11. Don't rely on others

Alice and Ace attended a very prestigious private school, so they knew some special students; Peter White's father was a prime minister, and his mother owned the school. Boris Airay's a pro baseball player. Sidney Black's a heir of a powerful company (since Ace wasn't included).

And of course, Vivaldi Crims, the top-notch idol and actress, who was currently standing before Alice with a bright smile. Being someone in the bottom of school's pyramid, this shocked the dark blonde to no end. Though Ace seemed uninterested.

"Y-Y-You want m-me t-to..."

"Yes! You got the first rank for the midterm...which means you beat Sidney, which means you're smarter and a better teacher." Vivaldi blinked. "I want you to teach me, Alice!"

"I didn't beat Sidney, Ace did—he got on the second rank." Alice quickly corrected, smiling at Ace. Ace grinned back, but Vivaldi tried to dismiss this small moment.

"But you're still on top, so you're the best. Please? I've got so much work I had to catch up on a lot of things...I'm not sure if I can graduate like this." Vivaldi pleaded with her special kitty-eyes attack, hands clasped in front of her chest.

Ace's smile went wider, a sign of getting irritated by her act—he knew that Vivaldi's trying to take their time together, probably because of Sidney, since the two are friends. And he knew that Alice would fall for it, since she had an inferiority complex—she wanted to be useful for anyone.

"O-Okay, if y-you don't mind."

"Aww thank you!" Vivaldi squealed and hugged the girl, making her gasp. As she did, Vivaldi threw a victorious smirk at Ace, whose smile was still, but his eyes were deadly cold.

Yes, a rivalry had just begun.

~.X.~

Some days later, Julius took Alice and Ace to watch a movie after inviting them the day before. The guys weren't expecting Alice to come with a casual but cute dress, since she wasn't one to pay much attention to her appearance.

"Wow, you look cute, Princess." Ace grinned, saying it so smoothly, eyes on her up and down.

Julius smiled gently and took a strand of her hair. "He's right. Did you pick this yourself? What's the occasion?"

Alice blushed and pursed her lips. "Oh, so you're saying I can't pick a good outfit myself?"

"Yes." both Ace and Julius answered right away in unison.

She puffed her cheeks. "Hmph...I-It's not like I want to look good for you guys or anything...V-Vivaldi was getting so excited and forced me to borrow this, saying it's for a perfect date..." she paused and blushed harder. "...W-Wait! I didn't mean it like that! Th-This isn't a date, right!?"

Julius blushed faintly and cleared his throat. "W-Well..."

"Yes! So this is a date, huh?" Ace laughed and quickly take her hand. "A date for the two of us...oh, and Julius as the third-wheel~"

The navy-haired man froze and glared at Ace. "What...?"

Alice laughed shyly, and took her step-brother's hand as they went into the cinema. It might just be her feeling, but she heard Ace murmured;

"I can pick you a better outfit than her..."

~.X.~

After watching the movie, they talked about it excitedly and decided to eat some taco. Alice went to order in the line since she always liked to move. Julius just handed her the money, and he kept staring at her as she went.

Ace was staring too, but then he realized that Julius was doing the same thing.

"Hey, Jule. You just play with your I-phone, I'll watch her." he said, smiling.

"Huh...?" Julius glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm her brother. I'll watch her, don't worry."

The brunet scoffed, smirking knowingly. "You mean step brother."

Julius glanced away, avoiding his gaze. "Damn you." he mumbled. "What about you then?" he turned and crossed his arms, frowning at Ace with a scowl.

Ace blinked. "What about me?"

"You like her." Julius stated.

"Huuuh?" Ace was confused. "Of course I like her! I'm her number one fans...Her knight." he said this proudly, with a wide, goofy grin. Julius sighed, seeing his point didn't get across.

"What I mean, is..."

"I got 'em!" Alice returned, setting their taco. "Oh, wait, I forgot our soda. Be right back."

Ace was quickly distracted to his taco. "Wah, it's been a while since I eat taco..." he began to eat. "Mm, delicious..."

Julius cleared his throat. "Ace, what if I tell you something?"

"Mm?"

"What if Alice likes you?"

Ace just stared at him blankly, munching. "Hmm?"

"I mean, what if she...falls in love for you?" Julius asked, a bit impatient as the taco in front of him was emitting delicious smell.

"Ehh...Hmmm..." Ace gulped his taco and stared at it thoughtfully. Julius waited for his reaction, unimpressed. Suddenly the brunet gasped. "This taco is delicious!"

The navy-haired man facepalmed.

"Ah! Ace, you eat ahead on your own!" Alice whined and took a seat beside Julius. The man noticed how Ace frowned at this. Alice puffed her cheeks and took her taco, and paused. "Oh no, I have to tie my hair before eating..."

"Oh, I'll do it!" Ace grinned, putting down his taco. "I'll wash my hands first."

"No, Julius, please? Your hands are still clean. Thanks, Ace, but just eat." Alice smiled at him and patiently waited for Julius to tie her hair. After her step brother finished, she smiled at him. "Thank you, Jules. For that, and for taking us out and treating us today. You're the best!"

Julius chuckled. "Oh, stop that. Let's eat." he then glanced at Ace, who was still smiling, but his eyes were cold.

"Mm! This taco is delicious!" Alice gasped.

And those coldness in his eyes disappeared. "I know right?" Ace nodded enthusiastically.

~.X.~

Something bad had happened; Ace scowled as he saw Alice came out of her house, her right arm bandaged. She looked really sad about it.

"Good morning, Ace..."

"What happened to your hand?" the brunet touched it gently. "Does it hurt if I touch it?"

Alice sighed. "No. I broke it. I was going to buy some grocery, and when I tried to cross the road, it was crowded—someone accidentally pushed me. I got a light hit with a car, but I fell and my hand broke, hitting a pole..."

Ace gritted his teeth angrily. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

The girl blushed. "Wh-What are you talking about? Don't need to say sorry, it was just an accident, ha ha ha." she waved her hand dismissively, and sighed sadly again. "But...I can't make our lunch today...or tomorrow...I don't know when I can."

"Ahh, if you told me earlier, I'd cook for us." Ace sighed, crossing his arms. "It's fine. Let's go to school. Here, hold my hand."

"Okay..." Alice beamed, blushing faintly and walked together, facing ahead, she didn't notice that Ace's gaze turned dark.

~.X.~

"What happened to your hand?" Sidney asked in interest. Alice blushed, and stuttered her way as she recounted what happened. The boy frowned in concern. "Oh, I see...bad luck, huh." he sighed. "If you need any help, just ask."

"Th-Thanks, Sid." Alice blushed even harder.

"Yeah," some female classmates smiled warmly at her. "If you need our help, just ask, Alice!"

"Th-Thank y-you..." the girl smiled gently and looked down shyly. Ace glared coldly at those girls.

They began with chemistry. After discussing a half of the chapter, the teacher began to write down some problems for the students.

"Alice Liddell, please solve the problem number nine."

Alice was ready to stand up, but Ace was about to protest for her...and someone beat him to it.

"Sir, Alice broke her hand. If you want to, I'll solve it instead."

"Oh, sorry, Liddell. I didn't notice that."

Alice shook her head and stood up. "I-It's okay...I can write with my left hand too." (badass) She went to solve her problem, making her classmates gape about the fact that she could use both hands to write.

When it was lunchbreak, Alice and Ace reluctantly left their class, since they didn't bring their own food.

"Actually, I'll treat you for today." Ace decided as they walked through the crowd.

"Really?" Alice brightened up. "Sorry, for the trouble...If only I can cook with both hands too..."

"Aww, anything for my princess!" Ace laughed.

BAM

"Oh, sorry! I wasn't looking!" a girl laughed guiltily after bumping to Alice so hard—she was bringing a thick dictionary too. Alice couldn't say anything, since she left so quickly.

"Stupid girl...Alice, are you okay?" Ace asked, since that girl hit her right hand pretty hard. He froze, since Alice bit her lip in attempt to hold her pain, but her eyes were already teary.

"It...It..I-It..." she stuttered with a small sniff. "It hurts...s-s-so much..."

Ace scowled, and suddenly dragged her left arm, heading to the infirmary. Her bandage got messy because of that bumping, but Alice begged Ace not to take it off. The brunet didn't answer and just opened her bandage.

Revealing a big scar up and down her right arm. Her elbow turned blue—it was twisted cruelly. This couldn't have been an accident. Ace's red eyes were dark and empty, his hand shivered in wrath.

"Who did this, Alice?"

Alice tightened her lips.

"Alice..."

"I don't know..." Alice muttered weakly. "I really don't know who they are, I swear." she looked up at Ace and grimaced to see his dark face. "I didn't want to tell you because you'll just get angry..."

"Of course I am..." Ace smiled coldly. "You don't tell me your problems...I thought we're best friends...?"

"B-But you'll get worried..." Alice said weakly. "I told Julius...and he's onto it, I don't want you to worry...he can solve this, Ace."

"Oh, I see." Ace chuckled darkly. "You told Julius but not me, huh?" he crossed his arms. "I'm sorry I can't protect you...I'm not a really useful knight, after all. Ha ha ha." he stopped laughing abruptly and suddenly, strode out of the infirmary.

Alice sighed and stared at her wounded arm. She couldn't fix the bandage with one hand! Carefully holding her hands, she peeked through the door and gasped.

"V-Vivaldi?"

"Oh, Alice! What are you doing in there?"

"H-Help me...p-please?"

~.X.~

Vivaldi wasn't very skillful on first-aid, so she dragged Sidney, who got really shocked to see her arm. Alice wanted to curl up somewhere, embarrassed at how more people know her problem. Despite that, Sidney took great care and bandaged her right arm neatly.

"...Random attack?" Vivaldi scowled in disbelief. "How dare those people...Alice, this isn't random attack, honey. If it's so random, it won't be so specific. No one goes our their way to twist and cut your arm if it's random."

Sidney glanced at Vivaldi with a serious scowl. "Your point is?"

"She's being targeted, you fool." Vivaldi impatiently hissed. "You definitely can't go outside alone. Where's that damn brunet?"

Alice sighed. "He got angry because I didn't tell him..."

"Idiot." both Sidney and Vivaldi hissed, and she hung her head in guilt. "This isn't a good time to get into an argument. That's it, Sidney, you gotta walk her home." Vivaldi decided in an ordering tone.

"Wh-What!?" Sidney blushed angrily.

"Are you gong to let her get attacked again?"

"No." Sidney quickly answered with a serious frown. "But...damn that trash." he gritted his teeth, referring to Ace.

Alice stared at her arm. "Hey, Vivaldi?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Will there be no boys going to like me with this scar on my hand?" Alice asked sadly, regretting something. Sidney's gaze softened, and Vivaldi smiled gently.

"If there's some boys like that, then they don't deserve you." she patted her head. "If it bothers you so much, when it's healed up, I'll give you a good scar-lifting lotion, okay?"

"Thanks."

~.X.~

Alice awkwardly walked with Sidney and his friends, since they always hang out together before going home. The boys chatted a lot, and she couldn't fit in. Suddenly, their conversation headed to her.

"Hey, Liddell...Can I call you Alice? Why do you like to hang out with that Pendragon kid so much?" one of Sidney's friends asked.

Alice blushed. "W-Well...he's my first friend, my seatmate too...He's really weird, but...there's just something..." she sighed. "I just can't leave him alone...A-And I don't want him to be alone."

The boys exchanged stares.

"Well," another boy chuckled. "...Good thing Sidney doesn't plan to get rid of you. Everyone knows what he did...and I just can't believe you'd still hang out with him. The others would avoid him like a plague."

Alice hummed, smiling shyly. "W-Well...we can't change what we did, but people changes, right?" she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I just think...whatever mistakes we made don't define who we are." she smiled to them gently. "Sorry for saying weird things..."

The boys were gaping and blushing. One of them elbowed Sidney.

"Oh, I see how it is...So THAT'S why..."

"Shut up." Sidney deadpanned coldly. He glanced at Alice, who was looking down shyly. He was irritated—nothing related to his mother's death...he was more irritated by how she's very loyal to Ace. Having such a great friend, someone who accepts all of you and still be herself, because she wasn't pitying him.

It's like, she was saying; 'Ace is Ace. Yes, he did kill his mother.' but she wasn't saying; 'That wasn't my business. I don't care.'

She was saying; 'Yes, he did a mistake. But there are options; to punish him or forgive him. I choose to forgive him.'

While Sidney chose to punish him. And that's why he couldn't move on. If he could start to accept that what's done is done...then...maybe...

"Ace." the group stopped, and Alice quickly ran to Ace with a relieved smile. Sidney nodded to his friends, and they walked ahead, waving and smiling at Alice politely.

Ace smiled to her and stared at her bandaged arm. "Who did that? The nurse?"

"I did." Sidney said daringly. "If you're just prancing around messing up people's bandage and leaving it, then don't bother."

Ace scoffed. "Do you know why this happened?" he pointed at her arm. "It's because you're too close to Alice. So get away, please, Sidney Black?"

Sidney's eyes widened. "What?"

"Let's go home, Alice." Ace said to Alice, who was confused. "Next time...call me if you're going out somewhere, okay?"

"O-Okay..."

~.X.~

The next morning, Alice came down from her room to be surprised. Ace and Julius were there, eating toast and drinking coffee. He noticed her and grinned.

"Hey, good morning!"

"Ace, why are you here so early?" Alice frowned in confuse. "Oh no...you ran out of food and then free-loading us?"

Ace laughed. "No way, of course not. I'm here to walk together with you to school, as usual. Come on, have breakfast."

The girl hummed. "I don't need a free-loader to tell me that..."

"Hoo, being mean in the morning, Princess?"

"He he." Alice giggled and began to drop a toast on her plate, then stared at the peanut butter at the far end of the table.

"I got it." both Julius and Ace moved to get the peanut butter jar, and then stared at each other blankly. Julius was startled, but Ace was the better actor, so he snatched it and handed it to Alice after opening the lid.

"Want me to butter your muffin?"

"It's toast, not muffin." Alice paused and frowned. She glanced at Ace. "Why did that sounded so dirty...WAIT. YOU PERV! How could you!" she slapped Ace's shoulder, making the brunet laugh.

~.X.~

"Ace, I can bring my own bag." Alice said, but Ace whistled cheerfully as he walked beside her.

"Now, now, no need to get embarrassed~ I want to~ I'm a professional bellboy!"

"I don't want to hear that." Alice deadpanned, blushing hard. She then remembered something. "Oh no...we have a quiz today, right? I didn't study because I went for checkup last night!" she slapped her forehead.

"Don't worry~ I'll help you memorize easily." Ace said, taking out his notebook. "It's just France Revolution. Oh, by the way, this will come out, definitely. Who's the first person that used the term 'axis' in the WW II?"

"W-Who is it?"

"It's Bennito Musollini. Better remember that~"

"Okay. What else?" Alice beamed excitedly.

During math, Alice frowned, because she switched her math textbook with physics. Ace quickly shared his textbook without her asking. When she wanted to get her pencil case in her bag, he did it for her instead. Though, at some point, he was embarrassing.

"Miss, Alice needs to take a dump~!" Ace said, waving his hand up.

The whole class burst out laughing, and Alice smacked his head.

"I didn't say that! I just said I need to go to the restroom!" she screeched in shame.

"Well, well, Liddell. Next time, ask on your own, okay?"

"B-But I didn't ask him to...Ugh, watch it, Ace." Alice glared at him, and he stood up to follow her. "Wh-What are you doing?" the teacher stared at Ace, also with a questioning stare.

"I have to accompany her, miss. Alice's right arm is wounded after all." Ace said this casually, leaving everyone agape.

The teacher coughed. "Uhm...w-well...Is there any female who'd help Liddell instead?" she asked the class, and some girls raised their hand.

"No, no, it has to be me, miss." Ace smiled dangerously. "Come on, Princess." he pushed Alice out of the class.

Sidney twitched. Sometimes, despite how hard he tried to ignore Ace's existence, he's ashamed of his half-brother.

Finally lunchbreak, and her classmates got out while throwing teasing stares or whistle at Alice and Ace. Ace was dense, plus, he's shameless, so he didn't care. Alice, on the other hand, felt like curling in a hole and die.

"Ace, why did you do that?" Alice whined. "Y-You don't have to do everything for me. But I appreciate it." she looked down shyly.

Ace grinned, and pulled out boxed lunch. "I cooked our lunch today~ ha ha!" he said proudly. He cooked deep-fried prawns, nuggets and chicken wings. They were simple fried dishes, because Ace had to cook on fire pit, but Alice was impressed at how professional they looked, as if cooked on an expensive stove.

"It's delicious!" Alice gasped as she tasted the deep-fried prawn. Ace chuckled.

"Eat up." he said. "And...from now on...let me cook our lunch."

Alice stared at him for a while, and he smiled wider. She smiled gently. "Ace...you're not my useless knight."

Ace's smile faltered, and she picked a nugget.

"Today you've been trying to help me too much. How can I thank you?" she sighed. "You've done too much for me. I don't want to be someone who can't do anything by myself."

"Done too much...?" Ace muttered. "What did I ever do..." he said darkly. "I couldn't protect you, I couldn't perform first-aid like that bastard...I couldn't take care of you like Julius...I couldn't help you with girl things..."

SMACK

"Shut up." Alice angrily said. "You're a weird, perverted, shameless, smiley bastard. On top of that, you're smart, you can cook, survive on your own and brave...You can do anything."

The brunet sighed. "But I don't have anything I want to do." he then scowled at Alice. "I just want you to rely on me."

"I always rely on you, idiot." Alice blushed angrily. "You're my first friend...and...and...you make me more confident, and give me courage. Because you're always by my side, I always do my best...that's why..." she huffed and looked down shyly. "D-Don't say that you're useless, because you're not!"

Ace raised his eyebrows, and suddenly, remembered Julius' question a few days ago.

"What if Alice likes you?"

He snorted and chuckled at the question in his head. Alice stared at him boredly, and sighed. Sometimes, she had to bring about a mountain of confident to say mushy things—because she's a tsundere—and then he had to snort and laugh at her.

"But still~" Ace said, picking a prawn. "I'm your knight and your number one fan...Just rely on me, okay? Cooking, studying, fighting, cleaning, I can do anything, especially late night activities, I'm so talented on that."

Alice paused. "Hey, Ace...does that mean...you're not a virgin?"

She asked this with a clear worry on her face that Ace couldn't find in his heart to joke about it, laughing nervously.

"Ha ha ha ha...I'm...a virgin."

The girl deadpanned at her. Seeing him staring honestly made her frown in surprise.

"But you're so perverted..." she mumbled.

"N'aaww, only to you, Princess~!" Ace chuckled and pinched her cheeks.

"...What did I do to deserve this...?"

Hoho, this is the longest chapter...right? Happy new year! I thought this'd be a nice date to update...and you guys are too busy with party that you probably haven't read this until a week? Well, I'm typing chapter 14, but I can't guarantee the next update. Kindly review if you have the time~!

PS: If you like this story, you might want to check out a flash-forward of it; "One Thing You Shouldn't Say to Ace" it's a one-shot and very mushy