Dave the Unicorn: Team Spirit

by Pip Bird

  The first event was the Long Jump. The unicorn and their rider would gallop along the track. When they reached the big white line, they would jump and see how far into the glitter-sandpit they landed. The results were very mixed—and it was clear that these events were much harder. Jake’s unicorn, Pegasus, put one hoof over the white line, and the jump didn’t count, despite Team Rhino’s protests. Darcy and Star jumped very far, but then they bowed and did a celebratory tap dance and were docked points for getting glitter-sand in people’s eyes.

  Soon Mira and Dave were up—the first to jump from Team Sloth. Mira hopped onto Dave’s back, and he walked over to the start of the runway. So far, so good! thought Mira.

  Dave backed up a few steps.

  “That’s great, Dave,” said Mira. “Get a longer run-up!”

  Then he backed up a few more steps.

  And a few more.

  And a few more.

  Mira realized he was actually just walking backward, away from the glitter-sandpit.

  “Come on, Dave. You can do this! I believe in you!” She ruffled his mane. Dave kept walking backward. “AND,” Mira continued, “I saved you some cookies from snack time…”

  Dave stopped walking backward. His little ears pricked up, and he gave a grunt. Then he started trotting forward toward the track.

  “That’s it, Dave!” said Mira, giving him a pat. “Think of the cookies!”

  Dave sped up. Mira could see the track approaching, leading up to the white line and the glitter-sandpit. But there was something else there, too. Something … yellow. Mira realized with a gulp that it was a banana peel—and Dave was going to slip on it!

  “No—Dave! Stop!” she called. But Dave seemed to be thinking only of the cookies, and he got faster, not slower! “Dave! Watch out for the bananAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHH!”

  Dave skidded on the banana peel and shot forward. He and Mira were propelled through the air. Mira squeezed her eyes shut, hugged Dave’s neck, and braced herself for the landing. Dave hadn’t even had the chance to jump correctly, but all that mattered now was that they were both okay. At least the glitter-sand would be soft, she hoped.

  They landed with a thump—the glitter-sand was soft—but it also wasn’t very sandy and was a bit … leafy? Mira opened her eyes. They were in a sparklebush. She saw Dave had his eyes closed, too. He opened one eye and looked at Mira.

  “Oh dear—we didn’t even make the glitter-sandpit!” she said.

  “No—you jumped PAST it!” squeaked Flo, arriving at the bush on Sparkles and peering through the leaves.

  “It’s a school record!” said Raheem, beaming. The rest of Team Sloth were whooping and cheering behind them.

  Mira and Dave were awarded twenty points for their jump, even though Rani and Jake complained that the rules said your jump would be measured in the glitter-sandpit—so jumping past it shouldn’t count.

  Jake was still muttering about it when Raheem went up to take his jump. “They obviously didn’t mean to do an amazing jump,” he grumbled. “It must have been an accident.”

  Mira thought of the banana peel … so she looked over at the track—and there was another one! She told Miss Glitterhorn, who made Raheem and Brave wait until it was removed.

  “How strange,” said her teacher.

  Mira looked over at her sister, who was standing with Angelica, very close to the runway. Rani saw her looking and mouthed, “WHAT?” Mira mouthed back, “NOTHING.” But she didn’t look away and watched Rani like a hawk for the rest of the Long Jump, even though Rani was mouthing, “WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME?” and “YOU’RE SO WEIRD.”

  The rest of Team Sloth did their jumps, and they managed to get some more points. And no more banana peels appeared. Interesting, Mira thought.

  Then it was time for the Uni-Pole Vault. It was a really hard event, and only a few people had managed to do it before Mira and Dave stepped up for their turn.

  “It doesn’t matter if we can’t do it, Dave,” she said, giving him a pat. “You already did a fantastic Long Jump!”

  Dave looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. And then he winked.

  “Okay…,” said Mira, feeling slightly uncertain. She climbed onto Dave’s back and picked up a pole from the pile marked TEAM SLOTH.

  Dave turned his head, grabbed the pole in his mouth, and ate it.

  “Um, Dave, I think the pole is pretty important,” said Mira. But Dave had already started his run-up. Mira looked up at the Uni-Pole Vault bar. It was dizzyingly high. How on earth would they get up there?

  As if he was answering her question, Dave suddenly ducked low and kicked his back legs up, springing off the ground. Mira slid forward and clung to his neck. Together they turned a somersault in the air—and hurtled back toward the ground.

  For the second time that day, Mira shut her eyes and braced herself … Dave had BOUNCED on his HORN and they were now soaring up into the sky, turning somersaults as they went! They flew higher and higher—past the Uni-Pole Vault bar! Mira felt her stomach drop as they started to fall, still turning over and over …

  And with a THUD, they landed on the spongy crash mat.

  The cheers and applause from Team Sloth were deafening. Darcy’s team cheered, too, and some of Team Cobra joined in. The teachers agreed that it was the most impressive Uni-Pole Vault they’d ever seen and awarded Mira and Dave forty points.

  Team Rhino surrounded Miss Glitterhorn.

  “But—but!” cried Jake. “They didn’t use the pole!” He pointed at the pile of Team Sloth poles. Dave was standing over them and sniffing. He carefully nudged one of the poles away from the pile with his nose. Then Mira realized he was eating that one, too! She rushed over, thinking that it was not the best thing for Dave’s stomach, and pulled what remained of the pole out of his mouth.

  But it wasn’t plastic and metal—it was sticky and—Mira sniffed it—sugary. She tentatively licked it. It wasn’t a Uni-Pole Vault pole at all—it was a giant candy cane.

  They inspected the rest of the poles in Team Sloth’s pile—they were ALL candy canes.

  “Those are branches from the sugar trees,” said Miss Glitterhorn, shaking her head. “They grow nearby—but I don’t know what they’re doing here! Borrow Team Rhino’s poles and gather together the candy canes.”

  “We can’t do that,” said Raheem. “Dave’s eaten them all.”

  Dave turned to face them and let out a thundering fart.

  Some of the other Team Sloth unicorns copied Dave’s Uni-Pole Vault technique, and Team Sloth racked up more points. Everyone held their breath as they watched the scoreboard.

  “YAAAAAAAAAY!” cheered Team Sloth, all sharing a hug and high-fiving. Lots of them asked Mira if they could give Dave a well-done pat.

  Mira’s chest was fizzing with excitement—they were tied for first with Team Rhino! And what’s more, everyone was cheering for Dave!

  “You were amazing, Dave,” she said, scratching him behind the ears. “I’m so glad you’re my Unicorn Best Friend Forever.”

  Dave shrugged and snorted, but Mira could see his cheeks turn pink.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sneaker Stealing!

  The teams filed back into the school for lunch. Miss Glitterhorn told them all to leave their sneakers in the PE locker room so they wouldn’t get mud in the cafeteria. Mira carefully laid her glitter sneakers on the floor underneath her coat hook. She’d tried really hard not to get them muddy.

  Mira was so excited she could hardly eat. But she knew she would need lots of energy for the Cross-Country Obstacle Race. Dave was also excited, but he was always excited at lunchtime.

  Darcy and Freya came over to sit with them. Freya soon had to leave because she was summoned to the girls’ bathroom by her unicorn, Princess, who was devastated that competing in all the sports had messed up her mane.

  “Go, Dave!” said Darcy. “What an awesome Uni-Pole Vault!”

  Mira beamed with pride, though she could tell Dave wasn’t used to be
ing the center of attention. He shrugged and focused on his food.

  “What do you think the obstacles will be?” said Darcy. “I just hope it’s something DANGEROUS and not boring old cones and bits of rope.”

  “I hope it is boring old cones and bits of rope,” said Raheem firmly.

  Mira looked over at a table nearby, where Team Rhino were talking tactics.

  “Dave did pretty well in the serious sports events,” said one girl.

  “That was a fluke!” hissed Jake. “And now it’s a race—he won’t go very fast on those stumpy legs!”

  Mira was about to turn to Dave and say that they seemed to have Team Rhino worried, when she realized something. Rani wasn’t there. Mira thought she’d be leading the team talk … Mira looked around at the other tables. Rani was nowhere to be seen. Where WAS she?

  * * *

  After lunch the teams all went back to the PE locker room to get their sneakers.

  Mira went to her coat hook—and then stared down at the floor in disbelief.

  HER GLITTER SNEAKERS WERE GONE.

  “Are you okay?” said Raheem, as Mira desperately searched under the other hooks.

  More of Team Sloth gathered around as Mira explained about the sneakers. They helped her look, but no one could find the sneakers anywhere. Students from other teams joined in the search.

  Miss Hind came in to find out where the kids were. “Come on, it’s time for the Cross-Country Obstacle Race. No stragglers!” she barked.

  “We can’t go yet. Mira’s sneakers are missing!” said Raheem.

  Miss Hind sighed and looked at her watch. Then Miss Glitterhorn and Madame Shetland came in, wondering what the holdup was.

  “You’ll just have to borrow some spare sneakers, Mira,” said Miss Glitterhorn kindly. “We’ll look for them later.”

  “But…,” said Mira, worried she might cry. Her parents had gotten the sneakers for her birthday as a special surprise because they saw her looking at them in the store window. She blinked back tears. Then she felt a nudge, followed by a scratchy mane and a warm nose nuzzling under her chin. It was a Dave hug!

  “You can get some stinky lost-and-found sneakers to match your stinky PE outfit!” said a voice.

  “Rani!” said Miss Glitterhorn.

  Mira turned to look at her sister, who had a big grin on her face. Rani was wearing her own glitter sneakers, and she stuck out her right foot and wiggled it in Mira’s direction. Mira snapped. She’d had enough!

  “Rani STOLE my sneakers!” she shouted, pointing at her sister. “She’s been playing tricks on Team Sloth all day—and SABOTAGING US!”

  There was a stunned silence.

  Rani was staring at her, openmouthed. “No. I…”

  “Mira, this is a very serious accusation,” said Madame Shetland. “I would think very carefully about what you’re saying.”

  “Where’s your proof?” said Jake.

  “I … well…” Mira looked down at the ground. She hadn’t actually seen Rani do anything. But she had been really mean to Team Sloth. AND she’d made that speech, saying “do anything you can to win.” AND she wasn’t anywhere to be seen at lunch, right when the sneakers went missing. It MUST be her!

  Then something interrupted her thoughts. It was a strange snuffling, grunting sound …

  They all turned to look. Dave had his nose to the floor and seemed to be licking something. Then he trotted forward.

  “Dave, don’t lick the floor!” said Mira, running over to him.

  “Gross,” said someone from Team Rhino.

  But then Mira looked closer. “Wait…,” she said. “I think Dave’s found something.” She saw that he was vacuuming up a trail of glitter that led out of the locker room door.

  “It’s a clue!” cried Mira, as she followed Dave.

  “We don’t have time for that now, Mira,” said Miss Glitterhorn.

  “I’ll be quick! I promise!” Mira called behind her.

  “Well, make sure you are. No—Team Sloth, that doesn’t mean you can ALL go. Or you, Team Rhino! Everybody stay still! Okay, well we’ll all just go for a little bit. Back in a moment, Madame Shetland!”

  Miss Glitterhorn jogged ahead of the large crowd of children, all following Mira and Dave and the glitter trail. Dave kept on licking up the glitter all the way into the stable yard. And all the way up to one of the stables. All the stable doors had a wooden sign with the unicorn’s name, but on this door the sign was nearly hidden by all the pictures and hand-drawn posters that were stuck all over it.

  “But…,” said Rani, as Dave, still eating the glitter, pushed the door open with his nose.

  There, nestled among the hay, were Mira’s glitter sneakers.

  There was a shocked gasp from all the teams. Flo fainted. Miss Glitterhorn shook her head. “Rani…,” she said, sounding disappointed.

  “I—I didn’t take them!” said Rani.

  “Yeah RIGHT,” said Mira. “Where were you at lunch, then? You weren’t in the cafeteria with your team.”

  “I—I was—” stammered Rani.

  “You were SNEAKER STEALING!” said Mira. She felt a bit giddy and wasn’t sure if it was anger or triumph.

  “No! I was with Mrs. Fetlock,” said Rani.

  Mrs. Fetlock oversaw Class Orange and was also the school’s math teacher.

  “How come?” said Mira.

  “I’m doing extra work with her,” said Rani, looking at her feet.

  “Why would you do that?” blurted out Darcy, clearly horrified at the idea of voluntarily doing extra work.

  “Because I’m behind, OKAY!” snapped Rani.

  “Don’t worry, Rani,” interrupted Miss Glitterhorn. “There’s nothing wrong with getting a little bit of help when you need it.”

  Mira could see Rani blinking furiously, which she did on the VERY rare occasions when she was about to cry. A tight feeling twisted in Mira’s stomach. She felt AWFUL.

  Raheem handed her the glitter sneakers. “Thanks, Raheem,” she said glumly, and she sat down to put them on. There were strands of unicorn mane caught in the laces, but otherwise they were as good as new.

  “Well, it seems like this is all cleared up,” said Miss Glitterhorn.

  “Apart from why Mira’s sneakers were in a stall?” said Yusuf.

  “Mira probably put them there to FRAME Rani,” said one of Rani’s friends.

  “Now, now, let’s all stop accusing one another of things and get back to field day,” said Miss Glitterhorn firmly, striding back through the stable yard. The children followed her. Mira’s stomach twisted even tighter, and she sped up to walk alongside her sister.

  “Rani…,” she said.

  Rani turned around. “Just leave me alone!” Rani’s friend put her arm around her protectively, and Angelica snorted angrily at Mira.

  “It’s not your fault—you didn’t know,” said Raheem kindly, appearing at Mira’s side.

  Flo popped up between them. “Why don’t we go win Unicorn School Field Day?”

  Dave trumpeted a fart of agreement, and they all grinned. Mira followed Team Sloth out to the sports field, trying to ignore the guilty feeling in her chest. But it still didn’t make sense—how DID her sneakers get in the stables?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Into the Forest …

  “ON YOUR MARKS!”

  Team Sloth were on their unicorns at the starting line of the Cross-Country Obstacle Race.

  “GET SET!”

  They could hear the shouts of Team Cobra, who’d set off a few minutes before. The teams were going one by one.

  “GO!”

  Brave shot off at a thundering gallop with Raheem clinging to his neck for dear life. The rest of Team Sloth trotted after him, and Mira soon found herself at the back. She felt bad for thinking it, but maybe Jake did have a point about Dave’s little legs.

  The race would take them out to the farthest fields in the school grounds (and from the splashes they’d heard, part of it went through the s
wimming pool). Then back to the sports field, where they’d wait for the last team to arrive and then all complete the final dash to the finish line.

  Team Sloth went up over a hill and followed a big red arrow into a field, where they weaved in and out of some cones. Another arrow pointed them to the next field, where there was a set of monkey bars. It didn’t seem too hard so far.

  They reached the end of the second field, where a path forked in two. The big red arrow pointed to the path on the left. On the arrow was scrawled THIS WAY. Brave, still leading the group, strode along the left path.

  “Wait!” called Yusuf. “Doesn’t that lead to the forest?”

  Brave stopped abruptly, and all of Team Sloth collided with one another.

  “The arrow was definitely pointing this way, though,” said Ali.

  Team Sloth all looked at one another.

  “I think we should go back,” said Raheem, patting Brave on the neck. Mira knew why he was saying it. The forest was full of sparkle spiders, and only Mira, Raheem, and Darcy knew that Brave was terrified of spiders.

  “But if we turn back now, we might not finish the race at all,” said one of the Toms.

  “Should we just find the first obstacle and see what it’s like?” said Sarah. The other team members voiced their agreement.

  They walked farther and farther into the forest.

  “I think I’ve found the obstacle!” called Anja.

  The rest of Team Sloth caught up and saw what Anja was pointing at. It was a rickety rope bridge hanging over a swamp.

  “It looks pretty dangerous,” said Sarah.

  “I’m sure it’s … fine,” said Anja uncertainly.

  They paused for a moment as everyone thought, and then they all started talking at once.

  “Come on, let’s just do it!”

  “We’re running out of time!”

  “Are those piranhas?”

  “Maybe we have to weave in and out of those flesh-eating plants over there?”