Queen of Spades (House of Car...

A/N: You huys have NO CLUE how close it came to me not getting this up at all. A) lots of lovely new people but not a whole lot of common sense between them this weekend. I was almost run over, blown up and stabbed, all by accident because they simply did not KNOW BETTER

B) I ran out of paper and had very little time to write

You all better love me very very much for this chapter. Some of you may have seen this coming, some of you will be caught off guard. In all honesty I knew this was coming and it STILL caught me out.

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Alice's hand felt terrible the next day, the thumb swollen, bruised and tender. She didn't even have to touch it to know that it was going to hurt all day, but she poked at it anyways to make sure it was just a dislocated joint and not a break. She reluctantly taped it up again, realizing that she'd have to explain that she'd gotten hurt but not told the 'adults'. It rankled the independant Ace to have to run everything by them instead of taking care of it herself.

She hesitated at the enterance, seeing Malcolm, Maddison and Mr. Bottomswell conferring at a table. Might as well get this over with, Alice thought as she walked over to them.

"Goodmorning. Yesterday during dance practice I popped my thumb out and today my hand is basically out of commission." Alice stated, not making eye contact as Malcolm frowned, disappointment in his eyes for her not telling him about it yesterday. Ms. Avery also looked stern but Mr. Bottomswell looked only concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright? There's a doctor in the resort you can see." the principal suggested.

Alice felt her eyebrows raise, see a doctor in Mexico? Maybe it wasn't PC, but she'd pass on that opportunity.... "No, it's ok. Really. I've dislocated fingers, toes and a shoulder, it'll be fine in a day or so if I leave it be." Alice shrugged away their concern, her words as much for Malcolm as the headmaster.

"However, it does cause issue with the planned group activity for today." Mr. Bottomswell continued. "The majority of our group are travelling to Chichen Itza to see the ruins and enjoy a day of cultural activites. Unfortunately I've already been informed of the fact that the majority of those activities are more than a little hands on." the principal mused out loud. Alice grimanced, she would have actually enjoyed doing those kind of things, she was just nerdy enough to like edu-tainment (educational entertainment). They were supposed to explore tradional culture and get hands on lessons in pottery, cooking, construction etc... that the Mayan ancestors had done. It was going to be a lot less enjoyable if she could only stand there and watch, something Mr. Bottomswell seemed to realize as well. "I may have a solution, if you'll give me a few minutes to confer with my fellow chaperone's Ms. Spade...?" he suggested. Alice caught the implied dismissal and walked over to her friends.

They all exclaimed over her rather bruised looking hand and sympathized with her on how boring the day was going to be if she couldn't actually DO anything. She noticed the three 'adults' discussing something, a faintly amused smile on Ms. Avery's face, a frown on Malcolm's and Mr. Bottomswell looked... vague and as abscent minded but kind as always. The principal saw her looking their way and waved her over again. Alice shrugged and walked back, making sure to keep her gaze on hte principal and not let it sneak back over to Malcolm.

"Ms. Spade, we've come up with a solution. It hasn't been made widly known but we chaperones are all getting a day away from the...larger group." Mr. Bottomswell started to explain. Alice had no clue why this was relevant, but she kept her mouth shut, willing to wait for him to plod through the babble and straight up tell her what was happening. "Today Mr. Vega has the day away and he has no objections against you joining his activities for the day instead of accompanying the rest of us." Mr. Bottomswell smiled compassionately, thinking that spending a day alone with a chaperone was a bad thing for most students. "It's not the most ideal solution, but hopefully you'll enjoy a day that doesn't require a good pair of hands as opposed to enduring our more hands on events." Alice felt her body thrum with adrenaline as she realized that the kind principal had just unwittingly organized a day for the two lovers to be alone together.

"I don't mind the company, granted that you don't mind joining me for dune buggying, getting covered in mud, checking out hte windy coast and touring the animal reservations of the island." Malcolm listed. Alice blinked and felt a grin spread across her face.

"I can handle that. If you don't mind being the designated driver." she joked, waving the injured hand as if anyone could have forgotten it. She was trying very hard not to notice the very romantic shine in Ms. Avery's eyes as she understood the subcontext of Alice's joy.

"Alright hten, the issue is settled. We'll rejoin you two after dinner tonight." The principal returned to his breakfast with interest. Alice felt like she floated back to her friend's table and ate without caring what any of it tasted like. Her friends were sympathetic, feeling that being stuck one-on-one with a teacher all day was a chore, though Kim's eyes shone with perverted amusement.

"Do you have clothes you don't mind getting destroyed?" Justine asked and Alice nodded. Kim of course, started to laugh hysterically as she picked up on the unintended innuendo, but waved away everyone's curious looks, explaining that she just got a joke.

Alice snerked at her friend, knowing hte real reason Kim had laughed; she'd told her about the poor lacy tank top that first day. Right now Alice was wearing the same psychotically bright periwinkle blue skirt with a white tshirt and knew it would never survive a day of mud. "I've got things I can wear. Take lots of pictures for me. I have the feeling your trip today might be hilarious and I don't want to miss out entirely." Alice requested and then headed to her hut to change.

To her surprise, Lexi was in their room, looking like she was waiting for Ace. "Finally." Lexi said, exhasperated. "Why did you help me last night?" the blonde demanded, seeming annoyed at having to talk to Alice at all.

"Ah... because as much as I would love to rub soup in your hair just to annoy you, and I wouldn't piss on you to put out hte fire if you were burning, no one deserves to be put in that situation. Not even an unbearable c*** like you." Alice responded after a brief hesitation.

Lexi considered her words, face a dark scowl but eyes thoughtful. "Soup?" she asked, ignoring the rest of Alice's words.

"Yes soup. It was that or mud in your face and soup was more unique." Alice shrugged, glad that Lexi wasn't professing undying friendship and a life debt. First off she wouldn't have believed it, second off it would have been just too weird to not actively detest the blonde snob.

"Don't think I'm going to say thank you. Or that this makes us friends. I don't owe you anything." Lexi stated, walking to the door without further comment.

"Of course not." Alice muttered sardonically to herself. She shook her head and decided to quickly braid her hair up into two tails that hung down her back. She grabbed her only all black bikini, a servicable and simple string bikini she tied firmly in place. She yanked on a dark green peasant style skirt, wishing that she'd pack a more serviceable pair of pants for something like this. Her water shoes and a brown tank top finished the outfit.

Alice opened her door to see Malcolm standing outside, hand raised to knock. He was wearing hte military comoflage shirt from last night and a pair of black swimshorts with a bull and matador grafitti'd onto the leg. He looked more bad boy and reckless without the button down shirts and she felt a thrill at being able to spend the day with him alone, even if it felt like her thumb had been ripped off. She felt too lucky to have this chance with him, in Mexico of all places to bemoan a little injury.

"Hey." she smiled at him, feeling a giddy joy fill her chest. How he had this effect on her, she'd never know but it was always like this. His responding smile made her toes curl with the possessive satisfaction in his eyes. He didn't voice a reply, instead stepped into her hut and kissed her. Everyone else should already be away to catch the bus out to Chichen Itza. This was likely the only chance during this entire trip where they could guarantee that no one was going to catch them. She whimpered into his mouth as his hands slipped under the tops layers to trace the lines of her swin suit. He let the skirt pull over her hips and pool around her feet, grabbing her legs so she jumped up and wrapped them around his waist. Then he stopped kissing her.

"I get to spend the day doing what I want with you and to you." his eyes burned with a promising fire and Alice felt the responding burn flare across her cheeks. "But right now we have to go get into hte buggies." he set her back on her feet.

"You are a horrible tease." Alice joked, playfully pouting.

"And the day is just starting. You have no idea how much worse I'm going to get." he promised and stepped back outside; Alice scrambled back into her skirt and headed after him. In her bag was a towel and the wrap dress she'd worn earlier so that after the mud she could hopefully change. Malcolm stuffed his own little bundle into the bag and took the light load from her. Alice smirked at his boy scout tendencies but let him carry it.

The buggies were in a word, compact. The seats were close together, low to hte ground and suspended in an open concept roll cage. There was next to nothing providing cover for them outside of the goggles and helmets the tour guide insisted they wear, and hte safety harness strapping them in. As alarming as that could have been, the first stretch of hteir day wasn't so bad. THey drove down the restricted highway to check out the southern light house, old ruins and museum located there. The quaint little historical sight held momentos and evidence from the lives of the first lighthouse keepers and those that passed through this island in it's hi온라인카지노게임. Then there was a claustrophobially tight spiral staircase up to the top of the lighthouse. 150 small, sngled steps up and Alice clonked her skull against the top, provoking Malcolm to hold her head and kiss hte tender spot. He was laughing at her, which didn't earn him any brownie points but he distracted her from the slight injury as he kept kissing against her head, snaking his way down to her ear and then nibbled down her neck; stopping only when he reached shirt.

Then he stepped away as if he hadn't just been nuzzling her. "Check out the view." he said conversationally, stepping out to the hand railed balcony at the top. Alice narrowed her eyes at him, but then smiled, deciding to act like his teasing had no effect on her.

She snapped pictures from their vantage point of hte spray cresting up over the rocky shore line. It was easy to figure out why this was considered the windy side of the island. Alice scampered over to those same rocks shortly later to see how powerful that spray was herself. She didn't realize that Malcolm was taking photos of her getting drenched by the salty spray, though he was quick to point out how becomingly the wet clothes clung to her body.

Then they were on the buggy again, speeding away from the lighthouse to check out hte animal reservation post set up. There wasn't a whole lot of activity today but they got to see aligators lazily swim and bask in the sun. They heard about the varied and many kinds of animals transported to the island, including an amusing tale about raccoons and hammocks.Alice leaned against the railing and tried not to squeak when Malcolm pressed his chest to her back, grabbing hte rails on either side of her so that she was effectively pinned. His hands slid together in front of her and she found herself caged in his arms. She leaned back against him, not even bothering to struggle as they watched the view.

After that relaxing interlude, it was all mud and foul smelling water. The guide buggy led them through the interior of the island, revealing caves where the people of hte past used to gather during the tropical storms. Alice and Malcolm held hands while their guide explained in Spanish about the properties of a local plant, that if smoked acted as an anesthetic. By then they were both liberally painted with mud and ditch water, clay, tree sap and leaves. But neither one cared, both having too much of a good time to worry about the dirt drying on them. THen they were off again, pelting around the island while the nearly daily rain shower started to pound against them.

They were led back to a public beach and invited to lunch there as part of hte package. Alice took a traditional empanada and Malcolm took a chimichanga. They snuggled side-by-side on the bench and ate half of the other's plate. And then Alice needed to go wash the crud off, not able to stand the stiffly dried goop all over. She laughed and stood under the outdoor shower to rinse the worse off, not bothering to remove her stained clothes. She stripped htem off to wring them out, and Malcolm stepped into the shower with her. He behaved himself though, innocently rinsing the dark slime off. THey brushed against each other only by accident, though Alice couldn't help but be hyper aware of how close he was. She left the shower to lay her skirt and shirt out in hte sun, trying to dry them off. She snapped her towel at Malcolm, and the look on her face had her running pell mell for the water, laughing her head off as he chased her. He caught up to her as she ran through the incoming tide. Alice let out a squawk as he hefted her over his shoulder and ran them both out into the ocean, diving under after he warned her to hold her breath. He held her close as they surfaced, making sure she was oriented properly before splashing her. They laughed and played in the water for almost an hour until the tour guide called them to head back to the resort. Malcolm saw the wrap dress Alice was wearing and she had to slap his hand away from hte ribbon tying it closed the entire ride back.

The rest of their group wouldn't be back for hours yet so Malcolm took the opportunity to guide Alice back onto his balcony. She stood out of the way while he quickly converted it back into the privacy mode he'd had it set up in earlier. Malcolm lay back on the hammock and Alice climbed over him, legs settling on either side of his hips. They swung softly in the breeze, Malcolm holding Ace to him, just cuddling and swaying. There was a couple of funny moments, like when Malcolm needed to get something out of his pocket and awkwardly shifted Alice above him. She didn't get to see what it was because he locked his hands behind her back and kissed the sides of her mouth until she laughed and held his face still, the playful light kiss quickly turning serious and passionate. He must have set whatever it was in his hands aside, because his palms found hteir way to her thighs, shirt of the wrap dress bunched up over his wrists.

{A/N: Cue the steamy scene. Go ead that one then come back here. They both get to this point eventually, but that one has a build up to it, whereas you guys here have no clue of the intimate moment leading up to it.}

Alice was standing on the bed, trying to to tilt as Malcolm shifted his weight, still on his knees, helping her stand. "Alice." Malcolm called her name and she blinked open her eyes, focusing at him kneeling in front of her. He kissed her ribcage, lips feeling the frantic heartbeat he roused in her. "Mi Corazon." Malcolm murmured against her skin. He looked up at herand she saw how unguarded he was as he looked at her. "Cásate conmigo." he said. (Marry me).

Alice stared down at him, all the butterflies in her stomach going insane at once. Had she heard him right? She knew what she wanted him to say, what she had thought she heard him say in fact, but maybe she judt misheard him? "What did you just say?" she asked, her voice breathy.

Malcolm smiled at her, as if he realized that she thought she misheard him. "Alice Spade, will you marry me?" he asked in English this time. She saw what he had been fumbling for earlier. "I thought about what you said, that I should do something about you being mine. And then I saw this while taking everyone shopping and realized that I didn't know what I was waiting for." he explained and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful ring. The band was white, yellow and red gold braided in thin strands, the stone an opal that was silvery pale and irridescent. "So will you marry me?" Malcolm prompted again.

"F*** yes." Alice breathed, making him laugh. "Said you were stuck with me, meant it."

"God your wicked mouth." he chuckled and pulled Alice down so she knelt in front of him. It should have been awkward, he was naked and she had a wrap dress open, leaving her exposed too. But it suited them, raw and a little unusual; but real. He slid the ring onto her finger, knowing she'd have to take it off later to hide their secret.

Her eyes searched his face, seeing relief, happiness and satisfaction in his eyes. She couldn't believe that he wanted to marry her. Her head swooned a little and she rested her hands against his chest, stunned at how very fast this was all going. But that was the 온라인카지노게임 of her life, things happening quickly, and her life seemed to reel from one major event to another in a hurry. THe ring glittered against his dark skin, the colours of the gold a gradient between her own skin colour and his.

"I love you." Alice breathed and he smiled, kissing her softly.

"I love you too." he replied, hands moving hte dress off her shoulders so that she was as bare as him. "Fiancee." he smirked.

{A/N: Back to the adult chapter elsewhere.}

They showered together afterwards and slowly got ready to eat dinner and rejoin the rest of the group. It all felt so surreal to Alice, that she was in paradise with the love of her life and he had just proposed. Good things come to those who wait and Alice had spent the better part of her life waiting for some good memories, she was more than due the happiness. Ace put the engagement ring onto her right hand, refusing to take it off entirely. She wanted to flaunt the engagement but knew it had to be kept quiet.

"Mal," Alice got her fiance's attention as they ate, "Kim knows about us. She caught me creeping away last time. I'm sorry." she confessed, hoping he wouldn't be too disappointed in her.

He looked at her and nodded calmly, not at all bothered seeming. "Alright. I'm glad it was someone who is willing to keep quiet about us. This is the second time we've been caught. It can't happen again. Three strikes and you're out, how long is our good luck going to hold?" he stated the issue plainly.

"We should take it easy for the next while. It'll suck but I'd like to be able to enjoy our engagement." she felt a huge smile spread across her face as she said it.

"Good idea. It's the last thing I want to do, but it's what we have to do." Malcolm reluctantly agreed.

"Back to writing notes I guess." Alice gave a fake sigh, making htem both laugh.

When her friends came in, Alice rushed over, wishing she could blurt out the good news. But instead she listened with enthusiasm as they described their day. West was the only one to notice the new rock on Alice's finger and he frowned, not understanding what it was until Alice slyly slid it onto the correct finger for a moment. THen he figured out what it really was, his eyes going wide and a massive grin splitting his face. He enveloped Ace in a huge hug, laughing as he spun her around. No one knew why but they eventually deflected the conversation back to safer topics.

"Felicitaciones." West murmured in her ear. (Congratulations).

Alice smiled at him, surprised to feel happy tears prickle in her eyes."I can't believe it." Alice replied back, laughing softly.

"You deserve it." West stated with confidence.

"Así que usted le dijo que la quieres todavía?" she asked him, changing topics. (So have you told her you love her yet?).

West laughed, not surprised she knew. "Yo estaba pensando en escabullirse para pasar el día con ella mañana." he admitted with a shrug. (I was planning on sneaking away to spend the day with her tomorrow).He somehow managed it too. Alice had no clue how he disappeared without anyone but her noticing. The rest of her vacation was largely uneventful after Malcolm's proposal.

It was the last night in Mexico and all the students in the Gala were gathered at the beach, celebrating. They had perfected the show and were ready to do dress rehersals. The Gala was at thte end of May, just before final exams. They had two months to create the sets and do costumes and practice. So here at the party, they were living it up with alcohol and loud music, everyone talking loudly and brimming with a strange synchronicity. It as almost inevitable that someone from drama would pull a dancer up and give it h*** to the song.

"Hey Sam, if I put on Queen, think you can showcase?" Alice asked her sometimes shy friend. Sam looked horrified at the prospect, but once Alice had made the suggestion, everyone kept pushing her to do it. So Alice hooked up her mp3 player to the sounds system, not knowing how epic this night was about to become.

Sammy belted out Queen's Somebody to Love, the rest of choir falling in as backup quickly. Those less on key students clapped hteir hands, keeping the beat or dancing around. By the time Sam had gotten to The Show Must Go On, all hte students had made their way over, not just the Gala participants, and when Sam ended the night with Who Wants to Live Forever, even the chaperones had come to hang out and watch. No one made it to bed before 1 am, making for a very early check out with a lot of big heads {A/N: big head= slang for hangover}

The day of flying and return travel was largely silent as everyone slept as much as possible, needing a day off to recover from their vacation. Alice and Malcolm made it back to their apartment by midnight and crashed, not seeing that his answering machine was frantically indicating that it was full. It was Sunday the next day and both of them slept in to try and recover.

Alice lay in bed while Malcolm answered the phone. "Hey Diego, what's up? I just got in." pause "What?" he demanded, all good humour gone from his voice. Alice sat up, feeling alarm race down her spine as the anger flared in his voice. She wished that she could hear the other side of the conversation. "S***. Thanks for hte heads up. Yeah I'd appreciate it if you were there. See you tonight." Malcolm hung up. Finally after an agonizing moment of silence he turned to her. "The media somehow got your 온라인카지노게임 and has been broadcasting it all over the news. They've told everyone your biography, age, what you've survived, everything. I don't know how htey found out. I'm so sorry." Malcolm sounded grim. Alice felt sick, all hte good of the vacation undone within minutes. "It gets worse." Malcolm warned. "My family knows your real age. They know we lied to them. And my parents are demanding I go see them tonight. Diego's going to support me." he stopped for a moment and Alice felt a rising need to be sick. "I had hoped to tell them the good news but I'm suspecting that wouldn't go over too well right now." Alice felt a tear skip down her cheek.

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A/N: DOOOOOOOOM.

I really want to type up the adult scene, but might not have time before end of work. So It'll be up by tomorrow if not today.

So now they're engaged. But bad juju is just starting to come back to make Ace's life interesting.....