Heavy is the Head

Snow-White - 1

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there was a class full of students who absolutely hated Geography. Mr Hunter's usual class was a handful as it was, but for the last few weeks of the term, he had decided to make things ten times harder for himself by merging the entire year group together so they could all be involved in a group project.

There were many different reactions to this. When the students started filing into the classroom, there were the ones who looked extremely confused at the layout of the classroom because they hadn't listened to the notice Mr Hunter had given to them at the end of the last lesson and scratched their heads trying to listen in on other people's conversations so they could understand what was going on. Then there were the ones who immediately made a beeline for their friends, doing celebratory dances and songs because friendship groups were being reunited. Finally, there were the ones who started being loud and obnoxious, making quite a nuisance of themselves.

Snow White came under the first category, which was the largest because nobody really listened to what Mr Hunter said at the end of the Geography lessons. He had been given the slot right before lunch-time for his Geography lessons and so everyone's main focus was on getting a good seat in the cafeteria and getting out before Mr Hunter set homework. Neither worked for Snow White - she had sat at the table next to the bins every day of the week so far, and it was only Thursday. The less talked about Snow White's homework the better. She scanned the layout of the classroom and sighed when Mr Hunter yelled at everyone not to sit down yet and then dashed to the back of the classroom to break up a fight between two boys fighting over who got to stand next to Millicent DuBroch, one of the prettiest girls in the class.

It was all pointless anyway, because Milly was preoccupied with rifling around in her bag to notice either of them. She emerged victorious with the largest box of tissues known to mankind before straightening up, and noticing Snow White staring at her, offered a small wave. Snow White looked away immediately and then felt bad for not waving back.

See, this is why she didn't like people interacting with her. Because she could never react the right way. If there was one thing about Snow White, it was that she absolutely hated attention, and the fact that she couldn't merge into the shadows and just observe everything without ever getting involved in anything or getting perceived. When she was little and asked which superpower she wanted to have, the answer was always the same: to be invisible. And this was purely so that she could have the ability to curl up into a corner somewhere and never be disturbed ever again. Embarrassed that she had been caught staring, Snow White shifted her attention to Mr Hunter, her curiosity about why Milly had so many tissues fading away.

"... so because there are still some people confused, I am going to explain again. Since we are now coming close to the end of the school year, I decided that I was going to combine all of Year 9 and split you into different groups to do a presentation on a country of your choosing..." Mr Hunter cleared his throat loudly to try and stop the immediate chorus of groans that rippled across the classroom. "I don't know why you're all complaining now, I did tell you last week! Anyway, you can be as creative as you want. I don't just want a presentation where you are reading off the slides word for word..."

"As if you don't do the same thing in your lessons." A dark-haired boy with bleary eyes muttered from the back of the classroom. Unfortunately for him, everyone else had decided to stop talking so his voice was much louder than he had intended it to be.

Mr Hunter clapped his hands together to stop the laughter and peered at his watch, "You know what, it's alright. I'll just wait, and then you'll all have to stay behind at lunch-time to do the initial planning for your projects. Cloud, this is your first warning. That was very disrespectful considering the amount of time and effort I put into these lessons for you guys."