Girls: Spiky, with weird nutritional needs

We got a cactus in class today. Our form tutor decided we needed a class pet due to thefact there are only 19 of us in the class and he wanted 20. So he said, 'Bring in a plant. Something that reflects the attitude and personality of this form.'

And so we bought a cactus. It's spiky, hard to handle and has weird nutritional needs.

Sid - he's called Sid (not sur why he's called Sid or why he is a he at all, come to that) - was borne very proudly to the front of the class... when his carrier promptly dropped him.

Sid came out of his pot.

Soil went flying.

Spines snapped.

Tears were shed.

But a girl quickly came to his rescue and picked him up using the plate on which his pot was to rest. Except, she tilted it a little too far, so Sid rolled off the plate, and as a knee-jerk reaction she tried to grab it before it hit the floor...

Two words: Spikes. Pain.

So Sid hit the floor for a second time... this time minus even more spines. He now sits in a plant pot with a tad less soil than originally planned, on the window of our form room. There is a notice up on the wall next to him. It reads:

"Be nice to Sid. (The cactus). (No we don't know why he's called that either.) His favourite song:

I'm a survivor

I'm gonna make it..."