The morning after Jack's night spent with Nonna he woke up with a large smile on his face.
"She really is amazing..." he mused to himself as he got out of bed, finding it hard for him to stop thinking about her.
---Timeskip---
School for the most part was the same as every other day. Jack spent his time halfheartedly pay attention in class, his mind wandering to other matters entirely, and for reasons that he was coming to understand, he found himself looking forward more and more to his time doing Tankery.
"I wonder if she likes flowers..." Jack thought as he was shaken back to reality by an announcement over the school PA system.
"All student are to meet in the school auditorium during next period"
"Huh, I wonder what this is about..." Jack mused as the bell rang and he and everyone else headed for the auditorium.
Once they arrived they were split into two groups, girls were on one side of the room and boys were on the other. Jack wasn't sure what was going on but he was intrigued none the less.
As everyone stood waiting for a teacher to arrive Jack scanned the group of girls across from him, stopping when he saw a beautiful brunette standing beside a recognizably short blonde...
"She's as beautiful as ever~" he muttered to himself with a goofy smile on his face, finding that he was paying much more attention to her after their night out.
As jack continued to stare, he was surprised to see Nonna turn to face him. When her eyes met his a smile formed on her lips and she gave him a subtle wave with her hand, a gesture that Jack reciprocated.
Seeing this, Katyusha looked up at Nonna with a smirk, "You're so cute Nonna~"
"Uh... I..." Nonna stuttered out, embarrassed that Katyusha had seen what she'd done.
"Alright everyone listen up!" A teacher yelled as they entered the room. "You're all here today as this is the first day of practice for the winter dance which is coming up in a few weeks!"
"The winter Dance?" Jack thought as a confused expression covered his face.
"For now you'll practice as two groups, the boys and the girls. Getting a partner will be your prerogative. However, you will not practice with your partners before the dance as per Pravda school regulations"
Upon hearing this Jack did some quick thinking before a thought came into his mind, "Maybe I could go to the dance with her..."
"Anyway, from now on the boys will practice in the auditorium here and the girls will practice in the hall. So lets get moving ladies!"
The teacher announced as the group of girls began to file out through the main doors of the auditorium.
---Anastasia POV---
As she began to walk towards the exit of the auditorium behind the large group of girls in front of her, Anastasia spotted Jack standing by himself across from her. When he turned towards her she waved wildly to get his attention, which was met by a small wave from Jack.
Anastasia had already seen the dance as an opportunity to get close to Jack and show him that she was the only girl he needed...
---Nonna POV---
Nonna gave Jack another smile as she turned and began walking out, an action that was noticed by Katyusha. "So when are you going to ask him?"
"Ah... W-What do you mean?" Nonna asked with a flustered expression, trying to feign ignorance.
"You know what I mean! When are you going to ask Jack to go to the dance with you?!"
"Er... I... I d-don't think he'd w-want to go with m-me..." Nonna said shakily, uncharacteristically for her. Something that was also noticed by Katyusha, who thought that it was cute that the mere mention of her and Jack doing something together made her lose her level head.
"Of course he would! I bet he'll even go out of his way to ask you to go with him~"
"I... I don't know Katyusha..."
---Anastasia POV---
Unbenounced to Nonna and Katyusha, Anastasia stood just behind them as they had their conversation about Jack and the dance.
As Katyusha spoke of Nonna going to the dance with Jack, she felt herself wince, her anger towards Nonna growing steadily as she was the only rival that Anastasia could see.
Despite her being one of the most popular girls at school, Anastasia had found it difficult to get close to Jack. Every attempt she'd made to get him to focus on her had failed miserably, and she felt that her advances were also being hindered by Nonna's mere presence.
Despite this, she couldn't understand why Jack seemed to like Nonna more than her and was determined that she would be the one dancing with Jack at the dance and not Nonna...
---Jack POV---
After the group of girls had departed the auditorium and practice was about to start, Jack found Vasili and Borodin and together the three of then got through their first formal dance practice...
---Timeskip---
After dance practice and his last class had finished, Jack headed to the Tankery sheds for practice. However when he arrived he was informed by Vasili that he was to attend a meeting with Katyusha and the other commanders about an upcoming battle.
Jack then headed from his tanks shed into Katyusha's, where the meeting was to be held. Once he stepped inside he spotted Nonna and gave her a smile as Katyusha began her briefing...
"Welcome all, now, let's get down to business!" Katyusha started. "I have just been informed that we have been entered in an annihilation match against Saunders High which will take place in two days..."
As Katyusha announced her news murmurs started among everyone in the room, and Jack was surprised to even hear quite a few of them say that Pravda was bound to lose...
"Enough!" Katyusha yelled to get everyone's attention. "I know we might not be the best equipped to have this match now, but we can't back down!"
This seemed to quell some of the dissent as Katyusha continued in a softer tone. "For this match we will have access to a new tank that our comrades in the development sector have made available for our use, a KV 1. However we only have one of these new tanks, and it has not yet even been delivered or its crew assigned. Due to this, the KV 1 will serve as a command tank, and will house a full set of our battle plans along with a large amount of radios to allow it to coordinate our tanks. This new command vehicle will hence forth be know as 'Red October'"
"Anyway, I know that was long but that is all. You will all receive your individual orders on the day of the match as usual, dismissed!"
Jack intently listened to Katyusha's speech, even finding himself chuckling at the naming of their new command tank, "Why Red October?" he mused to himself as he began walking out of the shed with everyone else.
"W-Wait!" Jack heard Nonna exclaim, causing him to turn around to face her.
"Oh hey Nonna. How are you?~"
"I-I'm fine. T-Thanks for asking" Nonna replied while her hands fidgeted in front of her. She'd planned to ask Jack to go to the dance with her but her fear had gotten the better of her and now she was struggling to even speak, let alone ask him to go to the dance with her.
"So was there something you needed?" Jack asked as Nonna continued to fidget in front of him.
"U-Uh, n-no i-it's fine..." Nonna responded as Jack heard Borodin Calling out to him.
"Ah, I should get going. Talk to you later~" he said with a large smile as he jogged over to see Borodin...
"You couldn't do it huh?" Katyusha asked, causing Nonna to turn around with slumped shoulders.
"D-Do what?..." She replied, trying to hide her embarrassment and fear.
"You were going to ask to go to the dance with you, weren't you?"
"I..." Nonna started before letting out a sigh, "I suppose I was..."Katyusha chuckled at her response and gestured for her to sit down, as she did Nonna slumped over putting her hands over her face.
"It's alright~" Katyusha said as she gently rubbed Nonna's back. "You'll have plenty of other chances~"
"I... I suppose so, if he even w-wants to go with me" Nonna said as she sat up. She still wasn't entirely sure about her feelings for Jack or whether or not he felt the same way about her.
"Of course he does!" Katyusha yelled. "Don't wait too long though! If you do another girl might steal him away from you!"
Nonna chuckled at this, but on the inside Katyusha's words had made her feel even more nervous...