Chapter 23

She took the items from Rosehip and stood up, her hair was in dis-array and her shirt was exposing her shoulder. She ate the scone carefully and drank the tea after a couple bites. After they finished their breakfast Rosehip disappeared for a while. Assam figured she was hanging with the other crusader crews. She headed to the garage and saw Darjeeling filling out some papers and checking her phone. She decided to talk to her commander and see if there was anything she could do to help. She went over to Darjeeling and saw that she was texting someone.

"Hey." Assam said, startling Darjeeling

"Hey. What are you up to Assam?"

"Not much. Rosehip disappeared this morning after we ate. I just figured she was with her friends hanging out, so I figured I should do the same and get some air."

Darjeeling nodded in agreement. They continued their talk for a bit and did a few things before practice started. Around lunch time Assam got worried that she hadn't heard from her girlfriend for a while. She decided to text her and see if she was ok. She sent her a text to see if she was ok. After she helped Darjeeling for a while she went and got lunch and saw Rosehip with her friends. She decided not to bother them and sat with Darjeeling.

"Hey. Is everything ok Assam?" Darjeeling asked with concern.

"Yeah, Rosehip has been avoiding me for a while now. I hope she didn't actually get mad at me."

"What do you mean?"

"She thought I was cheating on her with Naomi, but I cleared that up with her. We spent last night listening to music." Assam said like she was about to cry. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

"I understand, but don't rush to conclusions so quickly. Maybe she has something going on and she can't talk right now." Darjeeling said. She knew full well what Rosehip was planning for Assam. She had asked her to accompany her to a tux rental place and to help her with table manners. She was not that confident in her friend, as one day to learn that kind of stuff was impossible, but helped her anyway. "Come now, we have practice."

They made their way to the garage and waited till the few stragglers had fallen into place. They awaited Darjeeling's orders in silence.

"Alright everyone, I am thinking today we focus on hitting a moving target. The match against Saunders showed that there is room for improvement in that area. We will use the Crusaders as our targets. We will not be using our normal rounds."

"Not using out normal rounds, how will we know when we hit our target?" Vanilla asked from the turret of her Crusader. This question was soon followed by the others wondering the same thing.

"Calm down, calm down." Darjeeling said. No one heard.

"HEY! Pay attention." Assam yelled, quieting everyone, "If you shut up then you will find out."

"Thank you Assam. Now as I was saying, we will be using shrapnel rounds. This also means that you can not sit out of your tanks during practice. Now, let us begin." Darjeeling said frustrated.

The tanks roared to life and pulled out of the garage. The tanks lined up ready for their target practice and the Crusaders were on the opposite end of the field. The goal was to have the Crusaders drive towards the others and then calculate how many times they were shot compared to how many times each tank fired. Everyone in the Crusaders made sure that any opening was closed as to prevent harm to the girls.

As soon as Darjeeling gave the order to begin, the Crusaders took off and charged towards the firing line. The first shot came from the Churchill and hit one of the light tanks leaving a mark where the shrapnel went off. Soon the other tanks followed. After an hour of the Crusaders making their way to the line, they came to a stop. The numbers were calculated by Assam and given to Darjeeling.

"After some calculations the accuracy among the group is average when trying to hit moving targets. I understand that this was a different style of practice, but I see that it was worth it. Practice is dismissed." Darjeeling said to the group of girls.