A Puff of Pink Read online

  Red-faced, Daniel and the rest of the Superstars made their way through the crowd.

  “What on earth are they wearing?” one parent mumbled.

  “Pink shirts?” said another parent.

  “What happened to the blue and white ones?” asked a little boy.

  When the Superstars reached the field, it only took a second for the other team to comment on their dazzling new colors.

  “Hey, look at that!” the Flyers’ goalie shouted, roaring with laughter. “The Superstars like pink!”

  “Looks beautiful,” the Flyers’ captain called with a grin.

  “Hey, has anyone got any sunglasses?” asked one of the other players. “That pink is giving me a headache!”

  Ali couldn’t help feeling bad. This was all thanks to her wish. She watched as Daniel and the rest of the Superstars huddled in a circle, their faces grim.

  The Flyers were still joking about the Superstars as the teams got into position. But when the match started, Ali was relieved to see that the teasing had just made Daniel’s team even more determined to win. They swept down the field from the kickoff and scored in the first minute, leaving their opponents shaking their heads. But the Flyers recovered quickly and raced with the ball down to the opposite end. Only a great save by the Superstars’ goalie prevented the Flyers from scoring.

  “It’s going to be a good game,” Mr. O’Connor said. “It’s a shame our side is so quiet, though.”

  Ali glanced around. The Flyers’ fans were leaping around and cheering on the opposite side of the field, but the Superstars’ supporters were hardly making any noise. Ali could see several people looking sadly at their blue and white scarves and shaking their heads. If they didn’t start cheering soon, the Cocoa Superstars might lose. Maybe she could do something to help.

  “Um—I need to go to the bathroom,” she whispered to Mary. “Is there one in the clubhouse?”

  Mary nodded, and Ali hurried off just as a scorching shot from Daniel flew over the Flyers’ crossbar, narrowly missing the goal. Go, Daniel! she thought. Maybe if the fans gave him some encouragement, he might score a goal.

  “Genie?” Ali put the backpack down on the floor of the clubhouse reception area. It was empty because everyone was outside watching the match. She unzipped the pocket. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m really bored,” Genie grumbled, lifting herself out of the pocket. “It’s hot in here, and I can’t even see the match.”

  “I need my third wish,” Ali said urgently. “I wish for some pink scarves and stuff for the Superstars supporters.”

  “Another wish?” Genie brightened up at once. “Sure!” She snapped her fingers, and a bulging gold bag appeared next to the backpack.

  Eagerly Ali pulled it open. “This is great, Genie!” she cried. The bag was stuffed with striped scarves and flags in exactly the same shade of pink and purple as the team’s uniforms. “Thank you.”

  “Any time,” Little Genie said with a wink. “You’d better take it out there, hadn’t you?” She wriggled down into the pocket. “Here we go again,” Ali heard her mutter as she did up the zip.

  Ali picked up the bag and ran outside. “Look, Mary!” She dashed over to her friend, waving one of the scarves. “I—I found these in the clubhouse.”

  Mary looked puzzled. “Where did they come from?”

  Ali shrugged. “I don’t know,” she fibbed. “But we can give them out to the crowd.”

  Mary and Ali each draped a scarf around her neck and grabbed a flag. They gave a scarf and flag to Mr. O’Connor, too. Then they ran up and down the bleachers handing out the remaining ones to the Superstars’ supporters.

  “Thanks,” said one man, taking a scarf. He handed a striped flag to his glum-looking son, who cheered up immediately.

  “Come on, Superstars!” roared the fans, shaking their scarves and waving their flags.

  Just then the whistle blew for halftime. Ali felt very pleased with herself. For once, her wish had put things right. She felt a bit sorry for Genie, though, stuck in the backpack. Maybe if she put it down on the grass and covered it halfway with her jacket, Genie would be able to pop her head out and watch the second half of the match without being seen.

  Ali put down her backpack and started to unzip the pocket. “Genie,” she whispered. “You can watch the match now. Just be careful.”

  But Genie didn’t appear.

  Frowning, Ali pulled the pocket open and peered inside. Her heart missed a beat.

  The pocket was empty. Little Genie had vanished!

  Chapter Nine

  Give Me a G!

  “Oh no!”Ali gasped. Could Genie have fellen out without Ali noticing? No, the pocket had been zipped shut So where was she?

  Biting her lip, Ali began to search through her backpack. The referee blew his whistle to begin the second half. The crowd let out a cheer as the Superstars almost scored again, but Ali didn’t look up. She was too worried about Genie.

  “Ali, what are you doing?”

  Mary was staring down at her. “Um—I was thirsty,” Ali said weakly. “I was just looking for my juice box.”

  “Well, you’re missing the match,” Mary said. “And it’s really exciting.” She broke off to shout, “Come on, Daniel!” as her brother ran down the field, neatly dribbling the ball past two defenders.

  Ali frowned. She had to find Genie! Maybe she ought to go back to the clubhouse and see if she was there.

  Suddenly the sound of laughter and clapping made Ali glance up. Her eyes opened wide. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

  Little Genie was standing on the side of the field, full size. Her hair was in braids. She wore a short swirly pink skirt and a pink T-shirt with matching sneakers, and she held two big fluffy pom-poms! As Ali watched openmouthed, Genie began to high-kick her way along the touchline.

  “Superstars, Superstars are the best!” Genie chanted. “Superstars, Superstars beat the rest! S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R-S!”

  The Superstars fans took up the chant. “Superstars, Superstars are the best!” they yelled. And on the field, the pink-clad players surged forward, looking more determined than ever.

  Mary nudged Ali and nodded toward Little Genie, who was waving her pom-poms. “Who is that?” she asked.

  “Oh, her? I—I think I’ve seen her around,” Ali muttered. She edged away from Mary and Mr. O’Connor and made her way over to Genie. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  “Cheerleading, of course!” Genie said, doing a jump. “Here.” She paused for a moment and handed a pom-pom to Ali. “Why don’t you join in?”

  “We’d love to,” said a voice behind Ali. Mary was standing there, smiling at Genie. “You look great!”

  “Thanks.” Genie beamed at Mary and handed her a pom-pom.

  Ali gulped. Her best friend and Little Genie—together! For a moment Ali worried that Genie would be banished to her Lava lamp forever—but then she realized she hadn’t told anyone about Genie. Genie had just showed up.

  Genie, Ali, and Mary stood at the edge of the playing field, and Ali and Mary tried to copy Genie’s moves. They sidestepped left and right then did a series of high kicks, Rockette style.

  “Where did you learn all this?” Ali asked Genie as the crowd cheered yet another play by the Superstars.

  “Don’t you remember that movie we watched last week?” Genie whispered back.

  “Oh yes, the one about the cheerleading squad.” Ali laughed. “Come on, Superstars!” she shouted.

  Mary gestured across the field with her pom-pom. “Ali, see that girl over there in the red jacket? That’s Julie. The girl Daniel likes.”

  Ali glanced over. The dark-haired girl was staring at the Superstars as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “I’m not sure she likes the pink uniforms,” Mary said, sounding worried. “I never thought I’d say this, but I hope it doesn’t make her not like Daniel. He’s phoned her three nights in a row, and that’s a record for him.”

>   “Well, in that case, we’d better make sure they win,” Genie declared. “That’ll impress her S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R-S! Superstars!”

  Mary and Ali joined in. There was a deafening cheer as Daniel swept forward with the ball. He dodged one defender, then another, and raced into the penalty area. He took a shot at the goal. The goalie dived the wrong way, and the ball flew into the back of the net.

  “Goal!” roared the crowd. Genie, Ali, and Mary jumped up and down, cheering and shouting.

  A few minutes later the referee blew the whistle to end the match. The score was 2–0 Superstars. The fans went wild. As the Flyers trudged gloomily off the field, the Superstars’ supporters surged onto it to congratulate the players. In the rush, Ali lost sight of Mary and Genie.

  Suddenly Ali felt something tugging on her leg. She glanced down. There was a tiny Genie, dressed in regular Genie clothes, clinging to her jeans. “Help me, Ali!” she called. “Before I get squished!”

  Ali bent down and scooped Genie up, shielding her with her other hand as she popped her back into the backpack pocket. Luckily, everybody was too busy celebrating to notice what Ali was doing.

  “Look at Daniel and Julie,” Genie said with a grin, resting her elbows on the edge of the pocket. The two teenagers were talking. “Do you think it’s true love?”

  Ali laughed. “Well, I don’t think she’ll mind about the pink,” she said. “Daniel’s a hero!”

  Little Genie looked thoughtful. “Hmmm … maybe I can help him impress her even more! What about a nice bunch of flowers?”

  “That’s a good idea,” Ali began as Genie started another spell.

  But then Ali’s heart sank. As Daniel spoke to Julie, a thick shower of bright pink flour appeared from nowhere, covering them both from head to toe.

  Chapter Ten

  Pink Party Time

  Julie screamed, Daniel gasped, and everyone else looked around to see two pink, floury figures coughing and wiping their eyes.

  “Genie, that’s flour!” Ali yelped. “Not flowers.”

  “Oops!” Genie said. Her ponytail dipped. “I was never very good at spelling.” And she disappeared inside the backpack pocket.

  To her relief, Ali saw that Daniel and Julie were laughing as they dusted each other off.

  “Did you see that?” Mary grinned, coming over to stand next to Ali. “Where did all that pink flour come from?”

  “It must have been a joke by one of the Flyers,” Ali suggested.

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” Mary agreed. “Hey, there’s been a lot of pink around today, hasn’t there!”

  You can say that again, Ali thought.

  “Come on, girls.” Mary’s dad came up to them, his pink scarf still wrapped around his neck “I’ve invited the team and their families to come home with us and celebrate. We’re going to have a party!”

  “Yippee!” Mary exclaimed. Ali let out a sigh of relief. After such a disastrous start, her pink day had turned out pretty well.

  The Superstars trooped back to the O’Connors’ house to celebrate. Mrs. O’Connor had just arrived back from work. She looked rather surprised to see so many people on her doorstep. But she snapped to attention. “Everyone out on the deck! I’ll phone in an order for pizzas.”

  While Mr. O’Connor was shepherding people out back, Ali and Mary went into the kitchen to help Mrs. O’Connor.

  “Hmm, let’s see what we can find in the meantime,” Mrs. O’Connor said, opening up the cupboards. “It’s a bit short notice, but I’m sure we can come up with something.”

  “Dad went to the supermarket yesterday while you were at work,” Mary reminded her mom. “There should be loads of stuff.”

  While Mary and Mrs. O’Connor were putting out paper plates and cutlery, Ali peeked into one of the open cupboards. There were packages of doughnuts and cookies and bottles of lemonade. Suddenly Ali had an idea. Maybe her pink fingers would come in handy just this once. Quickly she took out the food and bottles. Immediately it all turned bright pink.

  “Hey, look over here,” she called to Mary and Mrs. O’Connor. “There’s lots of food here—and it’s all pink!”

  “Great!” said Mary eagerly as she helped Ali empty the cupboard. “Hang on a minute. Dad couldn’t have known we were going to have a pink party. Wasn’t it lucky he bought all this stuff?”

  “Really lucky,” Ali agreed, her eyes twinkling.

  Mrs. O’Connor put everything on a tray and carried it out to the crowded deck. A CD was blaring and several people were dancing.

  “Hey, Ali,” Mr. O’Connor called. “Come and have a dance.” He held out his hands, but Ali took a step back in alarm. She didn’t want to turn Mary’s dad bright pink.

  “I—uh—just have to get something from my backpack,” she called, racing back inside. When she was safe, she unzipped the pocket and Genie poked her head out.

  “It sounds like fun out there,” Genie said enviously. “Can I get out and dance?”

  “No, you might get stepped on,” Ali told her “Mary’s dad wants to dance with me, and I’m scared I might turn him pink!”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Genie. “Here, try these for size!” She snapped her fingers, and a pair of thick brown mittens appeared on Ali’s hands.

  “I can’t wear these,” Ali gasped. “This is Florida, Genie! And they look like part of a bear suit. What am I going to say when people ask me why I’m wearing them?”

  “You’ll think of something,” Genie said breezily, and disappeared. Then she popped back out. “Oh, can I have one of those pink cookies?”

  With a huff, Ali walked back outside, trying to keep her hands out of sight. Luckily, Mary was busy talking to Julie, so she didn’t notice the mittens. Ali managed to pick up a pink cookie and stuff it into the backpack pocket, although the huge mittens made it difficult. She hoped Mary’s dad had forgotten about dancing with her so that she could take the mittens off, but he was heading toward her again.

  “Come on, Ali,” he said. Then he stopped and stared. “Where’d you get those? You and Mary playing dress-up?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Not exactly,” Ali said, putting her backpack next to a shrub. “My hands were, uh, freezing. I was holding all the cold lemonade and soda bottles.”

  “Come on, then!” Mr. O’Connor laughed, grabbing Ali’s hand and swinging her around. “A dance will warm you up.”

  Once she was sure she wasn’t going to turn Mary’s dad pink, Ali began to enjoy herself. They were dancing around to BoyFrenzy’s latest song when suddenly a thought struck Ali. She stopped dead and stared down at her hands. The mittens hadn’t turned pink! They were touching her fingers and yet they were still brown. Did that mean that the wishes were over? Had all the sand run through the hourglass?

  “Sorry,” Ali said to a startled Mr. O’Connor. “I need to get something from my backpack again.”

  Leaving Mary’s dad dancing on his own, Ali picked up her backpack and headed back inside. She passed Daniel in the hall. He was talking with some of his friends.

  “You know, those pink jerseys really brought us luck today,” Daniel was saying. “Maybe we should keep them. What do you think, guys?”

  His friends nodded and cheered. Quickly Ali ran into the kitchen. There was no one around, so she opened the backpack. A low, rumbling snore floated out. Ali peeked inside and saw Genie curled up, fast asleep and covered in cookie crumbs.

  “Genie!” Ali whispered. “I think the wishes have ended. Genie?”

  But Genie didn’t wake up. She must have been tired out from all that cheerleading and eating that enormous cookie. Ali grinned. Well, at least everything was back to normal.

  But suddenly she noticed the Superstars’ jerseys lying in a heap next to the washing machine. Ali groaned under her breath. Now that her wishes were over, the bright pink color had vanished. They were blue and white again!

  “Oh no!” Ali muttered. How on earth was she going to explain that? Especially now that Dani
el and the team wanted to keep the pink. With a sigh, Ali began shoving the jerseys into Mary’s duffel. There was only one thing she could do. She’d have to take them home and dye them bright pink.

  “Ali?” That was Mary’s voice behind her. “What are you doing?”

  Quickly Ali pushed the last blue and white shirt into the duffel and stood up. “I thought I’d give you a break from doing laundry,” she said feebly. “I thought, well, um, I thought that I’d wash the team’s uniforms this week.”

  Mary stared at her. “You don’t have to do that!” she exclaimed. “Besides, my part is over. They’re supposed to go home with Joey Coles today.”

  “Oh, but I want to.” Ali tried to sound as convincing as she could. “It’ll make me feel a part of the Cocoa Superstars team. And I’d better get going—I want to make sure they’re clean for the next match.”

  “Well, I think you’re bonkers!” Mary laughed. “But okay!”

  Ali said goodbye and trudged out the front door, slinging the heavy duffel over her shoulder along with her backpack.

  Just as she was thinking that there was no way she could carry the bag all the way home, a flying carpet, with green and pink stripes and golden orange fringe, appeared in front of her.

  “Genie!” Ali gasped, putting the backpack down and unzipping it.

  Little Genie giggled. “You can’t walk home with all this to carry. Better yet, let’s fix it right now!” Genie whispered a few words, and when Ali unzipped the duffel, the boys’ uniforms were a lovely, dazzling pink. And they smelled great!

  “Perfect!” Ali said, running back and dropping the duffel on Mary’s front steps. Then she raced back to Genie. “Can we still ride the magic carpet home?”

  Genie looked around. The street was empty. “I don’t see why not. We’ll ride up high, above the trees, so no one will see us.”

  Ali picked up her backpack with Genie inside and climbed on board. The carpet began to tingle. “There’s just one thing,” Ali said, pointing to the pink stripe. “Can I wish this was a different color?”