breathed at her friend.

Kim was staring at her but then swallowed and nodded. Ace ran upstairs to throw a swimsuit on under her outfit, brushing off Lexi's insults about the slut doing the walk of shame this morning. "I was at Kim's you moron." Alice hurtled back, skipping outside while the blonde was still carefully styling her hair.

"Tell me everything...." Kim breathed as the two girls walked away from the hut. "You have no idea what crazy thoughts are running through my head right now." she laughed, sounding a little nervous.

Alice chewed her lip and walked with Kim away from the breakfast area, talking her to the little bridge that viewed the flamingos and iguanas. "It's pretty much what it looked like." Alice finally admitted, having no other choice but to tell her friend the truth.

Kim let out a breath and leaned against the bridge railing. She didn't say anything at first and Ace was beginning to become nervous that maybe her friend wouldn't understand. "So you and Mr. V?" she asked softly, looking around to make sure no one was within hearing distance.

"Malcolm, his first name is Malcolm." Alice nodded, looking down at her sandals. "I met him on my last day as a stipper. It was his birthday and we ended up hitting it off and talking while everyone thought he was getting a private show." Alice laughed at the memory, shaking her head slightly. "And then the cops crashed the club, considering how much illegal sex and drugs moved through there, it was inevitable. What I never expected after being returned to my foster family was to find out that my new school homeroom teacher was the same man I'd danced for last." Alice leaned back against the railing, falling quiet.

Kim looked at her, a frown on her face and her lips pursed. Obviously she wasn't thrilled at this conversation. "So that night in the club, that wasn't DJ Mask. You lied to me. Do you even know who DJ Mask is?" she asked, and Alice understood the hurt in her friends eyes.

Guilt bubbled in her gut, but she nodded, accepting the anger and accusations as her own fault. "I'm not dating DJ Mask. I am DJ Mask." she said with a shrug.

Kim snorted, shaking her head. "Like I can believe your word." she insulted. Alice felt her chest and gut clench, hurt by her friend's animosity. But Kim was right, Alice had lied to her repeatedly and now was busted for it.

"I'm sorry." Alice said softly, turned and walked away, trying not to feel like she'd just been kicked in the gut. Second day into the vacation and she had just lost her best girl friend. It was no longer looking like this was going to be as much fun as she had expected. Ace gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the prickling in her eyes that indicated tears were trying to sneak out. She took a deep breath in and pushed the emotions away, locking herself into a numb cocoon until the pain could be expressed away from the public eye.

"So that's it then?" Kim demanded from behind her. Alice frowned and turned around to see the petite brunette standing with her fists on her hips. "Are there any other big secrets you need to tell your best friend before I can rant at you for being a secretive, mysterious b****?" she asked, eyebrow arched.

"Wha--wait you're staying friends with me?" Alice asked, confused by the anger in Kim's voice and scowl on her face belying her words.

"Of course you silly a**. No one else can scheme like you and me. Why would I break that up?" she asked, 'duh' attitude in her voice. "I'm pissed at you for lying to me but..." Kim shrugged. "I think I can figure out for myself why you did it." Kim admitted, walking up to hook arms with Alice.

Ace stared down at her petite best friend and smiled brilliantly, not too ashamed of the tears that squeaked out the corners of her eyes at Kim's words. "Thanks." she snuffled, wiping hasitly at the stupid eye leaks.

"After breakfast, you have to tell me everything. But first, food. I'm starving!" Kim demanded, and pulled Alice along after her to join their friends for food. Alice felt something inside relax and settle as she sat and laughed with her friends. When Malcolm walked into the breakfast area a little while later, talking to the other chaperones, Kim gave Alice a knowing wink that made the tall dancer flush a brilliant crimson.

Because the entire student body had gotten the day yesterday to go forth and cause as much unruly chaos as possible, those participating the Gala had to spend half the day today at practice. Everyone chose to get it over with after breakfast, before the heat picked up and so that they could have the afternoon free. Ms. Avery was staying behind with them and Mr. Vega and Mr. Bottomswell were taking those that didn't have to practice in to the city to go wander the market. Most of Alice's friends were involved in the Gala in some way, shape or form, except for Theresa and Butch. They had no part in dance, drama, band or choir and they ended up taking with them a shopping list and wads of pesos from the group that had to stay.

"This blows. How are we supposed to focus on the choreography when I just want to go splash in the ocean?" Justine whined as the groups of students headed out to their respective events. Almost half the seniors were involved in the Gala, or claimed they were so they didn't have to go shopping for the day. There were more small groups breaking off like Alice's had yesterday, doing their own things though, so there was a lot less of a herd mentality gonig on this time around.

"We suck it up and deal with it." Alice grinned at her friend as she heard the first strains of the music they'd picked for hte Gala.

####

Three hours later and Alice swore profusely as there was a wet sounding pop and everyone froze. She was standing in the center of the guys, everyone hot, sweaty, bruised and panting. They were trying to get the timing perfect for the fight scene when Alice started to swear like a sailor.

"What was that?" Jerry, one of the guys from drama asked.

"Holy h***!" John exclaimed when he saw Alice's reason for cursing. Her thumb was flapping around her wrist, obviously dislocated and already starting to swell.

"F***. S***. Piss. S***. C***. God D***it!" Alice huffed as she pulled her thumb straight with a sickening slick-crack sound. Her dark skin tone went a little pasty white and she calmly walked over to a garbage can before she threw up into it.

"You ok?" Her friends and fellow dancers queried.

"Don't tell Mal-Ms. Avery I got hurt." Alice almost slipped up. She switched it to the dance teacher's name and not her boyfriend's at the last second. "If she thinks I'm injured she's either gonig to change the choreography or try to sideline me and we don't have time for either." Alice explained away her request.

"God could you imagine trying to learn new choreography now?" Some one groaned at the prospect.

"Worse, who would be able to replace her for the Gala?" someone asked and everyone started to talk at once, worry over Alice's thumb forgotten already. Someone passed her a roll of tape and Ace wrapped her hand with it, leaving enough looseness to move comfortably, but helping to anchor the digit in place. Her entire hand was throbbing now.

"Alright. Let's get this show on the road." Alice muttered to her friends softly.

"The show must go on?" Sammy asked with a glint in her eye. After Alice attacked Lexi to defend Sam, the pudgy girl had started to come out of her shell more. Having a boyfriend like Butch didn't hurt either, and now Sammy was starting to act like she was proud of herself instead of ashamed.

"I have that on my mp3 player...." Alice mused outloud as a roar of voices reached them.

It was just passed lunch and the rest of the students were coming back from their trip to the market. The Gala practice had taken over the packed sand along the beach shore line. There were obvious dents in the sand where a body was dropped or someone collapsed, and a lot of the students were practicing their lifts and jumps right in the water to help cool them down. Even though Alice had the most dangerous choreography for hte Gala, she had kept the boys on the harder sand to practice because theirs was made safe only if they got the timing down.

But with the rest of the students back in the resort, practice quickly broke off and Ms. Avery agreed that they'd all worked hard today. She'd never heard that Alice had popped her thumb out because she'd been helping some of the girls work on their difficult footwork. Butch and Justine tromped over to their tired firends and plopped down all the items they'd picked up off the list. It wasn't everything but they'd gotten the key souveniers down. Though no one could figure out why Alice wanted a box of cigars for, until she explained Salali's smoking habit. There were some funny looking shot glasses that people were getting as gifts, the inevitable keychains and bric-a-brac that people buy when they want to share their vacation with others who weren't there. Alice noticed that Malcolm had a few bags himself and smirked as she realized that he was as excited about adventuring as the student body was.  She wondered what trips he'd like to do if he were free to do them...

"Earth to Alice... you sure you're ok?" West asked, bumping her shoulder with his.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just tired. And very much done with being out in the sun for right now. You guys good for lunch?" she asked, then gave a startled grin as her stomach rumbled a high pitched growl for sustinance.

"Looks like you're gonig to put the weight back on just fine." Butch said, not realizing the implied insult of his words. Alice gave him a goofey grin, not taking offence at his statement.

"Are we back onto that tired subject?" Alice asked, rolling her eyes. "I am not now, nor have I ever been anorexic, or bulemic. I jsut got stressed out is all. If you're all so worried over me wasting away, lets go EAT!" she pushed her laughing friends along, smiling and feeling like she'd always been a part of the group.

A lot of the dancers and other senior students had slowly started to talk to Alice like Gabby did, as if they were no longer so afraid of the wrath of Lexi and her socialites. Some of it was due to Alice revealing her back bone and fighting back, but most of it was simply because of the Gala itself. Ace was working on most of the choreography now, even gritting her teeth and helping Lexi with hers, and it's really hard to get work done if you won't talk to someone integral to your success. So Alice's group of friends was being included in the general hubub instead of exluded.

Like the day before, Mr. Vega made his way over to their table, and just like last time, Justine slid an emtpy chair out so he could sit down. Kim smirked at Alice and Ace tried not to choke on her juice. A few tables away, Alice noticed that Ms. Avery had been pulled down at West's table, and Mr. Bottomswell had joined a table near the enterance, the students looking absolutely thrilled to have the principal join them- not! "So how was the city trip?" Alice asked, trying not to sound too much like she was asking how his day went.

"Not bad at all, though a few students needed to be reminded to act with dignity." Mr. Vega laughed, Butch and Theresa joining in as they already knew the inside humour. "We found one student carefully trying to extract himself from a transaction for a.... ah a....well a shemale friend for the night." he tried to explain without using any inappropriate terms.

Alice's eyebrows went up and she gave an unlady like snort. "So was he trying to rent a gril on purpose or was it a miscommunication?" she asked, trying not to snigger.

"According to him, a miscommunication. He was trying to ask directions." Malcolm explained, though the twinkle in his eye said louder than words he wasn't buying it.

"So is tape the newest fashon statement or did I miss something?" he asked after they all started to eat. Alice hadn't even realized she'd left the tape on, once she caught sight of him, the pain in her hand had left her mind completely.

"Ah... dancing thing." she explained, not wanting to tell him that she'd gotten hurt. He'd only worry for no really good reason. It was just a dislocated thumb! He nodded at her explanation like it made sense and joined in on Justine's conversation about a show on the mainland that she wistfully wished to go see. Ace only half listened, picking at her food with her good hand. Even though she'd been starving not ten minutes ago, she was finding it hard to eat right now, a lump in her stomach. She wasn't sure how he'd react to learning that Kim had found them out. It was her fault and he had every right to be angry with her for not being more cautious, though Alice didn't think he'd be too angry about it. Would he?

She's discreetly pushed her mostly full plate away when it was subtly pushed back towards her, all without Malcolm ever looking at her. She frowned but the smile dancing at the corners of her mouth gave away that she was amused, not offended. With a put upon sigh, she started to pick at the food again, and found it easier to eat if she did it while immersing herself in the conversation.

There was a show on the mainland, and it looked wild. It was part musical, part dance club and all high energy insanity with a large amount of alcohol available. Justine had heard about it and there was a show on tonight, and she was trying to convince Mr. Vega that he could escort a small group to the mainland so it would be easier to keep track of everyone. Alice almost held her breath while he thought it over, wanting to go herself but realizing how unlikely that was to happen.

"Let me discuss it with Mr. Bottomswell. Find out how many students would be interested in going and then I'll speak to the principal alright?" he countered, the smile on his face showing that he wasn't against it at the outset, so there was some hope. He turned to look at Alice and calmly asked her in Spanish, "ted no tiene ese vestido en rojo, ¿verdad?" (You don't have that red dress here do you?). Alice fought the urge to blush and shook her head no. She hadn't thought she'd need a clubbing dress on an island. "Gracias a Dios." he sighed and Alice swallowed her grin. He'd been afraid that she'd wear it and he'd maul her!

"Tengo algo mucho más interesante, sin embargo." Alice replied with a smug smirk. (I have something much more interesting though). she warned and he gave her a glimpse of the dark fire sparking in his eyes.

"Wait, how do you know Spanish?" Butch asked Alice, only just seeming to realize that she was fluent but not Hispanic in ancestry.

Alice smiled at her friend. "I danced or I read, those were the only things I could do when I'd run away. Luckily for me, I can pretty much remember anything I've read so... learning it turned out to be surprisingly easy." she explained with a shrug. She'd never really thought about how impressive it was to become fluent at a language after only a couple of months reading the books and trying to watch Spanish soap operas.

Her friends and Malcolm were all giving her a look of disbelief and amazement. "So you basically remember everything you've read?" Kim asked, sounding skeptical.

Alice took a second to remember the script Puck was normally required to say during the play, then said

"Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon."

 The stunned looks on their faces made Alice laugh. "I warned you guys. I've got a mind like a steel trap, once something goes in there, it doesn't escape." she admitted with a cocky grin.

"It's more than that Alice," Malcolm stated, his serious tone quelling some of the humour, "I'm starting to wonder if maybe you have a photographic memory."

"Eidetic memory actually. I looked it up once." Alice shrugged away his attention on it, not terribly comfortable gonig into how strange her memory made her.

Justine slid back into her chair, out of breath and nearly knocking hte entire table over as she rammed into it. She cursed softly under her breath and held her arm, letting the sting fade from her funny bone before she tried to form coherent sentences. "I have.....around thirty.....students who want......to go to....the mainland...." Justine panted, slowly catching her breath back.

"Only thirty? Wow I figured there'd be more of you." Malcolm mused outloud.

"Actually makes sense. Later in the week when everyone is bored with the island there'll be a bigger group wanting to go. But we just got here so they're still excited to explore nearby." Theresa spoke up, still shy around Mr. Vega.

"And of that thirty, seventeen want to go do something else than the show, only twleve want to come with us." Justine added on right after Theresa spoke.

"Thirteen. Your math skills suck." Sammy laughed at the gossip-monger.

"No they do not, twelve others and then myself, thus thirteen." Justine replied cooly, though the smile tugging up her lips told everyone louder than words that she was full of s***.

Malcolm looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded his head. "Alright, I'll speak with Mr. Bottomswell about it. No guarantees, but I have no objections taking you guys out to explore a little. Just... try to not get me into trouble with the law, your parents or the school board ok?" he asked jokingly and left their table to go ask the principal.

"Do you think he'll let us?" "I wonder why Mr. V is so willing to help?" "I know why he wants to go." "Who are the other 6 that want to join us?" Alice's friends started to talk at once and she tried to subtly kick Kim for her remark about knowing why Malcolm was willing to help. As Mr. Vega made his way back towards their table, Alice noticed that the students had mostly left the dining hall and gone on to their own afternoon adventures.

"Mr. Bottomswell is agreeable to me escorting the thirteen interested students to the show, but has denied the request of the larger group as they had no specific reason to go. But at a later date he is will to do a group trip over to explore Playa del Carmen. So Justine, since you were the busy little mastermind behind all this, would you be willing to tell those others?" Mr. Vega asked.

"Sure Mr. V! Thank you so much!" Justine exploded out of her chair and took off running to go tell the others.

"Does she mainline caffiene when the adults aren't around?" Malcolm asked, voice amused at Justine's sudden recovery.

"I wish. Then we could simply take it away from her, detox her and have a nice, calm Justine. But nooooo... she's like that ALL THE TIME!" Kim groaned, making everyone laugh. "Come on Ace, I need your help picking out what to wear. Let's go be girly." she dragged Alice up and walked to their huts, their friends following along behind. Alice tried not to notice that Malcolm was tagging along as well, but she couldn't help but feel torn, wanting to warn him that Kim knew, and being afraid that he'd be upset over it.

Lexi was no where to be found when they got back, so eventually all the girls ended up in Alice's room, gonig through each other's bags to pick out an outfit.

"OOOh la la... who are these spiffy panties for?" Justine called out, holding aloft Alice's lacy yellow thong. Alice grabbed the garment in question and smirked at Justine.

"For myself. I don't wear those things for a guy's sake. I just like how bold they make me feel." she shrugged. She laid out the yellow lace and then dove into her bag, pulling out a matching yellow corset shirt and a pair of beige shorts with cream, peach and yellow plaid stripes barely visible on them. "There, my outfit is ready. Anything you guys want to jack from my bag for tongiht is fair game now." she told the others and they swooped in like vultures. Sammy looked a little sad, she was too big for any of the sexy things Alice could pull off, and she wasn't usually the flout it type anyways. Chewing her lip for a moment, Alice looked at her watch and then at Sam again. "You and I have just enough time to go shopping if we hurry. Theresa, remember how you said you saw a green and pink summer dress that would look great on her, you come with and we'll go grab it ok?" she stated, surprising both girls.

"It's ok, I don'...." Sammy started to object but Alice quelled her with a raised eyebrow.

"Sam, I am making sure you feel irresistable tonight, do you understand me?" Ace warned and Sam gave her a sheepish smile at the use of her full name. They did have barely enough time for Theresa and Alice to get ready, then taxi to the shopping area, run to the shop Theresa remembered, find an even cuter dress for Sam to wear and then meet up with the rest as they taxi'd to the ferry. The only reason it worked at all was that the ferry was downtown too. But when Butch saw Sam all dolled up, his face went red, then white, then his eyes went wide and he gave her an impressive kiss as if no one could see them.

Unfortunately the six other students joining Alice and her friends were none other than Lexi and her cohorts. Kim had started to dub them the bimbettes, and their group of six refused to even associate with Alice and her friends for hte entire ferry ride over. Alice couldn't care less, she was too busy trying not to drool over Malcolm. He'd lost the board shorts and replaced them with to the knee black cargo shorts and comoflauge t-shirt that molded to his muscles. She wanted to pull him into a dark corner and was only just realizing that with so many witnesses around, it wasn't gonig to happen. Though the frustrated look in his eyes let her know that he very much wanted to steal her away too.

The show was a blast, hysterically outrageous by turns and amazingly impressive all around. And then they were all dancing and drinking themselves, gyrating in the space recently vacated by the show. Lexi's group of girls vanished into the crowd, promising Mr. Vega that they would meet back at the bar by one am. Alice's friends couldn't maintain her high level of energy and grabbed a table  to crash at. Ace kep wiggling in her seat, drinking enough to feel pleasantly buzzed but not totally out of it. Malcolm was being more careful, as he was responsible for the students, but she could tell that he needed a few drinks to calm himself down as guys kept latching on to Alice whenever they could.

The music changed and Alice laughed as she recognized the song by the lyrics 'I'ma cowboy baby....'. "Did I ever tell you guys that when I first started stripping I was doing sets as a cowboy?" she asked her friends and Malcolm started to cough, he'd been taking a drink when she said that.

"I don't think I can hear this...." he stated, making her friends laugh. Only Kim and West knew that he wasn't embarassed by it, but more concerned by reacting to it. The rest of her friends all thought he was being a stick in the mud, and they were drunk enough to say so to his face.

"ANYWAYS..." Alice cut off the heckling. "I meant that this was the obvious song I danced to, but they taught me this really cool trick..." she trailed off as Mal cleared his throat. "You people are so dirty. I meant that they taught me POI." she rolled her eyes, laughing at their assumptions.

"Poi?" someone asked.

"Oh never mind, I'll show you guys later." Alice waved them off, tipsy herself but they were full on drunk if not yet disorderly.

The Black Eyed Pease The Time (Dirty Bit) came on and Ace threw back the last of her drink. "I'm dancing, you slow pokes coming?" she asked, needing to boogey. But none of them really wanted to.

"Mr. V, you should dance with her. Maybe then she'll stop getting mobbed." Kim suggested, giving Alice a sly wink.

"Ah... I don't think that would send the right message to the other students..." Malcolm objected weakly.

"Don't worry about it Mr. V! We all know you two volunteer together so you're kind just friends anyways. We'll vouch that it's jsut a friendly dance! Go before she drags me out please?" Kim persuaded. Alice was fighting a grin, amazed at how manipulative her little brunette friend was.

"I promise to be good!" Alice announced and gave him no other choice, pulling him out into the crowd by his hand.

"This is a bad idea." Malcolm said into her ear, but he didn't leave her to dance alone. He managed to find a way to tango with her to the music despite it being a pop song, and Alice felt the buzz of hte alcohol burn off under the thrill of dancing with him, especially as he seemed to forget the need to be cautious and kept letting his hands wander, nuzzling at her neck a little when they were close together. Ace was getting more than a little hot and bothered, though she was careful enough to check the crowd for watching eyes. But none of her fellow students were within spying distance so she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, wanting to devour him from the lips down. "Very bad idea..." Malcolm mumbled after he pulled out of the kiss.

"No, me telling you that I want a quickie outside is a bad idea. This is right around incorrigible." Alice retorted with a girlish shrug. Malcolm actually growled a little and pulled her hips tight against his, making Alice laugh. "Now now, we have to behave remember?" she asked and slipped out of his grip. It was getting late enough that the other students were gathering at the bar to go back to the resort.

"Que tienes una boca de malvados." Malcolm stated as they walked up to her friends at the bar. (You have a wicked mouth).

"I know." Alice grinned at him. "Where's Lexi and her blode squad?" she asked, trying to spot the cantankerous hutmate of hers. The girls Lexi hung around with were all filtering over but the head snob was no where to be found. Alice felt her happiness slid away as a thrill of fear hit her. Malcolm directed Justine and Kim to check the washroom, her friends scattered in pairs to find her and Alice stuck her head out back to look.

There Lexi was, pushing one guy away from her. "I'm supposed to meet up with my friends back inside!" she screeched, but Alice could tell it was actual fear in the blonde's voice and not irritation.

"Come on, we're just having a little fun..." the guy tried to cajole, groping at Lexi. Alice felt a chill having heard those words before too.

"HEY!" Alice bellowed, catching both of their attention. "Get your mitts off my girlfriend! She's only straight when she's drunk and I don't share!" she stomped over to them, stealing a plan from Tank Girl. She jerked Lexi out of her drunk man's hands and shoved her behind, sending Lexi stumbling towards the door to get back inside. Thankfully the usually contrary dancer headed back inside without an arguement. "You better hope I don't find any bruises or man cooties on her, or your a** is mine." she threatened, backing up herself while he just gaped at her, too drunk to process it properly. Alice slammed hte door shut behind her and promptly started to laugh her head off. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd call Lexi my lesbian lover, she thought to herself, giggling. Malcolm rounded them all up and herded them out, catching hte last ferry back to the island. By the time they reached the resort, even Alice was dead on her feet. It was her first full night sleep uninterrupted by nightmares in months.

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Having a fight with the comp at work. The dance scene at the end was gonig to be a lot more detailed and funny/playful but then the comp crashed and I LOST IT. So here is the update that I salvaged, posted even thoguh I wanted to do more with it. BUT I wanted to get an update up before the weekend more for you guys than I wanted to nitpick so....... here you go. Now don't say I don't love you.

I know it feels like a filler chapter, but there are a few key points starting to emerge here, even if they don't make sense to you, they will eventually, just trust me. If you dare :D