by Pip Bird
Raheem fed Brave a pain-au-chocolat. ‘It turns out that Pegasus is half French,’ he said.
‘These are delicious!’ cried Mira, through a mouthful of pastry. Dave ate five more éclairs and gave a happy fart.
Jake gave out party assignments to all the different pupils. Mira and Dave were sent to mix the fruit punch, then helped make the unicorn disco outfits. Jake had even prepared a pile of doughnuts for Dave to snack on, so he wouldn’t cause too much chaos. Mira had to admit, when Jake channelled all his annoyingness into being in charge, he was actually pretty good at it.
Mira was just trying to squeeze Dave into his dancing jacket but he wouldn’t stop wriggling. ‘Hold still Dave!’ she said. ‘Do you want another doughnut? Oh, you’ve already finished them all.’
Dave snorted, and then looked pointedly out of the window.
Mira saw where he was looking. Darcy and Star were shovelling unicorn poo in the stableyard.
Mira looked around her. Everywhere she turned, pupils and unicorns were creating a magical disco room. Sparkly bunting was going up on the walls, twinkly lights crisscrossed the ceiling. And the treats table was looking spectacular. Darcy would love it.
Dave snuffled again and farted loudly.
‘Okay, okay!’ said Mira as she took off Dave’s dancing jacket. ‘I agree that Darcy is our friend and the disco won’t be nearly as fun without her.’
Dave nodded and waggled his ears.
Mira thought for a moment. She thought of dancing in the kitchen with Pickles and Rani. They’d had so much fun, even though it was just the three of them . . .WAIT A MINUTE! Mira had an idea. But she needed the help of her friends.
Mira quickly whispered in Dave’s ear and Dave trotted over to Brave. He and Raheem were helping to set up the speakers for the DJ.
Brave and Dave started snuffling at each other. Raheem left his speaker plugs and came over to ask Mira what was going on. She explained that the unicorns were going to create a diversion.
Raheem looked both confused and scared.
Just then Brave gave one of his thundering neighs, and when everyone turned to look at him, Dave kicked over a large speaker. This in turn banged into the treat table, knocking over a unicorn made from profiteroles that Jake and Pegasus had been creating for several hours.
Miss Hind, who was overseeing the preparations, blew her whistle loudly and ran over to see what was going on as profiteroles rolled all over the floor. Mira quickly ducked down and grabbed a handful of treats from the table and a spare string of sparkly lights.
Jake went bright red and started stomping around and shouting, and while Miss Hind was calming him down, Mira whispered, ‘Now’s our chance!’
She picked up Darcy and Star’s disco outfits from the rail and yanked Raheem out of the hall, with Dave and Brave following closely behind. Mira noticed that Dave had several profiteroles skewered on his horn and was throwing them up into the air and catching them in his mouth.
‘What now?’ asked Raheem as he stumbled out of the hall.
‘We’re going to see Darcy,’ said Mira.
Raheem rolled his eyes and groaned. ‘Mira, Darcy is in detention and it’s all fine, and we’re preparing for the disco and it’s all going to be nice and calm with no more danger. Or excitement.’
‘No,’ said Mira, marching them all off towards the stables. ‘We owe it to our friend to give her the very best disco ever!’
‘What are you doing here?’ exclaimed Darcy. She and Star were looking at pictures on Darcy’s phone.
‘Darcy, you SHALL go to the disco!’ said Mira dramatically.
Darcy frowned. ‘I can’t go to the disco Mira, I’ll get in so much trouble!’
Mira grinned. ‘Aha! Well if Darcy can’t come to the disco, then WE’LL bring the disco to Darcy!’
‘Oh, okay!’ said Darcy. She looked confused. ‘Actually, I don’t understand what’s going on.’
‘We’re having our own disco. Just us!’ cried Mira. ‘And the theme is Glitter Fever.’
Darcy blinked in surprise.
‘We’ve brought all the stuff,’ continued Mira, giving Darcy a slightly squashed profiterole. ‘There’s just one thing we need.’
‘A Chief Organiser,’ said Raheem, handing Darcy a clipboard. ‘The best party planner ever.’
Darcy stared at the clipboard, and then looked up at them. She frowned. Mira’s heart sank.
‘You guys . . .’ Darcy said slowly. ‘Had better watch out. Because . . .’
Darcy spun around in her chair and pointed her finger at Mira and Raheem. ‘GLITTER FEVER’S GONNA GET YOU!’
‘YAY!’ said Mira, and Raheem grinned (but he also pulled his T-shirt up over his mouth, just in case glitter fever was something that could make you poorly).
Darcy turned back to Mira. ‘So where is our disco?’
‘The dorm,’ Mira said with a great big grin. ‘But first, we need to make an epic glitterball.’
Darcy squealed with delight and the three friends quickly set about gathering as much glitter and sparkle as they could find. Darcy had stashed away the small glitterball from earlier and Star sorted as much glittery unicorn poo from their muck pile as possible.
Mira got all the boiler suits out of the laundry basket and shook the glitter dust off them. Raheem even went and got all the hand-mirrors from the unicorn grooming store.
‘Right, let’s make this into a glitterball!’ said Mira.
When they’d finished, Darcy wiped her hands on her trousers, then wiped a tear from her eye. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said. ‘You guys are the best friends ever. And this is going to be the best DISCO ever!’
‘Even though it’s just us,’ said Raheem.
‘Especially because it’s just us,’ smiled Mira as she pulled her best friends into a big hug.
The lunch bell rang, and Mira nodded to her friends. ‘Quick! Before anyone sees us!’ she said.
Dave’s tummy rumbled.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked him. Dave nodded. Today, friendship meant more than anything – even lunch.
They worked as a team. Dave, Star and Brave rolled the glitterball from the stableyard up into the Class Red dorm. Mira and Raheem followed them with brooms, sweeping up the glittery, pooey trail they left behind them.
Darcy supervised and gave instructions.
They hid the glitterball behind one of the Class Red dorm curtains and ran down to the canteen.
‘Where did you guys get to?’ said Jake as they sat down at the Class Red table with their trays. There were smears of chocolate on his face and he looked a bit frazzled.
‘Oh, we were just . . . around!’ replied Mira, trying to look calm. She was still pretty sweaty and a bit stinky from creating the glitterball. ‘We were making . . . something. Actually, I really wanted your opinion on a recipe for croissants . . .’
Mira knew that asking Jake for advice would distract him. Soon everyone was chatting about how excited they were for the disco (apart from Jake who was still going on about croissants).
The lunch bell rang again and there was a stampede of pupils and unicorns running to the disco. Whoops and cheers came from the hall and then music started blaring out.
‘Are you sure you don’t mind missing it?’ asked Darcy quietly.
Mira gave her a huge hug. ‘Are you kidding?’ she said cheerfully. ‘Let’s go and have our own dorm disco!’
Back in the Class Red dormitory, Raheem put on some music and moved all the bedside lamps to shine on the glitterball. He put the glitterball Dave on a record player on a bedside table so it would spin and send sparkly light all over the walls. They all got changed into their disco outfits and Darcy had the idea of taking down one of the red curtains to make a red carpet. Then they took turns pretending to arrive in style with their unicorns.
They were dancing around and singing at the top of their voices, so didn’t hear the door bang. So they were quite surprised when they did hear the
of Miss Hind’
s whistle.
‘WHAT are you DOING in here?!’ the PE teacher yelled at them.
Mira noticed that Miss Hind wasn’t wearing her usual sportswear. Instead she was wearing a white, shiny disco dress and she’d even done her hair in a swishy ponytail instead of a scraped-back bun.
‘You look lovely, Miss Hind!’ said Darcy.
Raheem sank down on the bed, his head in his hands. ‘I knew it! We’re in even more trouble. We’ll be banned from Unicorn School for ever. Expelled! Sent to prison!’
Miss Hind pointed at them all in turn. ‘Darcy, YOU should be in detention. Mira, YOU should be at the disco and Raheem YOU should be in the lighting booth and – WHAT IS THAT BEAUTIFUL THING?!’
The three friends followed Miss Hind’s finger which was now pointing at their glitterball.
Darcy stepped in to defend her friends. ‘It’s a glitterball, Miss Hind. Again, this is all my fault. Mira and Raheem didn’t want me to feel left out so they made me a disco in the dorm. Please, let them go back to the disco. I’ll go back to detention. I’m sorry!’
Mira was shocked to hear Darcy saying it was her fault, when the dorm disco had been Mira’s idea! She started to explain that to Miss Hind, but the teacher’s face was now doing funny things. Her eyebrows looked cross, her cheeks were bright red and her mouth was trying really hard not to smile.
‘Grrrr,’ Miss Hind growled. ‘This is all extremely frustrating. Although NONE of you are where you should be, you have behaved in a way which promotes the Unicorn School values of friendship and loyalty. We will ALL discuss this with Madame Shetland. Follow me.’
Miss Hind stomped off, then turned back. ‘And bring that glorious glitterball with you.’
The three friends exchanged glances. What was going to happen next . . .?
They picked up the glitterball and raced through the corridors to stand outside the hall. Mira could see it did look truly spectacular and was full of their friends and the other Unicorn School pupils having fun. Miss Hind was waiting at the door with Madame Shetland. They both looked very stern, despite their glittering, glamorous disco clothes. Miss Hind was still red in the face as she explained what a nice thing Mira and Raheem did for their friend.
Madame Shetland nodded and crossed her arms. ‘Darcy, you deserved your detention. But taking responsibility so that all your classmates could go to the disco was the right thing to do. Have you learned your lesson?’
Darcy nodded.
‘And Mira and Raheem,’ Madame Shetland continued. ‘You have taken rather a lot of risks these last few days, but it has been to help and support your friend.’
Mira and Raheem nodded. Mira crossed her fingers behind her back.
Madame Shetland finally smiled. ‘Therefore you have definitely adhered to Unicorn School Rule no 64: Being a Loyal Friend Overrides Other Behaviour On Certain Occasions. And, as such . . .You shall ALL go to the disco!’
‘HOOORAAAAAY!’ Mira and Darcy were yelling and high fiving. Raheem was a bit quiet.
Miss Hind tapped him on the shoulder. ‘Hurry up, Raheem, they need you in the lighting booth. And set up that glitterball right away.’
Raheem grinned happily and trotted off with Brave.
When Mira and Darcy went into the hall, the whole of Class Red bundled on top of them, cheering loudly.
By the time Mira and Darcy had finished hugging everyone, Raheem had set up the glitterball. Then he switched on the lights.
The entire hall was lit with squillions of magical sparkles, as if the stars had come down from the sky and were shining just for the disco.
Just then Glitter Fever’s Gonna Get You came on the speakers, the crowd split and Class Red ran on to the dance floor in two straight lines, children in front of unicorns.
‘My routine!’ Darcy squeaked.
Freya gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder and shouted over the music, ‘We’ve been practising!’Then she ran to join Princess and her friends in the dance. As the lines parted with each partner doing their very best jazz hands or hooves, Darcy launched herself right down the centre, doing an endless spinning wheelie.
Mira laughed and felt a nudge. Dave was holding out a hoof. She giggled again and curtsied to him. ‘Why, yes, I will have this dance, thank you!’They had to dodge Rani and Angelica who were doing the most incredible series of spinning lifts right across the hall. They looked so cool that people in their path stopped dancing to applaud them. Mira had never seen her sister look happier. She gave her a big thumbs-up.
Freya shimmied over to Mira and did a spin. She sniffed and made a funny face. Over the loud music, Freya shouted into Mira’s ear, ‘Does something smell weird?’
A small clump of hay coated in glittery unicorn poo fell off the glitterball on to Princess, and Mira quickly shouted back, ‘Let’s go and get some punch!’
They danced over to the treats table and helped themselves to some rainbow cake and marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate. Flo asked Darcy if she liked the party.
‘Well,’ Darcy said thoughtfully, ‘you’ve not quite got the bunting right, and the line dancing wasn’t really – OW!’
Mira had poked Darcy in the ribs.
Darcy cleared her throat. ‘I mean,’ she said, ‘it’s totally perfect. Come on, let’s dance!’
They all pranced back on to the dancefloor in their pairs. Dave slipped on a bit of glitterball poo and managed to do the partner slide with jazz hooves that he’d found so hard in rehearsal!
Mira laughed and spun round her unicorn. It had been a very eventful few days at Unicorn School. But now she was disco dancing with Dave and all of her best friends. It was . . .
DAZZLING DISCO QUIZ
How much have YOU remembered about The Naughtiest Unicorn and the School Disco?
1. What’s the name of Mira and Rani’s cat?
a. Pom Pom
b. Poppy
c. Pickles
2. What’s the first super special treat Mira brings for Dave in this book?
a. Cream cake
b. Jammy dodger
c. Strawberry lace
3. What’s the theme of the Unicorn School Disco?
a. Glitz and Glamour
b. Gardens
c. Glitter Fever
4. Who is quest leader in this book?
a. Flo
b. Freya
c. Jake
5. Raheem insists Brave wears this when they go into the Crystal Maze mine…
a. Protective face mask
b. High visibility jacket
c. Safety helmet
6. What is School Rule Number 73?
a. Always Be kind To Your Unicorn
b. Give Dave Plenty Of Doughnuts
c. Leave The Forest As You Find It
UNICORN JOKES
What did the mirror say to the unicorn?
I see u-nicorn
Which unicorn always gets forgotten?
The who-nicorn
Why did the skeleton not go to the disco?
Because he had no body to go with!
Where do unicorns throw their rubbish?
The glitter bin
What happened to the smallest unicorn?
He grew-nicorn
What dance would a car do at the disco?
Brake dance
Which unicorn is a ghost in disguise?
The Woooooo-nicorn!