Horrid Henry's School Project

Horrid Henry's School Project “ Susan! Stop shouting! Ralph! Stop running! William! Stop weeping! Henry! Just stop! ” Miss Battle-Axe glared at her class. Her class glared back. “ Miss! ” screeched Lazy Linda. “ Henry's pulling my hair. " “ Miss! ” screeched Gorgeous Gurinder. “ Ralph's kicking me. ” “ Miss! ” screeched Anxious Andrew. “ Dave's poking me. ” “ Stop it, Henry! " barked Miss Battle-Axe. Henry stopped. What was bothering the old bat now?

“ Class, pay attention, ” said Miss Battle-Axe. “ Today we're doing Group Projects on the Ancient Greeks. We're studying-" “ -the sacking of Troy! " shrieked Henry. Yes! He could see it now. Henry, leading the Greeks as they crashed and slashed their way through the terrified Trojans. His spear would be the longest, and the sharpest, and-- Miss Battle-Axe fixed Henry with her icy stare. Henry froze. " We're going to divide into small groups and make Parthenons out of card- board loo rolls and card, " continued Miss Battle-Axe. “ First you must draw the Parthenon, agree a design together, then build and paint it. I want to see everyone sharing and listening. “ Also, the Head Teacher will be dropping by to admire your work and to see how beautifully you are working together. "

Horrid Henry scowled. He hated working in groups. He detested sharing. He loathed listening to others. Their ideas were always wrong. His ideas were always right. But the other children in Henry's groups never recognised Henry's genius. For some reason they wanted to do things their way, not his. The Ancient Greeks certainly never worked together beautifully, thought Horrid Henry resentfully, so why should he? They just speared each other or ate their children for tea.

“ Henry, Bert, William, and Clare, you're working together on Table Three, " said Miss Battle-Axe. Horrid Henry groaned. What a horrible, horrible group. He hated all of them. Why did Miss Battle-Axe never put him in a fun group, with Ralph or Graham or Dave? Henry could see it now. They'd be laughing together in the corner, making trumpets out of loo rolls, sneaking sweets, throwing crayons, flicking paint, having a great time.

But oh no. He had to be with bossy- boots Clare, crybaby William and--Bert. Miss Battle-Axe did it on purpose, just to torture him. “ NO! ” protested Horrid Henry. “ I can't work with her! ” “ NO! ” protested Clever Clare. “ I can't work with him! " “ Waaaaah, " wailed Weepy William. " I want to work with Andrew. " “ Silence! " shouted Miss Battle-Axe. “ Now get in your groups and get to work. I want to see everyone sharing and working together beautifully--or else. " There was a mad scramble as everyone ran to their tables to grab the best pencils and the most pieces of paper. Henry snatched the purple, blue and red pencils and a big pile of paper.