Wedding Bell Blues Read online

  Aly couldn’t believe her ears. “Why didn’t you say anything?” she said. Then she turned to Joan and her mom. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”

  Suzy and Aly were on speaking terms now, but that hadn’t always been the case. Suzy had been mean to Aly for years and had almost destroyed the Sparkle Spa a couple months ago. After the school carnival last month, the girls decided they didn’t hate each other anymore, but still. It wasn’t like they hung out all the time. Or ever, really.

  “I didn’t meet Isaac’s brother and his family until last week,” Joan said.

  “And I didn’t make the connection until I spoke to Joan last night,” Mom said.

  Mom had not been a big fan of Suzy Davis either, but the carnival had changed her mind a little.

  There was a lull in the conversation. Brooke looked at Aly and sent her a Secret Sister Eye Message: Can you believe this?

  Aly sent her one back: Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it.

  Heather moved off of Isaac’s lap. Standing up, he said, “How about all of you girls gather together over here. Joan and I have something important to ask you.”

  Aly felt Brooke grab her hand. They walked over and sat on the couch between Heather and Suzy.

  Suzy immediately slid closer to Aly, even though there was plenty of room on her side. Aly sighed.

  “So,” Joan said, “we know this is a little out of the ordinary, but we’d love to have all four of you as our flower girls.”

  Brooke and Heather squealed.

  Joan continued. “We haven’t picked the color yet, but I just fell in love with this flower girl dress. We’ll order it in each of your sizes in whatever color we choose.”

  She lifted up a dress the color of Peaches and Dreams nail polish that had poofy sleeves with ­ruffles and a huge bow at the waist. Aly thought it was pretty, but she also thought it looked like a little-girl dress. She was not thrilled at the idea of wearing it, but she loved Joan, so . . .

  “We’re too old,” Suzy said, breaking into Aly’s thoughts. “Aly and me, we’re too old to be flower girls. And that’s a baby dress, no offense. We’re both almost eleven, which is too old to wear a baby dress. Right, Aly?” Suzy crossed her arms and looked at Aly.

  “Well . . . ,” Aly began. Suzy wasn’t wrong, but Aly didn’t want to hurt Joan’s feelings.

  “See?” Suzy said. “Aly agrees. And since we’re so good at making people beautiful, we’re going to have a different job at the wedding. We’re going to be Brooke and Heather’s stylists. We’ll do their nails and their makeup and their hair. That’s a more grown-up job.”

  Brooke looked at Aly.

  Joan looked at Aly.

  Mom looked at Joan.

  Joan looked at Isaac.

  Isaac looked at Suzy.

  “If that’s what you want, that’s fine with me,” he said.

  Suzy smiled and said, “Thanks, Uncle Isaac.”

  “Are you sure that’s what you want?” Mom asked Aly.

  Aly froze. She didn’t know how to answer, so many thoughts were going through her mind:

  1. Suzy was right—the dress was for little kids.

  2. A stylist did sound like a more fun, grown-up job.

  3. Aly had felt all along that she was too old to be a flower girl.

  4. But a flower girl was a real part of the wedding.

  5. A stylist was not. A stylist didn’t get to walk down the aisle and wear the wedding colors.

  6. But that might be better than wearing a baby dress down the aisle for everyone at the wedding to see.

  “I—I—I’m . . . ,” Aly stammered.

  “She’s sure,” Suzy said. “We’re not babies.”

  “Neither are we,” Brooke snapped. “The dress is beautiful.”

  Aly nodded her head weakly. “Being a stylist will be fun,” she said.

  Joan looked at Aly again. “Okay,” she said, “I’m sure it will.”

  “So,” Brooke said, “is there any chance Sparkly can be the flower dog?”

  The grown-ups laughed, and Aly felt relieved that there was a new topic of conversation. But she also felt worried that she might have just made a big mistake she wouldn’t be able to fix.

  four

  Midnight Blues

  That night, after Aly and Brooke had helped Mom make phone calls to local charities in the afternoon, hoping to find one that could make good use of the food that would be left over from the wedding (they did—it was called Rock & Wrap It Up), Aly sat on Brooke’s bed, braiding her sister’s hair. Her own hair was a little too short for ­braiding.

  “Is this the kind of hairstyle you’re going to give me for Joan’s wedding?” Brooke asked. The braid crossed her head, starting at her left temple and ending just over her right shoulder.

  “I don’t think so,” Aly answered. “This isn’t fancy enough. Maybe we should look at some flower girl hairdos in magazines or online.”

  Aly wrapped an elastic the color of Midnight Blues polish around the bottom of the braid. “Let’s check Mom’s computer,” Brooke said.

  The girls went into the home office. Aly wiggled the mouse to wake up the computer, then did a search for “flower girl hair images.”

  Hundreds of pictures came up. Aly and Brooke scanned them all.

  “Oooh!” Brooke cooed. “Look at that one!”

  A lot of the styles were just half-up hairdos with curls, but the one Brooke was pointing to looked really complicated: A big bun sat on top, with two braids coming in from the sides and curls falling down the back. Around the bun was a crown of flowers.

  “I like it, Brookester,” Aly said. “We’ll have to ask Joan about the flower crown, but I think I can figure out how to do the rest of it.”

  “That’s awesome,” Brooke said. “I’m going to look like a flower princess.”

  “You totally are,” Aly agreed.

  Brooke was quiet for a moment before she asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to be a flower girl? Because I’d rather be a flower girl with you than with Heather Davis. You’re my sister, and she’s just a first grader. You and I do things better when we’re a team.”

  Aly hugged her sister. If she had spoken right then, Brooke might have heard the tears in her voice. Sometimes the weirdest things made Aly feel like she was going to cry.

  “I like being a team with you too,” she said, “and if Suzy weren’t involved, I probably would be a flower girl. But you know what’s most annoying about Suzy Davis? Even when she’s mean about things, she’s right a lot of the time. Look at all the girls in these photos.” Aly pointed to the screen. “The oldest one looks nine. Almost eleven really does feel too old to be a flower girl.”

  Brooke pushed her glasses up on her nose and sighed. “I just wish that you were going to be in the wedding with me and that we could walk down the aisle together wearing fancy dresses.”

  Aly wished that too. “I’m sure I’ll wear a fancy dress,” she said. “I’m still coming to the wedding, and even regular guests need nice clothes for weddings. I just won’t get to walk down the aisle. But Dad won’t either, so I guess I’ll sit with him.”

  “But don’t you want to walk down the aisle?” Brooke asked.

  “I kind of do.”

  Aly must’ve looked sad, because Brooke started stroking her hair. “Don’t worry, Al,” she said. “I’ll tell you what it’s like. And this way, you’ll get to make me look extra beautiful for the wedding. That’ll be a lot of fun, right?”

  “Right,” Aly said, grinning. “Okay, let’s head back to our room to see if I can get your hair to look like that.”

  But as she unbraided and rebraided Brooke’s hair, all Aly could think about was watching her sister from the wedding sidelines.

  five

  Green Tease

  On Sunday, Aly was pretty quiet at the Sparkle Spa. Joan didn’t seem her usual self either.

  “Don’t you think Joanie should be happier, since she’s getting married?” Brooke
asked Aly. She was giving Daisy Quinn, a sixth grader, a polka-dot mani­cure. “If I were planning a wedding with someone as nice as Isaac, I’d be the happiest person on the whole planet.”

  Aly just shrugged. She was giving Daisy’s younger sister Violet a stars-and-stripes manicure. She was finding it hard to concentrate on the stripes, worrying that Joan was sad because Aly wasn’t going to be one of her flower girls.

  “Maybe the person doesn’t really want to get married,” Daisy offered.

  Aly shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it,” she said. But as she painted stripes on Violet’s pinkies, she had to wonder.

  After the girls finished their appointments for the day, they cleaned up, which included wiping up a giant spill of the new color Green Tease. One of their customers, Uma Prasad, had accidentally knocked over the bottle with her elbow. Nobody had realized until it was too late.

  Aly was on her knees, using nail polish remover on the linoleum floor, when Mom and Joan walked in. “Aly,” she said, “do you remember what Rock & Wrap It Up told us about the donations? I left the paper with all the information at home.”

  Aly’s list was at home too, but she closed her eyes and tried to recall what was on it. They’d put the phone on speaker when they’d called the various charities, and Aly had taken notes—mostly because having lists helped her make decisions, and she wanted to help Mom make the right one about Joan’s wedding. Aly could picture what she’d written in purple glitter pen on a mint-green piece of paper:

  Rock & Wrap It Up Donation Information

  • Food that has been on anyone’s plate cannot be donated.

  • All hot food has to stay at a safe temperature between the time of the wedding and pickup time.

  • Same with cold food.

  • Everything has to be wrapped up in advance by people who know about food safety.

  • The donation truck will arrive fifteen minutes after the reception ends.

  “Thanks, sweetie,” her mom said after Aly recited each item. “I knew it was good to have you two on the phone with me.”

  “Thanks, kiddo,” Joan said. “You girls gave me the idea for this donation because of your policy at the Sparkle Spa. There is always so much extra food at a wedding, and I hated the idea of throwing it out.”

  “You’re doing it because of us?” Brooke asked. She had flopped on the pillows in the waiting area.

  “Well, I thought if you girls could donate all of your profits to charity, the least I could do was donate my extra wedding food.”

  “Maybe the next time our strawberry donation jar is full,” Aly said, thinking out loud, “we could donate the money to Rock & Wrap It Up. What do you think, Brookester?”

  “I like it,” Brooke said.

  Joan walked over and put her arm around Aly’s shoulders. “You’re a good kid, Aly,” she said. “I hope you don’t let Isaac’s niece push you around.”

  Aly leaned into Joan. Had she been letting Suzy Davis push her around? That was a definite possibility.

  The next day at school Aly was sitting at her usual lunch table, Charlotte next to her and Lily across from them. Just as she bit into a Granny Smith apple, Suzy came by.

  “I have so many ideas about Heather and Brooke’s makeup and nails,” she said to Aly. “I know the ­Sparkle Spa’s not open today, so I was thinking we should get together to talk about it. You can come to my house after school.”

  “Even when the Sparkle Spa’s not open,” Aly replied, “I usually stop by to help out at True Colors. My mom’s expecting me.”

  Suzy rolled her eyes. “So call her and tell her you can’t. Don’t you think Joan and Uncle Isaac’s wedding is a little more important that reorganizing a dumb polish wall?”

  Aly sighed. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll call her.” But as she said those words, Aly wondered if this is what Joan meant about letting Suzy Davis push her around.

  “Good,” Suzy said. “Meet me in front of the school after the last bell. My babysitter will be there in a red car.”

  “Red car,” Aly repeated. “Got it.” She’d have to find Brooke and make sure she had someone else to walk with her to True Colors. Or maybe Suzy’s babysitter could give her a ride. Either way, Brooke wasn’t allowed to walk to the salon from school alone, so Aly had to figure out a backup plan. Suzy Davis was complicating everything!

  Once Suzy walked away, Charlotte asked, “What was that about?”

  “I think it’s about me messing up. Big-time,” Aly said. “Joan asked me and Brooke and Suzy and Heather to be flower girls, and then Suzy said the two of us were too old. I agreed.”

  “I know,” Lily said. “You told us about it yesterday.”

  “Right,” Charlotte said, “and you are too old. I was a flower girl when I was four. Suzy may be mean, but she’s not dumb. And you said the dress was way too young.”

  “Well, Suzy also decided that she and I would be Brooke and Heather’s stylists for the wedding. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that yesterday.”

  “That sounds like fun!” Charlotte said.

  Aly took a sip of juice. “It does,” she said. “But . . . but . . . I really wish I were in the wedding instead. Even if it means being the oldest flower girl ever.”

  “Maybe you could come up with something else to do,” Lily suggested. “Think of all the jobs there are at the Sparkle Spa—there must be even more for a wedding.”

  “Like what?” Aly asked. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and spread her napkin out on the table, ready to make one of her lists.

  “Well, there’s the bride,” Lily said, “and the groom.”

  Charlotte broke off a piece of her vanilla cookie with M&M’s on top. “Aly can’t be the bride or groom, Lily.”

  “I know, I know,” Lily said. “I was just getting warmed up. Um, how about ring bearer?”

  “That’s for little kids too,” Aly said.

  “And usually boys,” Charlotte added through a mouthful of cookie. “Caleb was the ring bearer when I was the flower girl at our aunt’s wedding.”

  “Bridesmaid?” Lily said.

  “For grown-ups,” Charlotte responded.

  “Groomsman?” Lily said.

  “Also grown-ups,” Aly told her.

  “Were there any other jobs at your aunt’s wedding?” Lily asked Charlotte.

  Charlotte took another bite. “My older cousin ­Stacey gave out programs. Maybe you could do that, Aly.”

  Aly was intrigued. “Did she get to walk down the aisle?”

  Charlotte shook her head.

  “Then I don’t want that one either.”

  All three friends stared at one another. Then Lily finally said, “Maybe you should just talk to Joan again about being a flower girl.”

  “I don’t think that’s an option anymore,” Aly muttered. “I think I’m going to have to be a stylist and that’s that.”

  The girls finished eating and started walking back to class. Charlotte put her arm around Aly’s shoulders. “Well, at least you’ll get a nice dress. Maybe Lily and I can go shopping with you.”

  For the first time that day, Aly smiled. That would be fun. And the wedding was about Joan and Isaac, after all. She had to start focusing on them—she’d try, anyway.

  six

  Yellow, Sunshine!

  From the start, the afternoon didn’t go smoothly.

  Brooke wanted to come to Suzy’s house too, so she could offer her own ideas about her flower girl look.

  Aly shrugged in response. “Fine with me. You’re the one we’re styling.”

  But then Suzy said no. “Your sister is not the stylist. We are the stylists.”

  Aly thought once more about what Joan had said. She put her hands on her hips and spoke firmly. “She’s my sister, and if she wants to come, she gets to come. Besides, she always has good ideas. We make a good team.”

  “But it’s my house,” Suzy said, her own hands on her hips. “And you and I are the team here.”

&
nbsp; Brooke narrowed her eyes and watched the exchange, moving her head from Aly to Suzy and back.

  “We should actually meet in the Sparkle Spa,” Aly said. “That’s where the nail polish is.”

  “The meeting’s at my house,” Suzy insisted. “That was the plan. I have makeup and hair accessories there. Plus, you know how I feel about the Sparkle Spa. Small and smelly.”

  Brooke took a big step to stand right in front of Suzy. “For the very last time,” she said, “the Sparkle Spa does not smell ! And if you’re going to insult our salon, I don’t want you to style me.”

  Suzy huffed. “It’s my job,” she argued.

  Aly tucked her hair behind her ear. It fell back into her eye as she quietly told Suzy, “You know, you’re the one who gave us that job. And it’s not even a real wedding job. But if we’re going to take it seriously, then we should probably test makeup colors and hairdos on Brooke and Heather.”

  Suzy played with the straps on her backpack. “Fine,” she answered. “I guess you can come to my house, Brooke. And we can all talk about how a flower girl should look.”

  At that, the girls got into Suzy’s babysitter’s car. They stopped off at the Sparkle Spa so Aly could tell her mother about the change in plans and make arrangements to have Mom pick the girls up on her way home.

  At Suzy’s house things went from bad to worse. Suzy’s babysitter gave the girls granola bars, and Brooke didn’t like them because they had pistachios inside. Then the sitter gave them milk with ice cubes, and Aly thought that was too weird to drink. After that the girls went to Suzy’s room to start making plans.

  Suzy sat down on her bed, which was big and ruffle-y and had a lace canopy the color of ­Yellow, Sunshine! nail polish. Heather plopped into a ­watermelon-colored beanbag chair. Aly and Brooke took a seat on the thick rug with a yellow and pink zigzag pattern, the softest rug Aly had ever touched.

  “Aly and I already picked how I want to wear my hair,” Brooke said, leaning against Suzy’s bookshelf. “Want to show them, Aly?”