The next day we were put into groups to try to think up a totally brilliant competition-winning idea. I was happy because Laura, my BFF, and Ellie, who I also like (even though her mum, Gloria Jones, thinks I am a TERRIBLE INFLUENCE), were both in my group.

Unfortunately, Aidan and Ronan were also in our group. This is because Múinteoir Emer thinks it is very important that boys and girls learn to work together. I suppose Ronan is fine, apart from the fact that:

A. he is a boy

B. he is always sticking his pencil up his NOSE, then pulling it back out to see if anything has stuck to the top of it. Gross!

Anyway, we were all thinking and thinking and looking around to see if any of the other groups had thought of an idea when I had a totally super one of my own. The night before, I had read about all the poor animals that had become extinct and totally didn’t even exist anymore, so I said, I was really excited, and I could see that Laura thought it was a totally brilliant idea too because everyone knows she totally loves snow leopards. They are her third favourite animal after KOALAS and SLOTHS.

But then Ellie said, ‘Do you really think Mr Manley is going to let us keep a rhino in the gym after what happened to the school HAMSTER? Think about it, Milly. And also – where would we do the céilí on Wednesdays?’

I sighed because she was totally right, Mr Manley still talks about poor Harry the hamster and how much the plumber cost. Also, Mr Manley loves a good céilí and wouldn’t give up the gym, not even to save baby rhinos!

So, then we all got back to thinking and chewing the tops of our pencils. I was looking around the room and everyone was frowning, and I thought I could even see steam coming out of Aidan’s ears, which was not good because he has anger issues and not being able to think of an idea looked like it was making him MAD.

Then suddenly Ronan said,

We all sighed with relief and Ellie said, ‘Well go on, Ronan, tell us, what’s this great idea?’ and Ronan said, all excited, ‘You know how Múinteoir Emer is always telling us that we should conserve water? Well, what if we all agreed to only have ONE shower a month for the rest of the year to, you know, save water, like?’

I wasn’t too sure this was such a good idea, and I could tell that Laura agreed because she was wrinkling her nose, but then Aidan reminded us that the timer on the whiteboard was about to run out. He started counting to ten and doing his DEEP BREATHING, just like Múinteoir Emer had shown him, so we decided Ronan’s water idea was better than nothing and that we would pitch it to the class.