INT. CLASSROOM - MORNING
Charlie comes in holding a large flowering plant in both arms and puts it on the teacher's desk, turning it so its best side faces her.
Miss. Miss. Before you look properly. Can I tell you something about Bernard?
You know how you gave Bernard to me for the holidays, because I'm responsible and I've got a sunny window, you said. And you said water him on Sundays. And I did. I put it on the calendar in our kitchen and drew a little Bernard on every Sunday.
So. This is Bernard.
I know he's bigger. That's the window. And I know he's got flowers now. People change over the summer, Miss. Jamie Price came back with a whole new voice. You didn't say anything to him.
And the pot's different because the old pot broke. Because he got so big. From the window.
Miss, you're doing the face. The face you do when Leo says his homework is on the bus.
Okay. Fine. The truth. In August we went to my nan's for a week, and I asked my brother to do Sundays, and he said yes, and he didn't. When we got home Bernard was a stick. A brown stick in some dust. I kept watering him for two more Sundays in case he was just asleep. He wasn't.
So I took my birthday money to the garden centre and asked the lady for the closest thing to a Bernard. She said, 'What's a Bernard?' So I drew him. This was the closest. He was nine pounds fifty. I had ten.
He's called Bernard. I gave him the same name. That has to count for something.
And I've got the old one in my bag, in a sandwich box. If you want to say goodbye.