Monday morning came round, and even though their trip was now just a memory, the kids were still excited. They had their presents to hand over to the teachers who'd looked after them on the holiday.

Lofty had been approached to hand over the gifts, but he'd shyly declined.

"I think it should be Ethan."

Ethan thought it should be Ethan as well but wisely didn't say so.

Little did they know Mrs Beauchamp had a present of her own to hand over.

There was also going to be money handed to the kids. Mr Keogh was going to talk them through converting their unspent Euros back into cash again, and then hand out the individual 'swag' in his class.

And finally, that afternoon there'd be a big projector in the hall and the teachers' holiday photos would be shown.

Ethan trotted to the front of the platform after the assembly.

"My, Ethan, you've got a big bag there. What's in it?"

Ethan grinned.

"Please, these are for you and Miss Freeman, and Miss Chao and Mr Keogh. For looking after us."

"Oh you little monkeys! Thank you all so much."

The other teachers involved said thank you as well except for Mr Keogh who gave a comical little bow on receiving his wallet.

"How did you manage to…"

Max looked uneasy.

"While you were helping with the ladies' stuff, I crept off two stalls down and bought yours out of the Gang Collection. I won't creep off anywhere on my own no more though."

"Any more, Max."

Max went red, realising his grammatical error. Mr Keogh was kind.

"It's a most excellent present Max, and I can throw my old one away. Dervla's been chewing it for years now. She won't get her cheeky face round this one."

Then Mrs Beauchamp, grinning, came forward carrying a big bag.

In it was a doll's or small child's chair, with a little crown on the back of it.

"I understand Snap will be attending Gang Meetings; here's a throne for him."

The kids cheered.

In her class, Miss Freeman said they could write about their time at Disney. She looked anxiously at Lofty.

"You okay with that, Ben?"

"Can I write about the ghosts in the manor, and that poor lady that never got married, instead?"

"Good idea, Ben! Why not write her a happy ending, eh?"

Ben loved the idea and created a story where the bridegroom was smarter and stronger than the evil Phantom, so that the wedding took place after all. He read it out shyly and Zax, dreaming of their own wedding one day, held hands. Robyn beamed. Her finance seemed back to normal again.

At playtime, Snap was settled on his throne and supervised the first official Zax meeting for over a week.

At lunchtime there were cup cakes with Disney characters on them. Miss Honey tried not to fuss Lofty too much, for both his and Ethan's sake. She knew how needy Ethan could be.

The kids mainly liked the photo session. Mr Keogh kept a watchful eye on Lofty's reaction. The small boy's mum's reaction to his homecoming still preyed on the teacher's mind. Was it his parents who had helped to make him feel that he was a disappointment to everybody? Ben had said he'd rather be dead than not go back to them, but kids loved parents unconditionally. He and Mrs Beauchamp had discussed Mrs Chiltern's reaction and were looking at options to help the boy next term.

Finally, at the end of the afternoon, Mrs Beauchamp had Cal and Ethan in her study, and broke the news to them as best she could, even though Cal had known this was coming. After the summer break in just under three weeks, a new school year would begin. And Cal, who would then be eight, would move up to Juniors.

Ethan reacted with tears and a tantrum.

"Now come on Ethan, you'll still be able to play with Cal at home – I mean, my house – every evening."

"Cal'll get new friends and never want me again!"

"I swear I'll not. Hey, you'll have to keep me updated about what the Gang are doing."

It was too much for Ethan, who yelled, using the baddest word he knew ever:

"I don't care about the f****** old gang if Cal's going to be with those old snobs!"

A very traumatic end to the meeting followed. Later that evening, Ethan apologised for the bad dirty word and was forgiven, but was told he needed to accept that Cal wouldn't be going back to Mixed Infants with him in September. Ethan tried, but cried himself to sleep that night.

A/N So, a bitter sweet ending to this current story which leaves issues to be resolved for the FBG's third year. Yes, sorry, people, there will be one more FBG story soon. Also, sorry it's not on a happier note right now… but things can only get better for the rogues. Something different next time but the FBG will return soon.