Fashion Disaster

by Jill Santopolo

  nine

  Purple You May Know

  Aly didn’t sleep well Friday night. She tossed and turned for over an hour, flipping her pillow over and over to find a cool spot, counting hundreds of kittens and puppies, worrying about making enough money for Loving Locks, and wondering if she could function on barely any sleep.

  She and Brooke arrived at the Sparkle Spa super early on Saturday, and Charlotte walked in two minutes later. She’d made really cute and colorful signs about the prices of the special occasion manicure and the barrettes, and she set to work taping them around the salon.

  “Are we limiting the barrette purchasing?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Brooke said. She was creating a pretty display for the barrettes on a pillowcase the color of Purple You May Know.

  “Well,” Charlotte said, “we only have twenty-eight barrettes to sell, meaning fourteen pairs. So only fourteen people can buy a set of barrettes. And practically everyone at school said they want to buy them. So should we limit them to only one per person?”

  Aly was straightening up the polish wall. “But what if it was all talk?” she said. “What if only four people want to actually buy them?”

  Charlotte scratched her head. “Well,” she suggested, “how about we say one pair per person at first? And if we start selling a lot them, we can always limit it to one barrette per person later.”

  Aly sent Brooke a Secret Sister Eye Message: Okay? Brooke sent her answer right back: Okay.

  “Sounds good to me,” Aly told Charlotte.

  The Sparkle Spa was supposed to open at 10:00 a.m., but by 9:30, Daisy, Violet, Maxie, Joelle, Uma, Annie, and Clementine were already waiting in line outside the door to buy barrettes.

  “That’s almost half our entire inventory,” Brooke whispered to Aly.

  Aly counted the number of girls. “Actually, if we sell the barrettes in pairs, that’s exactly half,” she said. “I think we may need to start a waiting list and then buy materials to make more this week.”

  Charlotte held up her clipboard. “I was thinking the same thing,” she said, showing them a piece of paper with numbers written down the side. “I was just going to show you the form I’m making.”

  “Great minds think alike,” Brooke told her. “And ours are super great.”

  A few minutes later Sophie and Lily showed up. Lily planted herself near the donations table, and Sophie took her spot at her manicure station.

  At exactly 10:00, according to Aly’s purple polka-dot watch, they opened for business.

  First, the Sparkle Spa team started selling barrettes. There were nine people in line by then who all wanted a pair, so eighteen of the twenty-eight barrettes were gone within ten minutes.

  Next, the manicures started.

  And then they ran out of barrettes.

  “What do you mean there aren’t any left?” Eliza Perez asked when she walked into the salon an hour after they opened. Her dark wavy hair hung down to her waist.

  “You can be the first person on our waiting list,” Charlotte said. “You’ll get the first set of barrettes as soon as Aly and Brooke make more.”

  Eliza didn’t seem thrilled, but then she said, “Actually, that should be fine, because I’m not getting my hair cut until next week.”

  Brooke couldn’t be happier. “You’re cutting your hair too?”

  Eliza nodded. “Just like yours,” she said. “So I can donate my hair to Loving Locks and then wear those cool barrettes.”

  “I decided I’m going to cut mine like Sophie’s,” Annie said.

  Brooke looked at Aly like she couldn’t believe it. “Wow,” she said. “I never thought that letting Suzy cut my hair would get so many other people to cut theirs too!”

  The rest of the day went off without a hitch. At five o’clock the girls flopped on the couch and pillows in the waiting area as Lily counted their money. “Fifty-six dollars from barrettes,” she said, “and between regular manicures and our special of the day, two hundred seventy-three dollars and seventeen cents. Uma even gave us the extra change in her pocket. Our grand total is three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventeen cents!”

  “Whoa!” Brooke said.

  “Yes!” Charlotte cheered.

  Aly smiled. “That’s really awesome, guys.”

  As they started cleaning up, Mrs. Rosenberg poked her head in.

  “Hi, girls,” she said. “I was having my nails done at your mom’s salon, and she told me what you were all doing today. You have no idea what your donation will mean to people. I’m going to add one hundred dollars to however much you raised today.”

  Lily gasped.

  “Thank you!” Aly said.

  “Yes, thank you!” Brooke and Sophie and Charlotte echoed.

  “No, thank you,” Mrs. Rosenberg said. “There are lots of things that are pretty awful about being sick, and one of them is how . . . well . . . nonsparkly you feel. Having a beautiful wig really does help sometimes.”

  Mrs. Rosenberg gave each girl a hug, then left.

  “Do you think everyone feels that way?” Brooke asked. “Because that makes me think we should offer manicures at the hospital.”

  “That, Brooke Tanner,” Aly said, “is a very interesting and inspiring idea.” Aly decided she’d look into it. It really was true that feeling sparkly on the outside sometimes made people feel sparkly on the inside—and the opposite was true as well. Aly had learned that just last week when Brooke didn’t like her haircut.

  It was amazing, Aly thought to herself, how much good a little sparkle could do.

  ten

  Blue Suede Shoes

  I love this new ribbon,” Brooke said. “It’s the same color as Sunvisor. It goes so nicely with the bright red and orange we bought last week.”

  It was a Saturday morning a few weeks later, and Aly and Brooke were sitting together in their living room making barrettes. Sparkly was jumping around and barking, like he was offering advice on which colors to use.

  Since the barrettes were such a hit, the girls kept making them—and kept donating all the proceeds to Loving Locks.

  Mid-braid, Aly heard a car pull into the driveway. Sparkly went crazy, racing for the front door.

  “Dad?” Brooke asked.

  Aly grinned.

  The girls went racing for the front door too.

  Dad walked in smelling like an airplane, with his briefcase strap slung over his shoulder, his suitcase rolling behind him, and a stack of letters in one hand. “Did you ladies forget to get the mail?” he asked.

  Mom had come up next to the girls. “Oops,” she said, and leaned over to give Dad a kiss.

  “Sorry, Dad,” Aly said, taking the mail from him. Even though all the Tanner women were CEOs, going to the mailbox while Dad was gone was not their best skill.

  Aly scanned through all the envelopes, pulling out one addressed to Brooke. “Brookester, you’ve got mail,” she said, handing over the letter.

  Aly quickly sifted through the rest of the mail. Nothing for her. There rarely was. Or for Brooke, either, for that matter. So this letter must be something special.

  Brooke tore it open. A photograph fell to the floor. She bent to pick it up, then unfolded the note that came with it. “Whoa,” she said. “I can’t believe it. Whoa.”

  Brooke was rarely speechless.

  “What is it?” Aly asked her sister.

  Brooke handed the note and the photograph to Aly.

  Dear Brooke,

  Thank you so much for donating your hair to Loving Locks so that a wig could be made for me. Your hair is just like mine—the same color and everything. I wanted to show you how it looks and how happy your kindness—and hair—has made me. I felt so much better when I put it on.

  XOXO,

  Arianna

  Aly looked at the picture. It was of a girl who looked maybe nine or ten years old. She had Blue Suede Shoes–colored eyes and a huge smile on her face.

  “You know what I think?�
� Brooke said. “I think I’m going to grow my hair long again just so I can cut it off and help someone else.”

  Aly fingered her own hair. “Me too,” she said.

  Mom read the letter, then leaned over and hugged both girls. “It’s one thing to be smart, it’s another thing to be strong, and yet another to be sparkly,” she said. “But you girls are kind and caring and compassionate too.”

  “We got some good ones,” Dad said. “Right?”

  “We sure did,” Mom answered.

  Mom’s and Dad’s smiles looked as big as Arianna’s did in her picture. Aly decided she wanted to be the kind of person—for her whole life—who did everything she could to make people smile just like that.

  How to Give Yourself (or a Friend!) a Loving Locks Special Occasion Pedicure

  By Aly (and Brooke!)

  What you need:

  Paper towels

  Polish remover

  Cotton balls

  (Or you can just use more paper towels.)

  Clear polish

  Two different color polishes

  (You can choose any colors you want, but we like red and yellow best for this one.)

  What you do:

  1. Place some paper towels on the floor—or wherever you’re going to put your feet—so you don’t have to worry about drips or spills. (We spend so much time worrying about drips and spills! Luckily, in the Sparkle Spa we have the kind of floor that is easy to clean, but there are a lot of floors that aren’t!)

  2. Take a cotton ball or a folded-up paper towel and put some polish remover on it. If you have polish on your toes already, use enough to take it off. If you don’t, just rub the remover over your nails once to remove any dirt. (Because dirt can make your polish look clumpy, and also because you shouldn’t have dirty feet anyway!) Nail polish sticks better when you do this before polishing. (If you can figure out why, let us know.)

  3. Rip off two more paper towels. Roll the first one into a tube and twist it so it stays that way. Then weave it back and forth between your toes to separate them a little bit. After that, do the same thing with the second paper towel on your other foot. You might need to tuck it in around your pinky toe if it pops up and gets in your way while you polish—you can also cut the towel to make it shorter. (Aly doesn’t like ripping it because sometimes too much gets ripped and then you have to start over with a brand-new paper towel.)

  4. Open your clear polish and apply a coat to each nail. Then close the clear bottle up tight. (You can go in any order, but Aly usually starts with the big toes and works her way to the pinkies. I do too.)

  5. Open the first colored polish. Use it to polish all your toes. Put the cap back on tight. (The tightness is important, in case someone—or something, like your dog—knocks over your polish.)

  6. Repeat step five.

  7. Open the second colored polish. Wipe the polish brush against the side of the bottle so there’s no excess to drip off. Then swipe the brush very, very carefully straight across the top of your big toes. (You might get some on your skin. Don’t worry about that. Just wait until the polish dries and wipe it off, either with nail polish remover or with soap and water the next time you take a bath or shower.) If the color of the stripe doesn’t look as bright as you want it, blow on your big toes a little to dry them, then do the same thing all over again, adding another swipe of color on top of the first. Screw the cap back on the polish bottle tightly.

  8. Blow on all your toes or just let them dry for a few minutes. Then apply a clear top coat. Close the bottle up tight. (Really tight!)

  9. Now your toes have to fully dry. You can fan them for a long time, or you can sit and make a bracelet or read a book or watch TV or talk to a friend (or your sister!) until they’re dry. You can also call around or use the computer to search for things you can do to help out in your community and read about them while you’re waiting. It usually takes about twenty minutes for toes to dry, but it could take longer. (That’s why we try to find fun things to do while our nails dry. Otherwise, sitting in one place for twenty minutes is bor-ing.)

  Now you have your very own beautiful Loving Locks special occasion pedicure! Even after your polish is dry, you probably shouldn’t wear socks and sneaker-type shoes for a while. Bare feet or sandals are better so all your hard work doesn’t get smudged. (And so you can show off your striped big toes!)

  Happy polishing!

  JILL SANTOPOLO is a big fan of sparkles. She’s also a big fan of sisters. And spas. And writing. In addition to the Sparkle Spa books, she’s the author of the Alec Flint Mysteries. You can find her online at www.jillsantopolo.com. Or you can find her in person in New York City, where she likes getting her nails painted with Good as Gold nail polish.

  * * *

  Read more books!

  * * *

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  Visit us at

  simonandschuster.com/kids

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Jill-Santopolo

  Also by Jill Santopolo

  Book 1: All That Glitters

  Book 2: Purple Nails and Puppy Tails

  Book 3: Makeover Magic

  Book 4: True Colors

  Book 5: Bad News Nails

  Book 6: A Picture-Perfect Mess

  Book 7: Bling It On!

  Book 8: Wedding Bell Blues

  Coming Soon

  Book 10: Glam Opening!

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This Aladdin hardcover edition October 2016

  Text copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2016 by Cathi Mingus

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Series design by Jeanine Henderson

  Jacket design by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Caslon.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2016936113

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6392-8 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6391-1 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-6393-5 (eBook)