True Colors Read online

  “Brooke broke her arm,” Lily answered.

  “Oh, man,” Jenica said. “Tell her I’m sorry. I broke my wrist at summer camp once. I couldn’t play sports or go swimming for six weeks after that.”

  “Wait a minute,” Valentina said. “Aly, are you polishing all by yourself?”

  “That’s the plan,” Aly said. “Why don’t we get started?”

  Two hours and twelve minutes later Aly had done eight pedicures and still had three to go . . . plus one manicure. She was running very, very late. Usually, the Sparkle Spa was closing about now. Her friends were being as helpful as possible, and the soccer girls were being as patient as possible, but Aly could tell they all wanted to get this over and done with. She was also pretty sure she had nail polish smeared all over her forehead—We the Purple, to be exact.

  “Okay . . . next,” Aly called out. “Sophie, could you please refill the pedicure basin on the right?”

  Mia walked over and hopped into the chair. “I hope Brooke’s ready to polish again before the dance showcase.”

  Aly felt the blood drain from her face. “That’s this Friday?”

  Mia nodded. Aly groaned. A group of the girls who attended Miss Lulu’s dancing school were in a dance showcase, so they could show their families what they’d been working on all fall, and many of them had booked manicure appointments for Thursday after school.

  “I don’t mean to be mean or anything,” Mia said, “but unless Brooke is back or you have someone else doing nails, I might cancel my manicure appointment for the showcase. Giovanna and I have been waiting for half an hour for our rainbow sparkle pedicures. And we have homework. If it weren’t for the quarterfinals, we’d have left by now.”

  Aly felt a headache coming on. “I’m really sorry,” she said. “I think Brooke will be back by then. I promise the wait won’t be as long on Thursday.”

  Mia nodded. “Okay. I really do want a manicure before the showcase. I want shiny nails to go with my shiny costume. We’re dancing to a song called ‘Stop! In the Name of Love,’ and we have red leotards with white trim and white leg warmers—all covered with sequins and glitter.”

  “That sounds awesome,” Charlotte said as she uncapped a bottle of clear polish. “And it’s cool that you do soccer and dance.”

  “They’re both fun,” Mia said, easing her feet out of the warm pedicure water.

  Just as Charlotte opened the Strawberry Sunday, Joan rushed into the Sparkle Spa. “The drain snake! The drain snake!” she yelled. “Aly, where’s that twisted metal thing that snakes down the drain to clear out clogs?”

  “I saw that before!” Lily said, hurrying to the back closet and retrieving a wiggly metal contraption. “Here!”

  “Cookies for you,” Joan told her. “I’ll bake you a whole batch.”

  Joan’s delicious cookies were famous all over town. Receiving an entire batch was one of the best presents ever.

  “Running a salon by yourself isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, huh, Al?” Joan said before zipping back into True Colors.

  Aly sighed. It was definitely better to run a salon as a team.

  “Charlotte,” she said, “ready with the polish?”

  Charlotte nodded.

  “Okay,” Aly said, “here we go.” But as she polished Mia’s toes, she worried about what in the world she would do on Thursday if Brooke wasn’t back at work by then. With fourteen dancers on the schedule, there was no way Aly could polish that many fingers alone.

  three

  We the Purple

  The next thing Aly knew, Joan was saying, “Wake up, sleepyhead. You’re home.”

  Aly barely remembered closing her eyes, let alone falling asleep on the ride to her house.

  “That was some day, huh, Al?” Joan said.

  Aly got out of the backseat of the car with Sparkly and walked over to Joan’s window. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if Brooke can’t polish on Thursday,” she told Joan. “Going to school all day and then spending so many hours at the salon is exhausting.”

  “I hear you,” Joan said. “But Brooke and your mom might be out for the rest of the week, Aly. Both of us had better be prepared to be busy.”

  Aly’s stomach fell. Brooke might be out the whole week? That couldn’t be. Aly needed her there on Thursday. “Are you coming in?” she asked Joan.

  “I think I need to go home and relax, just like you do. But please tell your mom to call me if she has time later. Stay strong, kiddo.”

  “You too,” Aly said. “Thanks for the ride. I have to work on a Lewis and Clark project tomorrow, so I probably won’t see you. But I’ll stop by afterward if I can.”

  Joan nodded and scratched Sparkly behind the ears. “Give Brooke a hug for me.”

  “I will,” Aly said, and then she and Sparkly started walking up the driveway.

  By the time Aly reached the house, Mom was there, opening the front door. “Brooke’s sleeping again,” she whispered, “so be quiet when you come in. Keep Sparkly quiet too.”

  Sleeping again? Aly couldn’t believe it. “No problem,” she whispered back, covering Sparkly’s mouth with her hand. Aly walked in, put Sparkly down, and slipped off her shoes. She dropped her bag on the floor and fell into her mother’s arms. “I’m so tired,” she said. “And hungry. Going to school and going to work is hard!”

  Over two tall glasses of milk, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a plate of celery, Mom and Aly talked about both salons, Brooke’s arm, and Dad’s schedule.

  “Joan said you might be home with Brooke all week,” Aly said. “Is that true? Because I need her in the salon.”

  “I’m not sure,” Mom said. “We’ll have to see how she feels.”

  Aly nodded. She hoped Brooke would feel better super fast. But even if she didn’t, Aly thought Mom should go back to True Colors to help Joan and the rest of the staff. “Why can’t you call a babysitter or ask Dad to come home if someone needs to stay with Brooke?” she asked.

  “I’d hate to leave Brooke with a sitter if she’s not feeling well. And Dad’s trying to change his plans,” Mom answered, “but he’s not sure he can. He’ll definitely be home earlier than usual on Friday, though.”

  Aly nodded. Dad traveled a lot for work. He was usually gone from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon. Sometimes he even got stuck places because of bad weather or bad airplanes or late meetings and got home on Saturday.

  “So how did everything go at the salon?” Mom asked.

  “Oh, Mom, it was crazy!” Aly said, leaning back in her chair. “I was the only one polishing in the Sparkle Spa, and I had to do eleven pedicures and one manicure, and my friends helped, but mostly, it was all up to me to get it done.”

  “That’s what happens when you’re the CEO of a business,” Mom said, smiling a tiny bit.

  “The what?” Aly asked. She had no idea what Mom was talking about.

  “CEO,” Mom said. “Chief executive officer. It’s another name for the boss—the person who’s in charge of everything at a company. Sometimes when you’re the CEO, you have to jump in and take care of things—do more than you thought you would have to—because it’s your business. You want it to succeed.”

  Aly nodded. That’s how she’d felt this afternoon at the Sparkle Spa. She couldn’t let the customers down. But then she thought about Joan running True Colors today and taking care of the clogged drain. “Are you the CEO of True Colors?” Aly asked her mom.

  Mom nodded. “President and CEO is what my business card says.”

  “What about Joan? Does she have a title?”

  “That’s a good question,” Mom said. She took a bite of celery and thought for a minute before she spoke. “Joan’s my only senior manicurist, so she’s second in command at the shop. When I’m not there, she takes over.”

  “Just senior manicurist?” Aly asked. “If she’s in charge when you’re not there, shouldn’t she have a more important job title than that? One with initials, like yours?”
r />   “You know, Aly,” Mom said, “I think that’s actually a very good idea. I’ve been thinking about hiring a COO, a chief operating officer. That person’s job would be to manage the day-to-day organization of the salon. Then I can work more on getting new customers and maybe even starting a second shop. I’ll talk to Joan about that.”

  “Joan watches Sparkly and bakes all the time and was great today at taking care of a broken pedicure basin, no problem,” Aly said. “I bet she’d be a good COO. As long as she still gets to do manicures. I know she likes that part. Oh, and also—I just remembered: She said to call her tonight when you have time.”

  “Thanks for the message,” Mom said. “I’ll give her a call when we’re finished with dinner.”

  “Are there other jobs?” Aly asked. “With initials like CEO and COO? For a business, I mean?”

  Mom nodded. “Businesses can have a chief financial officer—”

  “CFO?” Aly asked.

  “Yes,” Mom said, after swallowing a bite of sandwich. “And sometimes a chief marketing officer, a chief creative officer, a chief security officer, a chief digital officer, a chief legal officer . . . there are a lot. You can have someone in charge of every part of a business. Bigger companies have all those positions and more. Smaller companies sometimes just have a CEO.”

  Aly licked a drop of jelly off her thumb. “Will True Colors get all of those?”

  “Maybe one day if I open lots and lots of salons and we need a team to run all of them.”

  “Is that what you want to do?” Aly asked. “Open lots of True Colors salons?” She hadn’t known that was her mom’s plan, but now it seemed like maybe it was.

  “Just dreaming,” Mom said. “I’m just dreaming. Far into the future. For now, we’ve got one salon and one broken arm to look after.”

  She pushed her empty plate forward. “Anyway, as the co-CEO of the Tanner household, I’ve made an EMD—an Executive Mother Decision.” Mom grinned and continued: “Brooke has to rest and recuperate. I don’t want the two of you jumping around. So I’ve moved some of your clothes and your sparkle pens and a few pieces of your favorite purple paper into the office upstairs. While Brooke’s in pain, I think it’s better for you to move in there. At least for a few days.”

  As Mom brought their dishes to the sink, she added. “And tomorrow, can you please pick up Brooke’s homework assignments and any other schoolwork she’ll miss?”

  “Sure,” Aly said, her brain quickly switching from True Colors to her sister. “But . . . what if Brooke needs someone in the middle of the night? I should be there to help her.”

  “I left the cordless phone with her,” Mom said. “She’ll call my cell if she needs something. Besides, if she doesn’t feel well in the middle of the night, I don’t want her to wake you. Don’t forget, you have school tomorrow.”

  Aly was not happy. She didn’t like the idea of sleeping in the tiny office. And she didn’t like not being with Brooke, either.

  “Can I at least go check on her?” Aly asked.

  Mom nodded. “Just don’t wake her if she’s sleeping.”

  “I won’t,” Aly said.

  She tiptoed up the steps and slowly pushed open their bedroom door. She poked her head in and saw Brooke, her arm wrapped in a big white cast, asleep in her bed. Sparkly was curled up at her feet. Her stuffed animals were next to her.

  “Hi, Brooke,” Aly whispered. But Brooke didn’t budge. Aly sighed. Hopefully, Brooke would be up the next morning before Aly left for school. She’d see then if Brooke would be able to polish with a cast on. Because Aly really, really needed her to be ready to work in the salon by Thursday!

  four

  Traffic Coney Island

  The next morning when Aly looked in on Brooke, she was still sleeping. Sparkly hadn’t moved from the end of her bed. Her stuffed animals had fallen to the floor.

  “She had a rough night,” Mom said when Aly walked into the kitchen. “Her arm really hurt. I’m glad she finally fell back asleep.”

  Aly had not planned on this.

  “But I need to know about the polishing!” she cried. “We have fourteen manicures for the dance showcase tomorrow!”

  Mom sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. But I wouldn’t count on Brooke being able to help. Think about it, Al. Would you be able to polish with one arm in a cast or a sling?”

  Aly hadn’t really considered that. She held her left arm against her stomach and realized that, without it, she wouldn’t be able to open any bottles, file fingernails, keep a customer’s hand steady, or polish well at all.

  She closed her eyes. What was she going to do tomorrow afternoon? Aly already knew she couldn’t ask one of the True Colors manicurists to help. And there were no days available to reschedule anyone before the showcase because of her research project.

  Aly popped a few banana slices into her mouth and grabbed her backpack. She would have to think of something while she was at school.

  During gym, while the rest of her class played volleyball, Aly tried and tried to come up with a plan, but other than finding kids who could polish as well as she and Brooke could to work at the salon, she couldn’t come up with anything. And really, no other kids she knew could polish like she and Brooke could.

  After the final bell rang, Aly went to the library to work with Charlotte and Lily on their Lewis and Clark project. Half of their fifth-grade class was in there with them, and Ms. Abbott, the librarian, was going from group to group helping everyone out. In between researching, Aly and Lily and Charlotte talked about Brooke’s arm and the fact that she wouldn’t be able to work tomorrow.

  “I wish I were a better polisher,” Charlotte said.

  “I wish I could polish at all,” Lily added. “But you remember what happened last time I tried?”

  “Orange pinkie toe,” Charlotte and Aly said together. Then the girls giggled, in spite of the seriousness of their conversation.

  Aly knew she would have to find a solution that didn’t involve Lily painting people’s entire pinkie toes orange. Because that would absolutely not be good for business at the Sparkle Spa.

  When the girls finished their research and Ms. Abbott had to close the library for the day, Aly decided to stop by True Colors quickly to see if Joan needed anything. With Mom gone, Aly knew it would be crazy at the salon. And sure enough, she was right.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! Can you pitch in with the usual stuff?” Joan asked the moment Aly entered the salon.

  “Absolutely!” Aly said. She quickly took care of the jobs she and Brooke usually did at True Colors—went to the bank to turn twenties into singles, organized the polish wall, and refilled the rhinestones at Carla’s, Jamie’s, and Joan’s stations.

  When that was all done, Aly sat down to take a breather with Mrs. Franklin, one of the girls’ favorite regulars, who was under the nail dryers.

  “Where’s your sister?” Mrs. Franklin asked. “I brought a new photograph of Sadie I know she would love to see.” Sadie was Mrs. Franklin’s dog, a famous dog model—or, at least, she was a little bit famous. She was in magazines and was the official spokes-dog for the Paws for Love animal shelter in town. Brooke especially loved seeing pictures of Sadie dressed in silly outfits from her photo shoots.

  “She broke her arm chasing Sparkly,” Aly replied. “But I’ll tell her that you have pictures.”

  “A broken arm!” Mrs. Franklin said. “Well, that’s too bad. But I think I might have something more than pictures to cheer her up. Would you mind unzipping the side pocket on my purse?”

  Aly did as she was asked, pulling out a gold pencil case and opening it to find paw print stickers inside.

  “Why don’t you take a couple of those for Brooke to put on her cast?” Mrs. Franklin suggested. “It’s Sadie’s autograph.”

  Aly smiled. Brooke would love the stickers. “Thanks so much, Mrs. Franklin.”

  Mrs. Franklin nodded. “Of course, dear. And please tell your sister I hope to see her back
in the salon soon.”

  “I will,” Aly said.

  Aly noticed Joan putting some paper on a clipboard and attaching a pen to it with a ribbon. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Lately, there have been so many walk-in customers, in addition to our regulars,” Joan explained. “There just isn’t enough room, with all these people crowding here. So I made a chart: name, cell phone number, time of arrival. I’ll call people five minutes before we’re ready for them so they can run other errands and not clog up the salon while they’re waiting.”

  Aly glanced around at the customers in the waiting area. Most of them looked a little impatient, checking their phones or reading magazines. Joan was right. They could probably put the time to better use running errands rather than sitting around until a manicurist freed up.

  “Nice plan,” Aly said. “Do you think my mom will like it?”

  Joan massaged her forehead. “If she doesn’t, she can discontinue it when she’s back. But as long as I’m in charge, we have to keep business—and people—moving.”

  Aly nodded. She’d never seen Joan so serious about something salon-related before. Usually, she was the fun one who made cookies and hosted pizza picnics while Mom took care of salon business.

  “Sounds great,” Aly said. Then she looked at the clock. She really should head home now and see how Brooke was doing, but then she spotted a familiar face poking through the front door.

  “Sophie!” Aly said. “What are you doing here?”

  “My mom is at the Sports Palace with my brother—buying him new sneakers. She said I could come here until they’re done. I wanted to ask Joan how Brooke’s doing.”

  “Big brother or little brother?” Aly asked.

  “Big,” Sophie said. “Sammy is at home with NaiNai.” Sophie had two brothers, one in seventh grade and one who was three. Her grandma watched the three-year-old a lot. “I thought you had to work on Lewis and Clark today?”

  “I did,” Aly said. “But I stopped in here afterward for a little bit. I’m going to go home to see Brooke soon. My mom said she had a bad night, but I don’t know how she’s been today.”