Bling It On! Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1 Blue Your Best

  Chapter 2 Red-y, Set, Go

  Chapter 3 Write Bright

  Chapter 4 Red It Be

  Chapter 5 Deep Blue Sea

  Chapter 6 Cheer Up, Buttercup

  Chapter 7 Cherry on Top

  Chapter 8 Tie-Dye Tango

  Chapter 9 Light Bright

  How to Give Yourself (or a Friend!) a Bling It On Sparkle Pedicure

  About Jill Santopolo

  This one’s in memory of my dad.

  Gobs of glittery thanks to editrix Karen Nagel, agent Miriam Altshuler, and writer buddies

  Marianna Baer, Marie Rutkoski, and Eliot Schrefer.

  one

  Blue Your Best

  Aly Tanner sat in the back of the auditorium at Auden Elementary School in a chair the color of Blue Your Best nail polish. Looking at row after row of kids sitting in front of her reminded Aly of the ocean.

  She was sitting between her best friends, Charlotte and Lily. Toward the middle of the room, Aly thought she could see the tip-top of her younger sister Brooke’s head, tilted toward Brooke’s best friend, Sophie Chu. Brooke was probably telling Sophie a story, because she was always telling stories, or asking questions, or wondering about things. Aly wondered if Brooke was the biggest chatterbox in the whole third grade. It was quite possible. She might even be the biggest chatterbox in all of Auden Elementary.

  “May I have your attention! Boys and girls, your attention, please!” Principal Rogers was standing on the auditorium stage, with Assistant Principal Amari next to her. The whole room quieted down—Aly checked, and even Brooke was looking straight ahead.

  “I’m here today to talk about Auden Elementary’s Annual School Carnival!” Principal Rogers said.

  All the kids cheered, including Aly. She loved the school carnival. There were a lot of booths. Last year Aly and Brooke had gotten their faces painted at the Face the Music booth and their hair spray-painted with purple stripes at Mane Event. And Aly had won two goldfish. She had carried them in their plastic bags around the carnival and named them Goldie and Lox. This year, Aly had no idea what she and her friends would do, but whatever it was, she knew it would be fun.

  “Just like last year,” Principal Rogers added, “the fifth and sixth graders are invited to submit proposals for booths. Assistant Principal Amari and I will choose twenty to be at the carnival.”

  Another cheer erupted from the room, but this time Aly didn’t join them. She’d forgotten that fifth and sixth graders were the ones who ran the booths. She tucked her hair behind her ears, but as usual it didn’t stay and flopped back in front of her eye. She’d have to decide between thinking up ideas with her friends and just going to the carnival like she did last year. Running a booth sounded like a lot of work, but it might be fun, too.

  “Oh my gosh!” Charlotte whispered to Aly. “We could have a Sparkle Spa booth!”

  Aly turned to look at her friend. “You think so?” she asked.

  “It would be awesome,” Lily whispered from Aly’s other side. “We should totally do a Sparkle Spa booth.”

  Even though they were still in elementary school, Aly and her sister, Brooke, were in charge of the Sparkle Spa, a sparkly nail salon for kids that was in the back room of their mom’s grown-up nail salon, True Colors. Charlotte and Lily, and Brooke’s friend Sophie, sometimes worked there too. And once in a while Charlotte’s twin brother, Caleb, helped out. Even though it was hard work running a salon, most of the time Aly thought it was pretty awesome, especially when kids at school told her how much they loved the way their nails looked at their dance recital or their aunt’s wedding or their grandparents’ anniversary dinner.

  Aly figured that was how their mom felt, too, when she saw grown-ups with True Colors manicures and pedicures.

  “Do you think anyone would come?” Aly asked. “I mean, it takes a long time to get your nails polished, compared to getting a flower painted on your face or throwing Ping-Pong balls into a cup of water to win a fish.”

  Charlotte tapped the little Sparkle Spa schedule book that was sticking out of Aly’s jeans pocket. “You know how many customers come to the salon. Why wouldn’t they come to a booth at the carnival?”

  Charlotte seemed certain about this, but Aly wasn’t so sure.

  “Students,” Principal Rogers continued, “this year we have a special addition to the carnival.” She held up her hands so that people wouldn’t start talking again and handed the microphone to Assistant Principal Amari.

  “Hellooooo, boys and girls!” AP Amari said.

  “Hellooooo, AP Amari!” everyone answered. AP Amari taught the school that call-and-response game at the beginning of each year. Aly liked the way he started an assembly.

  “Who has heard of Water World Amusement Park?” he asked.

  “Me!” almost everyone answered. Water World was a water park about half an hour’s drive from Aly and Brooke’s house. With fast slides that twisted and turned and the longest lazy river ever, it was a super-fun place. Last year Lily had her birthday party there.

  “Who knows that all the money raised at our carnival is donated to the Auden Community Chest group, which helps food banks and other services for people who need help in our neighborhood?”

  “Me!” fewer people said, mostly sixth graders.

  “Well,” said Mr. Amari, “Mr. Molina, the head of the Community Chest and also the owner of Water World told us that whatever we raise this year, he’ll personally double that amount. More money for the Community Chest means we can help more people. So let’s hear it for Mr. Molina!”

  Everyone cheered.

  Mr. Amari went on. “And because of Mr. Molina’s offer, we’ve added a twist this year. Mr. Molina agreed to let us have a competition between the boys—led by me—and the girls—led by Principal Rogers. We’ll see who can raise the most money. If the boys win, they get a day off from school to go to Water World!”

  The boys stomped their feet. Aly did not. Neither did Lily or Charlotte.

  “And if the girls raise the most money, they all get a day off from school to go to Water World!”

  This time Aly, Lily, and Charlotte cheered loudly. Lily stuck two fingers in her mouth and made a super-high-pitched whistle.

  “Go, girls!” Charlotte shouted.

  Her brother, Caleb, poked her in the shoulder. “Hey, stop that!” he said.

  Then his friend Cameron leaned over. “You girls don’t have a chance. Boys rule and are going to win.”

  Lily leaned across Aly. “Boys don’t rule, they drool,” she told him.

  “No, Lily. You’ll see. Boys will rule.” Then Cameron added, “Let’s make a side bet. If the boys win, you have to bring in a whole batch of those cookies you girls are always talking about.”

  Cookies? What cookies? Aly wondered.

  “It’s a bet, Cameron. You’ll never taste Joan’s awesome cookies,” Charlotte answered this time.

  Joan’s cookies? What did Charlotte just do? How had Mom’s best friend—and the girls’ favorite manicurist—gotten in the middle of this? Now the girls had to win, because Aly didn’t want to have to ask Joan to bake a whole batch of cookies for the boys!

  Mr. Amari tapped the microphone. “Everyone has two days to come up with booth proposals. They are due in the main office by the time school starts on Thursday, and Principal Rogers and I will announce the booths at the end of the day.”

  Aly saw someone’s hand waving in the air in the middle of the room. She realized it was Brooke’s and groaned. What could Brooke possibly have to say? No one else in the auditorium had a question.

  “Yes, Brooke Tanner?” AP Amari said.

  Brooke stood up. “Do all the girls in the whole school get t
o go to Water World if the girls’ booths make more money?”

  “They do indeed,” he answered.

  “So how come only the fifth- and sixth-grade girls can run the booths? How come the third graders can’t help?” Brooke tugged on her braid, which Aly knew she did when she was nervous or excited about something. Aly figured she was probably nervous now. But Aly understood why Brooke was asking that question: Brooke wanted a Sparkle Spa booth too, and knew it would never work without her and Sophie polishing.

  “Good question, Brooke.” Mr. Amari turned to Principal Rogers. “What do you think?” he asked her.

  Principal Rogers took the microphone. “I think if our fifth and sixth graders want children from the younger grades to help, that’s perfectly fine with me. If you need more workers, feel free to ask the kindergarteners through fourth graders. Good luck, everyone.”

  “Yes!” Brooke cheered, and sat down. Then she popped up. “Thank you!” she squeaked, and sat down once more.

  “Brooke and Sophie can help,” Charlotte said, clapping. “That’s perfect. Then our booth will have three manicurists, just like the salon.”

  Since Aly and Brooke were co-CEOs of the Sparkle Spa—initials that stood for chief executive officer and meant they were in charge of their business together—Aly figured Brooke would probably want to be co-CEO of the carnival booth, even if she wasn’t a fifth or sixth grader. And Aly thought that was okay.

  But would a Sparkle Spa booth actually make enough money for the carnival, especially since such a great prize—and Charlotte’s cookie bet—was on the line? And then, just like that, Aly had a worse worry: What if their proposal for a Sparkle Spa booth wasn’t chosen? What would they do then to win the prize?

  two

  Red-y, Set, Go

  Aly and Brooke’s mom had lots of rules for the Sparkle Spa:

  1. It could be open three days a week (Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays—unless a special event was scheduled).

  2. They could offer four services to their customers (manicures, pedicures, hair braiding, bracelet making, but no makeup or tattoos).

  And the most important one to Mom:

  3. The girls had to finish homework before polishing nails.

  Since it was Tuesday, the girls headed over to the Sparkle Spa after school.

  Tuesday was the sisters’ favorite day at the salon. That was when every single girl on the Auden Elementary soccer team—the Auden Angels—came to the spa. Jenica Posner, the captain of the team and also the coolest sixth grader, had really been the reason Aly and Brooke started the Sparkle Spa in the first place.

  A few months ago when all the True Colors manicurists were busy, Mom allowed Aly to give Jenica a rainbow sparkle pedicure, and then Jenica played really well in her soccer game. After that, the entire soccer team wanted rainbow sparkle pedicures every week—they were sure it gave them sparkle power. Their sparkle power took them all the way to the state finals, where they won!

  Now the Angels were playing indoor soccer for the winter season and wanted to keep up their sparkle power, which meant pedicures every Tuesday.

  “So,” Jenica said as she climbed into one of the two pedicure chairs. “Are you going to have a Sparkle Spa booth at the carnival?”

  Aly and Brooke had talked about it on the walk from school to the salon. Aly still wasn’t convinced it was the best idea. And she hadn’t mentioned a word about the Cameron and Charlotte Cookie Bet. Aly had made Charlotte promise not to say anything to anyone, just in case it somehow got back to her mother and Joan that they’d promised a batch of Joan’s cookies without asking her first.

  “Maybe,” Brooke said. She turned on the faucet in the pedicure basin, filling it with soapy water to soak Jenica’s feet. “I think it’s a good idea. Aly sort of does. But she’s a little worried we won’t make enough money at the carnival because of how long it takes us to do manicures.”

  “Right,” Aly said. She was giving Anjuli Jones, the Angels’ goalie, a pedicure. Anjuli always had her fingers polished as well as her toes. She switched up her colors each week, and this time she handed Aly a bottle of Red-y, Set, Go for her nails.

  Brooke took a towel to dry off Jenica’s feet. “Do you think any of the Angels would want to learn how to do manicures?” she asked. “If we had more people polishing, we could make more money at the booth.”

  Aly looked around at the Angels. Mia crinkled her nose. Bethany’s face was scrunched up like she’d just sucked on an extra-sour piece of candy.

  “Probably not,” Jenica answered. “I think we should stick to what we’re good at.”

  “Plus, we want to run a goalie booth,” Mia added from the bracelet-making area. She was stringing blue and white beads onto a piece of wire. “People can pay a dollar to try and score a goal off Anjuli. If they do, we’ll give them a prize.”

  “I don’t think we’ll need that many prizes,” Bethany said, handing Mia a blue bead. “Hardly anyone ever scores off Anjuli.”

  Anjuli smiled as she dipped her toes into the basin in front of her. “Maybe I’ll let some of the kindergarteners score on purpose, so they can get the prizes.”

  “And me,” Brooke said. “You should let me score so I can get a prize.”

  Everyone in the salon laughed.

  “That’s a great idea for a booth,” Lily said. She was standing at her favorite spot in the Sparkle Spa, between the teal strawberry-shaped donation jar and the polish wall. She liked to help people pick out colors if they weren’t sure which ones they wanted. And when they were done, she reminded customers to make a donation before they left.

  Another one of Mom’s rules was that the girls couldn’t charge for their services, but they could ask for donations. The Sparkle Spa donated the money they got to whatever local charity they agreed could use the help.

  “Hey, everyone, don’t forget your donations on the way out!” Lily said, pointing to the sparkly teal strawberry.

  “Have you ever given the Sparkle Spa donations to the Community Chest?” Jenica asked.

  Aly hadn’t thought about that, but it wasn’t a bad idea. She gave Brooke a Secret Sister Eye Message: What do you think?

  Brooke nodded.

  “That’s a great thought,” Aly said. “I wonder . . .” She paused. “I wonder if we can have it count toward the girls’ money at the carnival?”

  Charlotte was standing at the appointment wall, where the Sparkle Spa schedule was taped up. “Probably not,” she said. “The rules were about who raises the most money at the carnival, not just who donates the most.”

  “That’s a good point,” Brooke said. “Maybe we can ask some younger kids if they want to learn how to give manicures. Principal Rogers said they’re allowed to help at the booth.”

  Aly shuddered at the thought of trying to teach kindergarteners how to polish nails. But then again, she’d first learned in kindergarten. “Maybe,” she said.

  “Maybe what?”

  Aly turned around as her mom walked into the Sparkle Spa, went over to the mini-fridge, and took out a bottle of water.

  “Maybe we’ll have a Sparkle Spa booth at the school carnival and train other kids to do manicures,” Brooke told her. “Because we want the girls to win so we can go to Water World for free.”

  Mom took a sip of water. “It sounds like there’s a lot more to this story that I need to hear later.”

  “There is, Mrs. Tanner,” Lily said.

  “We can talk at dinner,” Mom said to Aly and Brooke.

  Aly wondered what her mom would think about training kindergarteners. Since Mom was the CEO of True Colors, Aly and Brooke asked her their business questions all the time, and she almost always knew the right answers.

  Mom left the salon, and Aly returned to Anjuli’s toes.

  The afternoon went quickly, especially after Sophie arrived and started to help. She was the Sparkle Spa’s third manicurist but had to come late that day.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Dentist.”

 
The Angels nodded in sympathy.

  * * *

  Once the Auden Angels had their toes done and Lily and Charlotte and Sophie had gone home, Aly and Brooke were alone in the Sparkle Spa, straightening up. Brooke was reorganizing the bottles on the polish wall, arranging them in color order. Aly was putting all the trash in one big bag so they could take it to the Dumpster outside.

  All of a sudden, Brooke stopped, a bottle of Starlight Starbright in her hand. “I’ve got it!” she yelped. “We can add a fast treatment to the Sparkle Spa booth!”

  Aly tied the trash bag. “Fast treatment?”

  Brooke pushed her glasses up on her nose. “We shouldn’t just do manicures. You and Charlotte are both really good at hair braiding, and it’s really quick to do. We can do ‘slow’ manicures and ‘fast’ hair braiding, and then we’ll make a lot more money.”

  Aly thought it through. “Yes!” she said to Brooke. “That’s perfect!”

  Then she thought for a second more. “What if you and Sophie braided too, and we just had a braiding booth?”

  Brooke tugged on her own braid—a fishbone one that Aly had done that morning—and said, “Well, I think our customers are expecting a Sparkle Spa manicure booth. After the assembly, everyone was talking about it—so I think we have to have one. Right?”

  “I guess so,” Aly said. “And maybe Principal Rogers is more likely to pick our idea if we have both. I’ll call Lily and Charlotte tonight, and we can all work on the application tomorrow after school.”

  “Yesss!” Brooke said. “I can’t wait to tell Sophie.”

  Aly found herself smiling as she went to toss the trash bag into the Dumpster. Brooke always came up with the best ideas. For the first time since Lily suggested the booth, Aly felt like they had a really good shot at making money for the girls’ team. Hopefully, Principal Rogers would feel the same way!

  three

  Write Bright

  The next day at lunch, Aly, Lily and Charlotte were hanging out on the monkey bars. Lily was dangling from the first bar, trying to do a pull-up. But her left arm was a little bit stronger than her right, so she could only do it partway. She jumped down to the ground and Charlotte climbed up. Charlotte couldn’t do a pull-up at all, but she did have a good view of the rest of the playground.