Chapter 3: Just a Bump in the Head

The entire tankery team rushed to the hospital and we were met by our fallen teammate unconscious in the gurney. There was a thin, sterile air that surrounded the group that was huddled beside Dixie. Her crewmates broke off from the mass and loomed over their commander.

The shortest one of the Stonewall Team tugged at the doctor's coat. "How is she?"

The doctor looked at the short girl and to rest of the group. "She's had a slight concussion. Don't worry, she'll be fine after a few weeks and will back in the field in no time."

"Are you sure about that, doctor?" Delilah asked the physician as the clock struck six o'clock.

"Your friend's a tough cookie, she'll be fine. You don't need to worry about her."

"Alright then," I started, "I guess it's safe to say practice is over then."

Delilah nodded her head. "Yeah, all teams, bring your tanks back in the garage and get some rest. Good work, everybody."

"Good work today!" The rest of the girls said in unison before filing out the room. All except for the Stonewall team, who looked at their commander's face. Dixie was clearly awake, her eyes were open and have been blinking this entire time. Despite such symptoms of wellbeing, her mouth remained shut ever since being dragged to the hospital room. Her silence only made some of her crewmates shed tears for her, I turned away and proceeded to exit along with the rest of the team.

Once I was outside the room, Delilah put a hand on my shoulder. "You should understand that as team manager, you should keep an eye on all your teammates."

"I understand that," I said as I brushed her hand off. "But Dixie's got her teammates with her and the doctor. She's in good hands."

Delilah turned to face the direction we were walking. I swear, I saw her eyes narrow at me before she averted our gaze.

"With that all in mind," she paused to let out a sigh. "We're gonna need to get started on that paperwork."

My left hand rubbed over my face. "Oh no."

"I do apologize for the stack getting so high, we haven't had a consistent tankery manager."

I put my hands in my coat pockets as the both of us continued our walk down the hall. "I figured."

After that, we both fell silent. Just listening to the clicking and clacking of our old boots hitting the concrete floor beneath us. I kept my sight up to the ceiling, seeing each tile and light pass by. It is fortunate that we're far enough from the infirmary room that the thin air can't invade my nostrils anymore. Reminds me of too many unpleasant memories. Perhaps it might be best not to dwell on that for now. I turned my sight to what was in front of me, ignoring the signs and pictures on the walls until the both of us finally made it to my office, in all its splendid glory. As Delilah reached for the door, I swiftly faced stage left and was about to begin running, only to feel a tug on the back of my collar.

"Don't think you'll be escaping any time soon." I heard Delilah say as she swung the door open. Once we were both inside, I made my way to my desk, let out a heavy sigh and saw the imposing figure of Jesus Christ staring down at me, seeing my flawed soul and my consistent flirtations with sloth. I adjusted my spectacles and began looking through the paper on top of the pile. It appears to be some kind of requisition form for ammunition. Fairly standard for what we're doing I guess. I opened the top left drawer of my desk and found a calligraphy pen. There just has to be another complication in my life. Delilah grabbed the next sheet and pulled a pen from her coat pocket before writing everything needed in the blanks.

"I guess it'll have to be mandatory for all girls to be wearing helmets inside the tanks." I mention as I struggled to get the fancy pen to start running.

"Yup, only problem is that we don't have any helmets. The girls had to bring their own."

"Is there a form for safety equipment?"

Delilah's face lit up. "Yes, there is."

"Great, well, where is it?"

"Somewhere in that pile."

I let out a groan. "Oh my goodness."

"Come on, we can do this!"

And with that, the time in the office slowed down to a standstill. Page by page, word by word, I was assaulted on all fronts by the ever so mighty stack of paper that sits in front of me. Forms for ammunition, fuel, repairs, first aid kits, treads, wheels, everything except safety! How far down the pile do the both of us have to go through? This is just terrible, I'm going to end up like Sisyphus, constantly rolling that boulder over the hill. And at the rate we're going, this will go on for eternity. The only benefit I have is that I made sure to leave my sword back in the garage since I figured that nobody really cares about the steel I have to drag around in this campus.

All of that, and yet, I still have hundreds upon hundreds of forms to write and sign. Throughout all this time I was belly aching in my head over this, I heard the clacking of ice in a glass. I turned to my right and saw Delilah pour a glass of southern style iced tea.

"Would you like a glass?"

I couldn't help but let out a snicker. "Please?"

She smiled and nodded as she got another glass from the cabinet and poured me a drink. I rolled the ice in my cup and and took a sip. The sweetness was more than enough to calm me down and the tea itself really did help me get back into focus. From that point, the both of us were suffering together as we slowly but surely got the pile to diminish halfway. At that point, I stopped bothering to glance at the clock and kept at it. We both had at least six cups of tea by that point, I was just happy to have my own liquid candy. I can remember back home, mother would be furious with me if I had too much of that stuff. She would throw a fit over me being a bad influence on little Clara and the issue would be passed to father to take care of. Crazy to think eight years have really passed since that time, maybe they weren't kidding when they said time never waits for anybody.

Hours, forms, pots of tea, and bathroom breaks pass by one by one until finally, the paper stack was finally sorted out and filled out. And, of course, the safety equipment sheet was in the bottom of the pile. Just our luck, I suppose. But, now, we can rest easy, for it was only a quarter after three. Yup, the hours really have passed.

"Welp, looks like we're long past curfew." Delilah stretched her arms over her head. "We're stuck here until morning."

"You really think the teachers are searching for students at this hour?"

Delilah nodded. "Yup, happened to Daphne, she was caught sneaking into her boyfriend's dorm at around this time."

"I see," I responded before I spun my chair around to take another look at my office. The only new detail for me to find was that there was a fire axe behind me with a label marked, "In case of fire emergency, break glass." I highly doubt there would be a fire in this area of the school. But you just never know. I looked back at the cabinet and remembered the sack labelled "Baccy" so I got up from my chair and approached it.

Inside the bag was what I assumed to be tobacco and a small wooden pipe.

"Hey, you haven't been here for even a week!" Delilah remarked as I inspected the pipe.

"They really allow us to smoke?"

"I'm guessing only if you're an administrator. Do you know how to smoke."

I shook my head. "Never really had much reason to."

A smile perked up on the team captain's face. "Wanna try it?"

I grinned all the while smiling. "Why not?"

And with that, we pilfered through the cotton sack and in the bottom, we found a book of matches. We each took turns trying to take a puff from the pipe and I ended up having a long coughing fit while Delilah was able to smoke like it was no true challenge. She must've smoked before and just wants to show it off. She would make smoke circles escape her mouth and even allow smoke to come out of her nose.

"You know, you don't need to show off quite so much."

She turned towards me, blushing for some reason. "Sorry, I just haven't done this for a few days."

"They got you busy too, then."

Delilah looked down. "Yeah. Hey Johnny."

I leaned my chair a little to the desk, allowing me to have a full view of the girl in front of me. "Yeah?"

"I promise that things aren't going to be like this every day. It's just unfortunate that two really bad things happened on your first day."

"Well, yes. It is unfortunate. But, c'est la vie." I told her as she passed the pipe to me. I took another puff and I felt my lungs burn and writhe in my chest. I was hacking and coughing so much that the star captain had to hit my back.

"You're not supposed to inhale the smoke like that."

I finally managed to stop coughing. "Is that so?"

"Yup, you've got a lot to learn about this kind of stuff."

"Yeah."

"And Johnny."

"Yes, Delilah?"

"You need to understand that because you are now manager, you have to keep a close eye on each team member of ours. I expect to hear you visiting Dixie before the weekend."

"Alright, fine." I set the pipe down on the mahogany and take in a deep breath. The air slid through the burned alveoli and out without much issue. Hopefully that feeling doesn't come back later. "Well, it's getting late. It's probably best that we get some shut eye." I paused as I pat the armrests on my chair. "I reserve ownership of the seat I'm in. You'll have to find somewhere in the room to get comfy."

The girl before me smiled and winked. "I'll sleep on the desk."

"Very well, Delilah." I tell her as I moved my chair away from the desk and closer to the fire axe on the wall. In the span of a few minutes, I watched one of the most popular girls in school undress before me. Granted, she was just taking off her coat and boots and even setting her hat aside. But all in all, I got a show that so many of the other guys would kill to see.

"Don't stare too much," she teased.

I looked away and reached for the light switch. With a distinct click, the office was now in darkness. I couldn't see my hand take my spectacles off and fold them into my breast pocket.

"By the way," Delilah called out.

"Yes?"

"What did you do before getting dragged in here?"

"Oh, not much. Really, I didn't do much more than what I'm doing now?"

"Really?" Her voice was pitched a bit higher than usual.

"Yeah. I should've taken my sister's advice about literature club. But here I am."

"Well, I hope you don't leave."

I adjusted my hardee hat to cover my eyes. "Oh, and why's that."

"There's two reasons, first, because it will be difficult to find another one in such short notice."

"And the other reason?"

"Some of the girls seem to like you."

A laugh couldn't be controlled as I was loud enough for tank fire to be drowned out. "I know you're just joking."

"You might be surprised."

And with that, after maybe half an hour or a little more, we both drifted off into sleep.