THE FIERCE BRAVE GANG – TANTRUMS AND TRIUMPHS

Ethan's misery was soothed a little by a surprise trip to Blackpool in the last week in August. He was trying to behave himself because when he'd said the Bad Dirty Word, he'd made Mrs Beauchamp have to go out of the room to cry. Then he'd felt he'd been as bad as Lord Voldemort. He enjoyed his chance to be with Cal all day during the Blackpool trip and made sure he kept thanking Mrs Beauchamp for taking them.

Zax went on some nice day trips with Zoe's big sister.

Lofty's parents had already booked a holiday flat in Southend in early August, and he mainly had a lovely time, especially as he was allowed to take Eric Chiltern in his cat basket. But there was one thing that hurt him, his mum and dad kept making sneery comments like 'Now Ben's been to Disneyland this holiday will seem lame for him." When he'd replied that this was a lovely holiday and that he and Eric were having a wonderful time, his mum just said "Well you always were polite darling." But there was something about the way she said it that made him feel as if he'd been slapped. He was also unhappy because his mum kept telling him off for getting 'clingy'. How could he explain why he needed to keep close to somebody he trusted, without telling them about Disney? So Ethan wasn't the only one who had been crying at night.

Mr Keogh had rented a holiday cottage too but he and Dervla had a wonderful time from start to finish with long walks and then evenings spent with Dervla lying on the rug while he read a book. Apart from occasionally going "Ugh, Dervla! That one was bigger than Godzilla! I'm going to have to change your eating habits, Dog Of Mine."

And, from behind the ghost train at Blackpool to the changing rooms at Trendy Tricia's boutique in Holby, the fun between Mrs Beauchamp and Miss Freeman went on and on.

But all too soon holidays were over and Ethan had to face the first day in class without Cal. It was horrid when Mrs Beauchamp drove them to school and Miss Freeman walked round to the Juniors entrance with Cal and Ethan had to walk into the Mixed Infants class with Mrs Beauchamp.

He wanted to cry all during the first assembly, and then it was time to go to the classroom and that empty seat beside him…

Except that it wasn't empty. A smiley dark-haired boy was in it.

Ethan looked at Mrs Beauchamp.

"Oh yes, Ethan, this is Jacob Masters. I hope you'll make him feel welcome.

Ethan wanted to turn his back on Jacob but there was something about Jacob's big happy grin that it would have been mean to squash.

"Hello."

Jacob, not put off by the terse greeting, replied:

"Hi, I'm Jacob."

"Ethan. My big brother used to sit where you're sitting but he's gone up to the Juniors now."

"Ah, that's tough. I know all about that; my sister went to Juniors last year at my old school. Now she's gone straight in Juniors here."

"Okay class, settle down. Zax, are you going to be the first to talk about your holiday?"

At playtime, Jacob, grin wider than ever, said:

"Shall we play? I've got a dead good football."

"Um… I can't, it's first Gang Meeting of the school year."

Then Ethan made a decision.

"Want me to take you to the Gang Hut and see if Zax lets you join?"

Jacob beamed.

"Wow! Zax!"

Jacob was accepted into the Gang straight away. He was led to stand before Zax and Snap.

"New members should bring a small gift but you shall still be accepted, Jacob."

Jacob wanted Max, nice as he was, to shut up so he could hear the pretty little dark-haired girl talking on her own.

"You can have me football!"

"We shall not take your football, footballs is too expensive. You shall come to our meeting tomorrow and bring a gift. But it must not cost more than two pounds."

At lunchtime, after one of Miss Honey's best meals, Ethan and Jacob went to stand by the railings near the Junior school. They expected Cal to be playing with the big boys or to walk past with his nose in the air, but there he was waiting by the railings.

"Hi Ethan. Who's this?"

"It's Jacob. He's sound. He's got your Gang place."

Jacob looked uneasy, but Cal grinned:

"Hey, well done, mate. Ethan, have you shown him the animals yet?"

Nobody could have thought Jacob's grin could get wider but it did.

"Animals? Oh wow. Animals."

Lofty was feeding Ron and Harry when Ethan and his new pal arrived.

"Hi Jacob. This is Ron and this is Harry. Would you like to have one of them as your special rabbit? You have to come to school fifteen minutes early to feed them and then stay fifteen minutes later to feed them again."

Lofty didn't expect Mrs Beauchamp would mind and he didn't want to be greedy and have two rabbits when he had Eric Chiltern at home.

"Cool! Can I have the grey one?"

Lofty handed Ron over gently.

"He's Ron."

Jacob beamed more than ever.

It would seem to anybody viewing the scene that Jacob hadn't got a mean streak in him. He hadn't.

But he was an incurable flirt and he had taken to Zoe.

The kids found it hard to adjust for the first few weeks of term, having been so used to rehearsals for half of the day. Now there were all-day lessons. Not only that, but there was a new teacher. Her name was Mrs Bateman and she was stricter than the other teachers.

"Now I don't know how much history you've learned but mine will be a relatively simple class", she said, adding sharply:

"Ethan, pay attention, please."

Ethan pouted.

"And don't be cheeky or I'll keep you in."

"Mrs Bateman" Zoe said politely enough, "You have to keep people in the next day so you can tell their mums and dads."

"Thank you for trying to tell me my job, Zoe. Ethan lives at Mrs Beauchamp's house so I could tell her at break. I'll let you both off this time but I won't stand for cheek in the future."

Ethan strutted round the playground after lunch saying in what was supposed to be Mrs Bateman's voice: "I'm a mean old woman and I'm going to keep you all in."

"Ethan Hardy!"

Ethan had forgotten that Mrs Bateman was on playground duty.

"You can miss your after-lunch playtime tomorrow and write some lines, so don't take too long with your lunch."

Zoe wisely kept quiet, but Ethan couldn't help it.

"It's Dervla day tomorrow! It's Jacob's first Dervla day and I want to walk with him."

Mrs Bateman remembered about Mr Keogh's dog and how the kids all liked that walk. She hardened her heart.

"Jacob will have to find somebody else to walk with, Ethan. You come to my classroom at half past one and no more arguments!"

That evening, Ethan drew a picture of Mrs Bateman being burned at the stake. Cal was enjoying a new book he'd got from the junior library and Mrs Beauchamp and Miss Freeman were decorating the spare room (and they seemed to be dropping things a lot because there was a lot of bangity-crash going on.)

Then Ethan realised how different things were now. No more Disney, no more Cal, nice as Jacob was, and mean old Miss Bateman taking the next days' walk off him.

A tear fell on the drawing.