After the nice Spring day came another cold snap, but fortunately just sleet this time. And then there was a very important event that took place. Ethan had a birthday. He was very relieved that his birthday came before the competition as he was only five and the competition said he had to be six to be in it.

His memories of his fifth birthday were vague but he knew he'd been punched by his dad sometime that day, for making too much noise. One thing he did know was that there hadn't been a present. Cal and Ethan's parents had more to spend their precious money on than presents for their kids.

So when he got up that morning and came downstairs, there was a big parcel on the breakfast bar, with a smaller one next to it. And cards.

"Hey, birthday boy!"

Mrs Beauchamp, Miss Freeman and Cal were coming in.

"You open your cards and presents, Ethan, and I'll get your and Cal's breakfasts."

In a daze of joy, Ethan opened the smaller parcel first, wanting to save the big one for best and last.

"Ooh!"

"That's the one you wanted, isn't it?" Cal almost drawled. But the women could tell that he'd been almost delirious with impatience for Ethan to open his present.

"It's that dinosaur we saw in the shop! She's pink so she's a girl! Now Rupert's got a sister!" Ethan gasped.

Ethan had, against all advice, called his Christmas dinosaur Rupert.

"What will you call her?"

Ethan thought of the prettiest name he'd ever heard in his life.

"Orora. Like Sleeping Beauty except she's a dinosaur."

Ethan opened his big present, but looked puzzled when he'd undone it.

"Um… it's a cage. Is it for the dinosaurs?"

"No, it's for your present to live in when it comes here. You're getting a hamster."

"Like we saw in the pet shop? Will it look like him?"

"It IS him, Ethan. Miss Freeman and I bought him for you when we saw how much you liked him. He's been living at Ms Chao's so he could be a surprise for your birthday."

"What will you call him, Ethan?"

"Terminator!" was Birthday Boy's reply.

"And tonight you're going to have a special party and a special cake. It's got your name on but it's to share round."

"Ooh! An Ethan cake!"

The small boy's sixth birthday was making up for his fifth already.

"An effin' cake!" giggled Miss Freeman in the stationery room later.

"You hand me a ruler, Miss Dirty Schoolteacher. Your headmistress wants to smack your bum for being rude."

There was a special Birthday Honouring ceremony in the Gang Hut that playtime, and Miss Honey had made some cookies with Happy Birthday Ethan iced on them. Everybody but Robyn had one. Robyn was very worried because a lady called Baz was coming to try the costumes from the play on everybody in two weeks. What if she didn't fit into her costume?

Two children found it hard to sleep that night. Ethan, for pure excitement, after having had the best birthday ever, and Robyn through worrying about her weight.

Baz – she refused to let the kids call her Miss Baz – turned up with the costumes and tried them on everybody. For Zoe, there was the most gorgeous silver and blue dress and a little tiara. Max had a peasant shirt and trousers that were tight without being obscene. Lofty and Jess had wonderful little cloaks with moons and stars on them, and peasant clothing underneath. As for Ethan, he was over the moon about his costume. A proper old fashioned 'smoking jacket', velvet trousers, a director's cap and a mini megaphone. Cal had a glamorous white and gold Prince's costume, but he had to give that up at the end of the show when he's sent packing when it's revealed as a coward, and Max would then wear a Prince type outfit when he was a Grand Duke right at the end Robyn couldn't wait to try on the gorgeous black dress with fake black swan feathers on it. But oh dear:

"Robyn…. Your costume doesn't fit. I'll have to alter it; you're a naughty girl."

Robyn did her best not to cry but she was so ashamed. Until she heard just what Baz was saying to her:

"Robyn darling, you have to relax this healthy eating plan of yours. Your costume's baggy; I'll have to take it in. Now will you promise me you'll enjoy a couple of Easter Eggs next weekend, and try and stop any more weight coming off till after the show?"

Through a haze of happy tears Robyn saw Lofty giving her the thumbs-up sign.