No one was allowed in the classroom block till the end of break, not even for the loo really. But by pleading and doing some pretty manic jiggling up and down I managed to convince Mrs Olive, who was on playground duty, to let me in. As soon as I was inside I darted into the nearest classroom and fished out the fidgeting dragon. Once in the open, he calmed down and perched happily on my hand. He stretched out his wings, which flickered through varying shades of red before settling into a rusty copperish colour.

‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘but there are too many nosy parkers out there.’

Flicker fluttered down into the sink. It was half full of muddy brown water from the paint pots that had been left to soak.

‘Don’t drink that,’ I blurted, seeing him lowering his head.

I cleared everything out and filled the sink with clean water. Then I stood back, watching as the dragon drank and drank, swinging his head back and forth across the surface of the water to scoop up each gulp.

Nicely refreshed, Flicker took off to explore the classroom.

‘Hey, come back,’ I hissed, keeping an eye firmly on the door. ‘Look, I’ll take you out for a fly later, after school.’

It was not the best time for him to be soaring around. I kept glancing at the windows, half expecting to see Liam’s leering face smooshed up against the glass. But Flicker didn’t seem to care. He was swooping and diving and turning somersaults above my head in a crazy display, like he’d just invented flying or something.

I tried to coax him back with some of Mr Firth’s yucca plant, but Flicker was having far too much fun to stop whizzing about for a snack. He dive-bombed down towards Mr Firth’s desk, and with a gasp of horror I saw that, as he passed over it, he gave a little shudder. I was pretty sure I knew what that meant – I’d seen enough of them in the last few days.

And sure enough I was right. Flicker had done a poo in mid-air! The explosive little stink bomb dropped away and I watched it falling as if in slow motion, down, down, down. With an even bigger gasp I saw the slimy mess arc gracefully through the air towards the desk at the front of the classroom. And with a dull ‘plop’ the deadly dragon dropping dropped. Slap bang into Mr Firth’s coffee cup.

‘What are you doing?’ hissed a voice behind me.

I spun round and saw Ted’s head peering round the door.

‘Mr Firth’ll kill you if he catches you in here. Come on – it’s nearly time to line up for the bell. Let’s go!’

I looked from Ted to the cup, but before I could move Flicker took off from the bookshelf where he’d landed. I watched as he started weaving in and out of a display of hot-air balloons that hung in groups from the ceiling. I held my breath, terrified his tail would catch on one of the wires and bring the whole lot crashing down. Following my gaze, Ted looked up. He was just in time to catch the dragon’s next poo squarely on his forehead. The stinky green mess, which was particularly runny, dribbled down his nose, but Ted barely noticed. He stood open-mouthed, staring in bug-eyed wonder at the little ruby shape flitting above him.

‘Ted – meet Flicker!’ I said, grinning.

For once Ted didn’t say anything.

‘I’d close your mouth if I were you,’ I laughed. ‘Don’t want one of those little bombs landing in there.’

Ted turned to look at me, his bewildered face still streaked with poo.

‘But … but …’ he stuttered.

‘Oh and I should wash that lot off, before it dries,’ I said, pointing towards the sink. ‘Dragon poo has a nasty habit of exploding.’

A second later the bell rang and, startled, Flicker zipped down to land on my shoulder. I quickly tucked him back in my pocket.

‘We have to get Mr Firth’s cup!’ I urged.

‘What?’ spluttered Ted, who was desperately splashing water over his face.

‘The coffee cup,’ I said, my voice now all tight and squeaky with panic. ‘He did a poo in it!’

We didn’t get the coffee cup, because before either of us could get to it, people started piling into the classroom and the bell rang again for the start of lessons.

‘What are we going to do?’ I whispered as we raced through the doorway.

‘Hope he doesn’t drink cold coffee, I guess,’ said Ted.