"You could have gone to sleep in the snow! Do you KNOW what happens to people who sleep in the snow, Connie?"

"I'm a headmistress, not a bloody medical consultant! But, yes, Charlie, I know they get hypothermia and die. Rita and I got up and went to bed straight away. We just happened to have bad hangovers for once, that's all. You're a good friend Charlie, so I appreciate your advice. But please don't get your panties in a bunch over this. I'll be more careful."

Connie meant to be more careful, but she was to forget her resolution one more time in the future…

And it was soon business as usual and the first read through of the play took place in the assembly hall one afternoon. Mrs Beauchamp and Miss Freeman had been locked in Mrs Beauchamp's study with a pot of coffee all morning, so Mr Fairhead had taken the assembly and reading class, which was normally Mrs Beauchamp's job. From the bumps and giggles that came from the study, the kids thought they must be acting out the play themselves before they told the kids what to do.

Now the kids all sat on their chairs as Mrs Beauchamp read out some notes:

"We thought it was a bit silly for Danny just to fall in love with Princess Lisa when he finds her asleep, so we changed it. There'll be an opening scene where Prince Sebastian and Princess Lisa ride through the town on the morning of their engagement. Danny's in the crowd, sees Lisa and falls in love."

Max thought that was all nice, but when did he get to drop dead? He was just living to drop dead!

"Also, we thought Ethan shouldn't just be used at the end, so we'll have him strutting on right at the beginning, and going "I'm the Director!" in his best snooty voice. Can you try that, Ethan?"

Ethan did his best snooty voice and strut and received a huge round of applause.

Then Mrs Beauchamp put the cat among the pigeons:

"Ben and Jen, we think you should have a crafty little kiss in your first scene, just to let the audience know you're in love sooner rather than later."

Robyn wanted to yell out that that was a silly old idea, but she didn't want to diss Mrs Beauchamp, whatever diss meant, so she just glared murderously at poor Jess.

Lofty saw the glare and decided to take action later.

And Ethan met Janie Rabbit for the first time when Mrs Beauchamp brought her over to him the next day before school.

"She's darker than Flossy. That's good 'cause she's not trying to be Flossy when she's not half as nice."

"Ah, she's not bad", Cal encouraged him.

"Well she's still only my rabbit. Flossy was my friend", grizzled Ethan the Stubborn.

"I know, then. Tomorrow we'll take Janie up to Miss Honey and ask her to make rabbit pie out of her!"

Mrs Beauchamp looked anxiously at Cal, then instinct told her not to interfere.

Ethan's face crumpled and he began to sob.

"That's wicked! I don't love her like Flossy but she's a rabbit, not a pie! Don't you dare hurt her."

Mrs Beauchamp could genuinely see Cal working in the Diplomatic Service when he was older.

Lofty sought out Mr Keogh at playtime.

"Please Mr Keogh, on Dervla day can we go to the shopping arcade?"

"No Ben, because we're going to have a lovely walk through the fields now the snow's gone."

"Oh… okay then."

Mr Keogh wondered if Ben Chiltern ever kicked off about anything. Then he almost smiled.

"But if you tell Mrs Dixon what you want, she'll go and fetch it."

"Please Mr Keogh, it's a present for a girl and I ought to choose it myself."

"All right, Ben, how does this sound? You don't take too long over lunch tomorrow and Mrs Dixon will take you to the shops afterwards. But you need to make up your mind fast when you're shopping as it's my class just after lunch and you wouldn't want to miss the delights and wonders of that, would you?"

"Ooh no Mr Keogh! That's great."

The shopping went as planned, and Mrs Dixon had Lofty back in time for him to get another gold star from Mr Keogh. The gold stars were going quite well; Zax had eight between them – they refused to count their gold stars separately even though they knew sitting together wasn't going to happen – Ethan and Lofty four each, Robyn two and even the once-rebellious Cal had a gold star. Cal managed with sums but much preferred reading and writing class with Miss Freeman. Miss Freeman didn't give stars at all but put nice things in everybody's notebooks in the margin.

Lofty sought out Robyn at playtime. Having been excused by Zax, who knew about Lofty's errand, they went to Big Mac's hut. Big Mac had kindly gone on his break to give them time alone.

"This is for you."

Lofty took out a little box from one of the novelty shops. It was a ring in Robyn's favourite colour.

"What's that for?"

"Try it on!"

Robyn did so and it was a decent fit.

"Now we're engaged and even if I have to kiss Jess two hundred times in the play you know you're still my girl. Will you, Robyn?"

Robyn extracted as much as she could from her special moment.

"You have to go on your knees and put your hand on your heart."

Lofty did, trying not to ruin the moment by falling over.

"Will you?"

"I will!" Robyn said trying to sound condescending, but grinning all over her face. Lofty could marry Jess in the play if Mrs Beauchamp wanted. He was Robyn's now!

They ran out of the hut just as Mrs Beauchamp and Miss Freeman ran in with a big bottle of baby oil. The kids thought it was a funny thing to polish a hut with, but believed them about it.