Prologue

"Dad! Dad! Wha's that?" little five year old Elsa said, pointing to the football match her father was watching.

"It's called football. It's a game," he replied with a smile.

"Oooooh. I wanna play!"

"You're too young for that right now, Elsa." The little girl's face dropped into a pout. "But. I promise when you're old enough I'll teach you how it's played. For now, you can watch." Agdar said with a smile. Elsa's face immediately perked up. She jumped onto the couch and cuddled up next to her Father, asking numerous questions and Agdar answering them to the best of his ability.

When Idun returned home, she was greeted with the pleasant sight of her husband and her daughter cuddled asleep on the couch.

Eight year old Elsa jumped into the air to catch the ball her father tossed in her direction. She reeled her arm back and threw it back with all her might. Elsa and her father were at the park, playing with a football that Agdar had bought a few months ago. They were laughing and having a fun time throwing and catching the ball. After a few hours, Agdar decided they should begin to head back home. Elsa was sad for a bit but didn't fight. She knew that they would play again soon, as they had been doing for a while.

"Hey guys, can I play?" Eleven year old Elsa asked a group of boys at recess who were playing catch. The boys look at each other very confused.

"You, a girl, wants to play with us?" A redheaded boy, seemingly the leader of the group asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

The group suddenly burst into laughter, "HA! A GIRL!" The boys were acting as if they'd just heard the funniest joke in the world. "You really think a girl could keep up with us boys?"

Elsa got sick of their mocking tone and decided to stand up to the boys. "Yeah! You know what? If I beat one of you in a race, I get to play with you guys."

The boys stopped laughing, and they looked at Elsa incredulously. "You think you could beat me in a race?" said the leader.

"Yup!"

He seemed to mull it over for a few seconds. "Nah. We don't have time for this. Let's go, boys."

They turned to leave, but Elsa had one more trick up her sleeve. "What? Scared you gonna get beaten by a girl?"

The boy quickly turned back around. "What?! Of course not!."

"Then race me." She said, chin up, radiating with confidence.

"Fine!" He pointed to a tree in the distance. "First one to that tree over there wins."

They took starting positions.

"Go!"

Elsa ran as fast as she could, in all honesty she wasn't sure if she could beat him in a race, but she was definitely not going home without a fight. Her heart was pumping and her legs were moving and all she could see was the finish line.

As she passed the tree, she finally allowed herself to slow down. She put her hands on her knees and caught her breath. When she looked up, she saw the red headed boy had just crossed the finish line. She straightened back up and said, "So. Can I play?"

They muttered amongst themselves for a bit, looking unsure. Elsa heard snippets of the conversation.

"She beat Hans."

"She's a girl."

"It'll look weird."

"But we did say—"

"Guys!" A blonde boy spoke up. "She beat Hans fair and square, we should let her play with us.

They boys all looked to Hans for an answer. I can't believe I lost to a girl, he thought. Whatever. She won't last very long with us boys.

"Fine." Hans concluded. "She can stay as long as she wants.

A huge smile spread across Elsa's face. "Thanks guys!"

At first it was kind of awkward, the boys were all overly conscious of Elsa's presence. But after a while it felt as if she was one of them.

After school, Elsa told her father about all the things she'd done that day. He was impressed that she had managed to win over the boys so fast. "I'm glad you found new friend's, honey.

Fourteen year old Elsa was laying awake in bed. She couldn't sleep. She missed him so much. Agdar had died in a car crash when he was on his way to pick Elsa up from school a few days ago. Hit by a car that was out of control on the icy streets of winter.

She didn't know what she would do without him. Her mother was rarely home because her job hadn't allowed her to be, so Elsa was so close to her Father, and now he was gone.

She looked at the signed football in the corner of her room, and got up to inspect it. She remembered the fun times that she shared with her father, and tears welled up in her eyes. They would never play catch with each other, or watch football together anymore.

He was gone now and all she had left of him was football.