All That Glitters Page 4

  But instead of getting mad, Jenica laughed. So did Joelle. “I like her,” she said.

  “Why, thank you,” Brooke answered, and even curtsied. Then she ducked outside to get the sparkle polishes. Jenica, Bethany, and Mia followed her out the door.

  All three pedicures proceeded pretty much problem-free. Brooke was concentrating so hard on her work that she didn’t say a word, but she still had to redo the Orange You Pretty on Joelle’s pointer toe twice because it kept dripping. Once all the girls’ toes were dry, though, they left with huge smiles on their faces.

  Right before they walked out the door, Giovanna said, “If we win tomorrow, we’re coming back every week. And we’re bringing the rest of the team too.”

  “Sounds good,” Aly said, smiling her biggest smile. But a list of worries started in her brain: How would True Colors handle the whole sixth-grade soccer team every week for pedicures? Would there be enough open spots? Maybe customers would actually want to go to Princess Polish across the street. Aly and Brooke couldn’t let that happen.

  Aly reached into her back pocket and pulled out the list she’d made on the frog paper that morning. She folded it in half and wrote For Mom and Dad on the front. Then she opened the closet in the back room where Mom kept her purse and taped the note to Mom’s house key. That way, she wouldn’t miss it.

  Later that night Aly and Brooke were sitting on the floor of their bedroom in their pj’s, rubbing cotton balls dipped in polish remover across their Go for the Gold nails.

  “It’s a shame we have to take it off,” Aly said. “Mine’s barely chipped.”

  “I know,” Brooke said, fluttering her fingers. “Look how it sparkles. I think our family has too many rules. Other kids are allowed to wear nail polish to school. And our mom has a nail salon! I mean, if anyone should get to wear polish, it’s us, right?”

  “Right.” Aly was listening to Brooke, but she was also thinking about rules. And the piece of paper taped to Mom’s key chain. Dad was due home any minute from the airport and Aly was hoping he and Mom would read the list together.

  “Let’s pretend . . . ,” Brooke said, dipping her cotton ball in more polish remover. “Let’s pretend that we have our own salon. What would we name it?”

  There was a knock on their bedroom door, and both girls looked up.

  “Daddy!” Brooke was on her feet and racing toward Dad’s legs.

  Aly stood up too, waiting her turn for a hug. But before she could even get her chance with Dad, Mom walked in behind him and started talking.

  “So we’ve made a decision, girls,” she said, slipping her arm around Dad’s waist.

  Aly’s stomach did a cartwheel.

  “We know how much it means to you two, and we know how responsible and helpful you both have been at True Colors, so, after a long, long talk, we’ve decided . . . that you can have your own salon!”

  Brooke started screeching and jumping around the room. “We can do it! We can do it!” she yelled.

  Aly was stunned. She just stood there, smiling. Everything she’d been wishing for was going to come true! Mom and Dad had said yes!

  Brooke jumped over and threw her arms around her sister. Finally, Aly jumped with her. “We can do it!” Aly whispered. “I can’t believe we can do it!”

  “Don’t get too excited yet,” Mom said. “There are lots of rules.”

  But Aly didn’t care if there were a thousand million rules. She and Brooke were going to get their own salon!

  seven

  Red-Hot Pepper

  Monday mornings were always a mad rush in the Tanner house—Dad usually had to leave on a new trip, the girls had school, Mom had the salon, and they all had to be out of the house much earlier than they would have liked. Plus, they couldn’t forget backpacks or school lunches or briefcases or pocketbooks.

  This Monday was no exception. Usually, Dad drove the girls to school on Mondays himself, but today Mom hopped into the car too. Once they pulled out of the driveway, Mom turned around and handed Aly and Brooke each an envelope. “These are the rules I was talking about,” she said. “And there are a lot of them.”

  Aly looked at the list.

  Rules for Aly and Brooke’s Salon

  • Aly and Brooke may polish only kids’ nails.

  • Aly and Brooke may polish nails only three days a week: two school days and one weekend day.

  • All homework must be done before their salon can open for business.

  • Aly and Brooke may not charge clients. Instead, there will be a donation jar. After the cost of supplies is covered, the rest of the money will be donated to any charity of Aly and Brooke’s choice.

  • Aly and Brooke will be on probation for one week before the salon becomes official.

  Probation? That was one of Aly’s spelling bee words. But she couldn’t remember the definition.

  “What’s that word?” Brooke whispered.

  Aly shook her head. “Mom,” she asked, “what do you mean by ‘probation,’ and why do we have to be on it?”

  Mom twisted around to face the girls. “It means we’re going to use this week as a test run.”

  Aly took a deep breath. A test! This would be hard. But they had to try it.

  “Okay,” Aly said. “We’re okay with your list.”

  Brooke nodded her agreement.

  “Then look at the bottom of the papers,” Mom said.

  Aly saw a blank line with Alyssa Tanner printed beneath it. Brooke’s paper had the same line, but with Brooke Tanner underneath.

  “Here’s a pen. I need you to sign these papers, to prove that you understand the rules.”

  Aly had never signed anything official other than the electronic package machine for Arnold. She took a pen and signed her name in her neatest handwriting. Then she handed the pen to Brooke, who did the same, drawing a flower next to it.

  “Okay, done,” Brooke said. “We’re signed. What do we do now?”

  “Congratulations, girls,” Dad said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “You are now salon operators! But first you have school. Time to go.”

  Aly and Brooke got out of the car and ran in different directions toward their classes.

  Aly couldn’t believe it. Her biggest dream had just come true. Even with all the rules.

  “Hey, Nail Polish Aly!” someone called from the other side of the hallway.

  Aly looked up. It was Jenica, with a group of soccer girls. Jenica had never spoken to Aly at school before. Was she really talking to her now?

  “Me?” Aly asked, immediately feeling silly for saying it. Of course Jenica meant her. What other Alys were there in school who polished nails?

  “We had a scrimmage yesterday after the forwards got their pedicures,” Jenica said, “just to see if the sparkle pedicure really worked. And every single person who had your rainbow polish either scored a goal or blocked a goal. We think we need you and your sister to do the rest of the team before our game next weekend.”

  Aly could barely answer, she was so excited. Today, she and Brooke wouldn’t be at True Colors, so she told Jenica to call the salon tomorrow afternoon and she would make the team appointments. Maybe the soccer team would be the first real customers for the kid salon!

  The bell rang, and Aly headed into her classroom. The morning was pretty regular: Aly sat between Garrett and Cameron, who were pretty cool for boys. And during art class she got to work on a scratchboard art project with her best school friend, Lily. Her other best school friend, Charlotte, and Charlotte’s twin brother, Caleb, were doing their own scratchboard project at the other end of the table.

  Everything was going smoothly . . . until lunch.

  Aly was sitting between Lily and Charlotte, about to take a bite of her peanut butter sandwich when Brooke came running over. Third-grade recess was just ending, so Brooke had only a few minutes to talk.

  “Guess what! Guess what!” she said, her braid flying behind her.

  “Are you okay?” Aly asked a
utomatically.

  “More than okay!” Brooke said. “I booked us a ton of appointments and also a birthday party!”

  “You booked us a what?” Aly choked out.

  “It’s for this first grader, Heather, who I sometimes jump rope with. Her birthday’s tomorrow, and she wasn’t going to have a party on the actual day. Her parents are doing one for her over the weekend, but her babysitter told her yesterday that she could have an actual day party too! She didn’t know what kind of party to have, so I told her about our salon, and she’s going to have her party there. Tomorrow!”

  Aly was speechless for a second. Then she said, “We have to check with Mom. We’re on probation, remember? What if Mom doesn’t want us to do a party yet? We didn’t even decide if we were working tomorrow!”

  “Well, she’ll have to say yes. I already booked it,” Brooke answered, like it wasn’t a big deal.

  Aly closed her eyes to focus her thoughts. “Whose party did you say we were doing?”

  “Heather,” Brooke said. “Heather Davis. I think her sister’s in your grade.”

  All of a sudden, Aly felt kind of pukey. “You agreed to do Suzy Davis’s sister’s party?”

  Maybe she said it a little louder than she meant to, because Brooke’s eyes started filling up with tears. “I thought it was a good thing to book a birthday party! It’s only a few girls. Why are you getting so upset?”

  “No, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Aly said, giving her sister a hug. “I just . . . um . . . I’m not really friends with Suzy. Not that it matters. But it’s fine. We’ll give Heather a great birthday party.”

  Aly gave Brooke another hug, and then Brooke ran off toward the third-grade hallway. Once she was gone, Aly laid her head down on the lunch table.

  Lily moved her chair closer to Aly’s. “Did I hear that right? Are you going to be polishing Heather Davis’s nails for her birthday?”

  “Yes,” Aly said into the table.

  “You don’t think Suzy will be there, do you?” Lily asked. “And will want her nails polished too?”

  “Yes and yes,” Aly said, still muttering into her lunch. “I can’t believe Brooke did this.”

  “It sounds like she was just trying to help,” Charlotte said.

  “I know.” Aly finally lifted her head. “But this is the worst kind of helping possible. And I have a feeling my mom’s going to be mad. Really mad. And we don’t even have a real salon set up yet. It’s just a back room, with a refrigerator and lots of boxes in it. What kind of party will that be?”

  Lily offered Aly a chocolate chip cookie. Aly took it and crammed the whole thing into her mouth at once. But it would take more than a chocolate chip cookie to make this day better. And tomorrow? “I think I need another cookie, Lily,” Aly said. “Or six.”

  eight

  Silver Celebration

  On Tuesday afternoon at four o’clock, Heather Davis and her partyers appeared.

  Heather’s babysitter sat down for her manicure with Lisa, and the three party girls started dancing around the salon, talking and laughing and coming dangerously close to knocking things over. As Aly had suspected, her mom was already not very happy that they’d agreed to host a birthday party without talking to her first.

  “You have to keep them under control,” Mom said quietly to Aly. “I said you could have your own salon, but you have to remember that this is a business. My business. And your salon can’t cause problems for my customers.”

  Aly gulped. “I promise, Mom. Brooke and I can handle it.” Really, they had no other choice. Otherwise, their salon was doomed.

  “Okay, birthday-party people,” Aly said. “If you want your nails polished, follow Brooke through that door!”

  The three girls started marching behind Brooke. After grabbing a handful of nail polish colors, Aly joined them in the back room. Brooke was in front of the pedicure basins, turning on the water.

  “Who wants to choose a polish color?” Aly asked.

  The girls came running.

  Aly held out the colors she’d grabbed: Red-Hot Pepper, Silver Celebration, Orange You Pretty, and Pinkie Swear.

  “I want the red!” the girl with the headband said.

  “No, I want red!” the other girl said.

  “You can both have the same color,” Aly told them.

  “But I want red! Just me,” Heather said, her voice starting to wobble. “And I’m the birthday girl.”

  Brooke walked over to Heather’s two guests. “You know what I think would be perfect on you guys?” She picked up the sparkly silver bottle. “Silver Celebration. Look how glittery it is! And today’s Heather’s birthday celebration, so even the name is perfect. What do you think, Tali?” she asked the girl with the headband.

  Tali examined it. “I like sparkles,” she said.

  “Jayden?” Brooke asked the other girl.

  “I like sparkles too,” Jayden said.

  “Great!” Brooke said. “And, Heather, you can have Red-Hot Pepper.”

  Heather smiled. It was the kind of smile that changed her whole face. “Me first.”

  Aly let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Maybe they could do this after all. “Actually, I think we can do all three of you together. Tali and Jayden will just have to share a chair.”

  Aly led the three girls to the chairs and told them to climb on. But she forgot to tell them to take off their shoes first, and Heather’s flip-flop fell right into the water.

  “Oh no!” Heather said, and promptly jumped off the chair into the water to get it. Now both of her flip-flops were wet! It was a good thing she was wearing shorts or her pants would’ve gotten soaked.

  Aly helped Heather back into the chair and wrapped her flip-flops in towels so they’d dry faster. If she and Brooke had their own toe dryers back here, she would’ve stuck them in there. But for now, towels were the best she could manage.

  “So I’ll do you,” Aly told Heather, “and Brooke will do Tali.”

  “Who’s going to do me?” Jayden asked.

  “Both of us,” Brooke told her.

  Jayden seemed intrigued by that.

  Aly kneeled down next to the pedicure basin to get to work, but it turned out that first graders are much squirmier than sixth graders.

  “That tickles!” Heather squealed when Aly rubbed soap on her feet. But she didn’t just say it, she also kicked water on Aly’s shirt.

  Brooke took a break from working on Tali to explain the bite-your-tongue-so-you-won’t-feel-the-tickle trick, which made things a little better, but Heather was still pretty wiggly. Aly had to hold on to her feet super tightly to keep the polish in the right place.

  “Hey, you got it on my skin!” Aly heard Tali say to Brooke as she wiggled in the chair.

  Brooke cleaned off the polish and told her, “You’ve got to try to stay still, or that’s going to keep happening.”

  “I can’t help it!” Tali said. “It’s hard to sit still.”

  “Is it my turn yet?” Jayden asked.

  Aly looked around to find something for Jayden to do. Her eyes fell on the box of beads and the string that Mrs. Fornari had given Brooke.

  She quickly opened the box of beads and handed it to Jayden. “While you’re waiting to get your nails done, you get to make a bracelet. You can use any color beads you want,” she said.

  “Wait!” said Brooke. “I just had a better idea. Everyone can make bracelets. Ankle bracelets, actually, since they’re bigger. That way, you’ll have something to do in the chair to help you stop jiggling.”

  Brooke quickly cut three lengths of string and gave one to each girl, telling them to knot one end so the beads wouldn’t slip off. The girls all starting beading. And they finally sat still! And Heather bit her tongue so she wasn’t ticklish. This party was turning out okay after all.

  Aly finished up Heather’s Red-Hot Pepper toes just as Brooke finished up Tali’s Silver Celebration pedi. “One foot each?” Brooke said, handing a second bottle of S
ilver Celebration to Aly.

  “Great idea.” Aly smiled.

  Working as a team, the sisters finished Jayden’s toes in no time. All three girls worked on their bracelets as their nails dried.

  “So,” Aly asked, “how do you like your toes?”

  “Mine are beautiful,” Jayden said, wiggling them and watching them sparkle.

  “Mine too,” Tali agreed, glancing down at her feet.

  “I”—Heather sniffled—“I hate mine! Red-Hot Pepper is the worst color ever!” And she burst into tears.

  Aly looked at Brooke in a panic. Brooke was looking panicked too.

  “Um,” Aly said. “Wait—we can redo it. Do you want Silver Celebration like your friends?”

  Heather shook her head. “I want a sp-special birthday c-color.”

  “How about . . . Under Watermelon? Or Strawberry Sunday? Those are both really sparkly,” Brooke said.

  “Not red or pink,” Heather said, wiping her eyes. “Something even more special.”

  “My favorite’s Purple People Eater,” Aly offered. “How about that one?”

  “That’s a scary name,” Heather said. “I don’t want one with a scary name.”

  Brooke’s favorite was Pinkie Swear, which didn’t have a scary name but wouldn’t work anyway, because Heather didn’t want pink.

  Brooke’s eyes opened wide. “Hold on,” she said.

  She ran out into the main salon and came back with two bottles of Lemon Aid, bright yellow and super sparkly.

  Heather stopped crying.

  Since teamwork had worked so well with Jayden, Aly and Brooke did it again.

  “What do you think now?” Brooke asked when they’d finished.

  “I think they’re beautiful!” Heather couldn’t stop staring at her feet. “They’re the brightest, sparkliest toes I’ve ever seen.”

  Brooke gathered up the cotton balls and nail polish bottles. “We did it,” she whispered to Aly.

  Aly opened the pedicure basin drains. “Nice job,” she whispered back.

  Then there was a knock at the door. “Okay, girls, party’s over,” Aly said, heading over to let in Heather’s babysitter.