Arcane | What Once Was

The collapse

(An: I had a bit of writers block but I still finished it.)

"Miss Lane, you're up to finish us off."

Powder jerked wide awake at the loud voice, not realizing that she had accidentally dozed off. She had thought that with all of the talking occurring around her, she wouldn't have been able to do it so easily.

Although, in the past, she has been known to be a heavy sleeper... It's no one else's fault but her own, she realizes with a sigh.

She clears her throat before speaking, "C-can I just present it in front of you?"

Ms. K looks disappointed with her response but nods her head in answer regardless. "I suppose so, but I would have loved to have seen you step outside your comfort zone for once, Miss Lane."

Powder only nods in response, gathering up all of her materials in her hands and heading on up to her teacher's desk.

"Everyone else can quietly talk among themselves since no one else has to go. Please be quiet though, as I still have one more student to get through."

Half the class erupts with whispering to one another while the other half reaches into their bags to get on their phones, probably scrolling through some social media pages or texting some of their friends from other classes.

Powder doesn't know and, quite frankly, doesn't care. All she needs to worry about at this time is how well she'll do on her project and her score of it.

As she reaches her teacher's desk, she sets her poster board up straight, checking for any mistakes like fallen-off pictures or scratch marks. Luckily, nothing seems to have happened to her poster board since she finished it a week ago, and is now all up and ready to present.

Her teacher glances down at the project board, inquisitiveness piqued, "Whenever you're ready, Powder."

With nerves at an all-time high, Powder begins to speak while fidgeting with her hands slightly, "My project is about the species Metasepia pfefferi or better known as Flamboyant Cuttlefishes! They are a part of the cephalopod class as well as a part of the Animalia kingdom! If you take a look here..."

Powder begins to explain more and more in detail about her project, pointing to things on her board as she does so. As she speaks, she becomes less and less stressed and actually starts to like sharing all of her newfound information with someone other than her sister for once.

Her teacher appears to be interested in what she is saying as well since she asks questions here and there about things she's either confused or curious about.

But...

Despite knowing that the teacher is only asking those questions to determine whether Powder comprehensively researched her project, it still feels good. If Powder continues at this rate, she's sure she'll be able to get all of her points, minus the ones being subtracted by not presenting to the whole class.

As she's about to finish up, an overhead announcement bell interrupts her.

"Students and teachers, I need you to listen very closely to what I am about to say."

Powder's brows scrunched up in confusion at those simple words. The principal is rarely seen making announcements on his own. Instead, he always wants the students to practice their speaking, so hearing the principal, Heimerdinger, talking one-on-one with them is... concerning.

"There has been news of massive reports of violence around the entire country, and I am not just speaking about the basic fights that happen often," a shaky exhale can be heard from his side of the mic, "I want you all to take what I say next extremely seriously, understand?"