It was a bright day in the dandelion meadow, but as she flew with Brisa, Sumatra, and Sirocco, Kona was feeling as blue as the sky.
“I don’t know what we should do today,” she said with a sigh. She flew over to a branch of an oak tree and kicked an acorn. It sailed through the air and landed with a plunk in an abandoned bird’s nest in a neighboring tree.
“Looks to me like you’re doing something already!” Sumatra said, impressed.
“What do you mean?” Kona asked dully.
“Hello? You just made a nest in one!” Sirocco pointed out. He kicked at the air, only to send himself into a wobbly double back-flip. “Whoa!”
“As you can see,” Sumatra said dryly, as the Wind Dancers flew on, “not everyone has your kicking talent, Kona.”
“That’s why you were such a star in Sumatra’s talent show!” Brisa added sweetly.
“That’s nice of you to say,” Kona said, sighing again, “but lately, my kicking has kind of … lost its kick for me.”
The horses had arrived at the school, which was surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. Idly, Kona reached out and tapped a hoof against a pinecone dangling from a nearby tree branch. The cone landed in a knot in the fence and stuck fast!
Sirocco gaped at Kona’s bull’s-eye.
“You’re such a kicker!” he sputtered.
Kona tried to smile at Sirocco, but she feared it came out as more of a frown.
“Here’s the thing,” Kona said to her friends. “Sumatra’s talent show is so last month. Now, I’ve got nobody to entertain with my kicking!”
“But that doesn’t mean you have to stop practicing,” Sumatra said encouragingly to Kona. “With every kick, you’re getting better and better at hitting targets!”
“But I think I’ve kicked every acorn, pinecone, and apple in this meadow,” Kona answered. She swooped down and kicked up a stone on the ground with her hoof. Then she rose back into the air, casually juggling the stone from hoof to hoof. “And I’ve kicked them at every tree knot, branch, and bird’s nest I could possibly find.”
“You’re weird!” Sirocco said. “Can you imagine me saying, ‘Oh, I’ve eaten every kind of pie ever invented, so I’ll just stop now?’”
Before Kona could respond, she heard a high-pitched voice on the other side of the fence.
“Over here! Kick it!”
“What?” Kona exclaimed. She was so stunned, she fumbled and dropped her stone.
“You guys!” Kona said to her friends, breathlessly. “Did you hear that? It sounded like a girl. A girl wanting me to kick my stone to her!”
“But how is that possible?” Sumatra gasped. “People can’t see us!”
“Or … can they?” Kona said excitedly. “Maybe things have changed.”
Together, the Wind Dancers flew nearer to the fence to get a closer look. As they fluttered in the air, they spotted the girl who’d called out to Kona.
And she was—guess who?—Leanna!
Her brown eyes sparkled, and her wavy, blonde hair bounced in a sporty ponytail.
The Wind Dancers were too thrilled and excited to speak. Finally, Leanna was able to see them!
Kona held her breath and waited for Leanna to say hello.
Leanna looked straight at Kona and she shouted again.
“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” she called.
“I’m confused,” Kona said to her friends. “What does Leanna mean—”
“Look out!” Sumatra interrupted her.
Kona followed Sumatra’s gaze and neighed in alarm. Then she darted to the side just in time to avoid being beaned by a giant black-and-white ball!
Kona watched as Leanna skillfully fielded the ball, not with her hands but with her foot! She kicked it to a girl who was running toward her. The girl, in turn, kicked it toward a large, rectangular net. An identical net rested at the opposite end of the field.
Kona was so fascinated by this game that she almost forgot to be disappointed that Leanna, as always, couldn’t see them.
Until she looked at Sumatra, Sirocco, and Brisa.
“Leanna wasn’t talking to us!” Sumatra said with a wail.
“We’re still invisible to people,” Sirocco agreed glumly.
“No matter how beautiful we are,” Brisa added, with a sigh.
Searching desperately for something that would cheer up her friends, Kona pointed her hoof down at the playing field.
“Isn’t that the most amazing game?”
The other Wind Dancers glanced at the running, shouting, kicking kids.
“They’re using their feet to catch that big ball,” Sumatra said, bewildered.
“Or their heads!” Sirocco exclaimed, as one of the girls bounced the black-and-white ball off her forehead.
“They look like they’re having such fun,” Brisa added.
Kona’s eyes drifted back to the game. Leanna had the black-and-white ball again. She was dribbling it down the field. Half of the girls seemed to be chasing her, while the other half were protecting her from the ones who were chasing her!
Kona caught her breath as Leanna forged ahead and punted the ball into the net.
“Goal!” Leanna shouted, throwing her hands above her head. A few of her teammates gathered around her and cheered, while the kids on the other team kicked at the dirt in frustration.
From the sidelines, a teacher shouted, “Good play, Leanna! The score’s one to zero!”
“Wow!” Kona breathed, turning back to her friends. “Blocking goals. And scoring goals. And gaining points. This game takes kicking to a whole new level!”
“I wonder what it’s called,” Sirocco said.
“Wait here!” Kona told her friends. She zipped down to the playing field.
Kona quickly figured out that each team wanted to kick the ball into the other team’s net. But it wasn’t as simple as that. There were lots of rules. You couldn’t foul (that means touch) another player to get the ball away from her, and you couldn’t go outside the lines of the playing field.
Kona watched it all intensely.
And that’s how she learned the name of this wonderful game.
When Kona finally flew up to rejoin the other Wind Dancers, her black eyes were gleaming and her purple tail was arched high in the air.
“The game,” she announced dramatically, “is called ‘soccer.’ And I can’t wait to play it!”