by Pip Bird
Dave trotted up and nibbled the toe off the welly so now it said, ‘BARCC Me’.
Mira, Raheem and Darcy burst into laughter. They high-fived Jake and he joined in with the laughter too.
Bruce clapped his hands. ‘Right-o, kids, time to get rid of you! Ha ha, only joking. But seriously, get on the bus.’
Class Red scrambled to buy their souvenirs and then lined up outside the bus. Miss Glitterhorn was collecting clipboards and ticking the children’s names off her list as they got on board.
‘Raheem, Seb, Freya, Flo – hang on, Flo, what’s that on your back?’ Miss Glitterhorn said, stopping Flo.
‘What’s what?’ said Flo, turning around in circles to look behind her. Mira saw that Flo was wearing a cute furry slothicorn backpack.
‘I didn’t see any of those backpacks for sale in the shop. Where were they? Can I go back and get one?’ demanded Darcy.
Bruce Hasselhoof let out a yelp. ‘That’s not a backpack, it’s a real slothicorn! What did I say the first rule of BARCC was, guys?’
‘Stay where I can see you at all times,’ said Raheem.
‘Ah. But the MOST important rule is DO NOT take the baby animals home!’ said Bruce.
‘Oopsie!’ said Flo. ‘I didn’t realise we were still cuddling. He must have fallen asleep on me. Here you go.’
She carefully peeled the slothicorn off her back and handed him to Bruce. The slothicorn stirred but quickly fell asleep again and started snoring on Bruce’s shoulder.
As the Rainbow Bus pulled away from BARCC and started making its way back to Unicorn School, Mira went to sit next to Jake.
‘Thanks for all your help today, Jake,’ she said.
Jake grinned. ‘I guess it was kind of cool meeting the kitticorns.’
Mira reached into her gift-shop bag and pulled out a small cuddly toy kitticorn. She handed it to Jake. ‘Sorry they didn’t have a golden one.’
Jake’s eyes got really wide. ‘Is that really for me?’
Mira nodded. Jake took the kitticorn toy from her tentatively.
‘No one’s ever given me a present at Unicorn School before,’ he said.
Mira smiled as Jake cradled the toy in his arms.
‘I mean, obviously I get presents all the time at home,’ he added quickly.
‘Okay,’ said Mira.
Then Jake leaned into Pegasus and fell asleep.
Dave was snoring softly next to Mira. She pulled the blue chickicorn toy out of her bag and tucked it into Dave’s mane, so it would always remind him of the cute and cuddly chickicorn that he’d looked after so well.
Then Mira looked around the bus at all her classmates dozing, snuggled up to their unicorns. They’d learned a lot at BARCC. They’d learned about the importance of soil and sparklecorn. They’d learned that goaticorns eat, well, everything, and how not to take a slothicorn home with you. But they’d also learned that shiny medals weren’t the be-all and end-all. What really mattered was having an awesome time with your friends and taking care of each other. With the added bonus of being able to brag to Rani when she got home about winning a quest!
All Mira had wanted this morning was a kitticorn cuddle. But the most important thing she’d learned today was something she’d always known, deep down. That cuddles from her UBFF were the very best of all.
Mira snuggled into Dave, who gave a sleepy fart. And a moment later she was fast asleep, too.
WHICH ANIMAL-ICORN ARE YOU?
1. Would you rather have a cosy film night at home or go out to the cinema?
a. Movies at home please! My sofa is so comfy. I’ll make the popcorn.
b. I would rather sleep.
c. Let’s go out! The cinema is so exciting.
d. I don’t mind as long as there are snacks. Did you say doughnuts?
2. Would you rather live in a forest or a shed?
a. A nice, warm shed, please. With lots of rainbow straw.
b. I don’t mind, I can sleep anywhere.
c. Ooh the forest would be awesome!
d. The shed, as long as there are snacks there.
3. At school, would you rather be amazing at music or science?
a. Music – to accompany my friends in a singalong.
b. Music sends me to sleeeeeeeep.
c. Science is super cool.
d. Science so I could invent new snacks.
4. Would you rather play football or chess?
a. Chess – I like indoor games.
b. I’m too sleepy for games.
c. Football! Let’s go!
d. Is it chocolate football or chocolate chess?
5. For your birthday, would you rather have a crafts or trampolining party?
a. Crafts – I like making woolly pompoms.
b. Zzzzzzzzz.
c. Trampolining – woohoo!
d. Just the cake for me, thanks.
6. If you were a superhero, would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?
a. Invisible. Chickens can’t fly.
b. Invissizzzzzzz.
c. Fly! That would be awesome!
d. I would like to be invisible and be able to fly to find the best snacks.
UNICORN JOKES
What do you call a cold unicorn?
A blue-nicorn
What do you call a scary unicorn?
A boo-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn with a toffee stuck in its teeth?
A chew-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn trying to solve a mystery?
A clue-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn that’s bigger in the mornings?
He grew-nicorn
What do you call an artistic unicorn?
A drew-nicorn
What do you call a lady sheep with a horn on her head?
A ewe-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn with the sniffles?
A flu-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn on safari?
A gnu-nicorn
What do you call a unicorn crossing its legs?
A need-the-loo-nicorn
What do you call a relieved unicorn?
A phew!-nicorn
