Queen of Spades (House of Cards Series 1) [Student/Teacher Relationship]

The Star

Alice was bout twenty-five minutes late for Mr. Vega's English class when she finally came in. The movie was almost over with, the class eager to go. He frowned at her but she held up a slip of paper from the doctor. At around 4 in the morning she'd started to throw up and Salali took her to the emergency room. With a fever at 41 degrees (105 farenheight), the hospital immediately admitted her and hooked her up to IV.

Malcolm guided Alice back into the hallway as he read her doctors slip excusing her tardiness. "You alright?" he asked, concern in his voice.

Alice gave a tired smile. "I'm on nuclear reactor strength anti-biotics. Nasty bug going around but these suckers should nuke the hell out of it." she rattled her new medication.

"You really were sick yesterday..." Malcolm commented softly, more to himself than Alice. He saw her frown. "You looked fine when I caught you in dance class." his voice was apologetic. He hadn't believed her.

"That's because I'm a professional. Would it surprise you to find out that the only reason I wasn't violently ill yesterday was the pill Kim gave me and my own stubbornness?" Alice asked, too tired and medicated to be offended.

"The stubbornness part, no. I know how very determined you can be." Malcolm's eyes had a hint of humour mixed with a little reminder of less appropriate things. But the humour fell away as he thought of something. "There's something I need to talk with you about though, so if you're feeling up to it after school..." he trailed off as Alice nodded.

"Back to class." Alice wandered in and slumped down, catching only the very end of the movie.

She blinked her way through the hallway towards Science class when someone grabbed her from behind and hauled her into the guy's changing room. Alice put up a fight, twisting, scratching, trying to bite the hand that covered her mouth, muffling her screams. She didn't get a chance to cry out before she was slammed back against a wall, breath whooshing out of her lungs. She started to cough trying to suck the air back in, taking stock of what exactly was going on.

The boys she'd seen at Suede's were all leering down at her as Ace got back on her feet, stuck with them between her and the door. "What exactly do you think youy're doing?" Alice asked, trying to keep calm. She had a sneaking suspicion, having seen that same gleam in Stuart's eyes too many times.  

"We're going to have a little fun." the one guy smirked at her.

There had to be a smart way to get out of this. Unfortunately for Alice, she was heavily medicated and not likely to think of that option. Her mouth opened and in her sick and drugged state, there was no brain filter. "So you three idiots are going to rape me in hte school changing room. Did it never occur to any of you that A) I will report it B) You will be arrested C) You all will go to jail?" she listed them off on her fingers.

"It's not rape if we pay you for it whore." lead moron sneered.

"It is rape, especially since I'm not a whore." she rolled her eyes. This was serious starting to annoy her. "Listen, you guys obviously have the wrong idea here, so I'm willing to just walk away and forget any of this ever happened. Alright?" she asked them, hoping they'd see some reason.

One of the guys held up a little ziploc bag with a handful of pills in it. Alice did not like the look of that. "Oh, we've got that part covered. See, I cram one of these down your throat and you won't even remember what happened." his voice was almost sign song in happiness.

"I'm guessing this is s*** you've done before." Alice stated, not making it a question but they all nodded in prideful triumph. "Wonderful." she muttered, then started to scream for help. She only got one bellow out before the leader of this trio slammed his fist into her stomach, dropping her to the floor again. He knelt down next to her and wrapped his hand over her mouth, fingers digging into the jaw. He had her other hands pinned together in his meaty paw.