Bad News Nails

by Jill Santopolo

  Suzy pointed to a red car in front of the school. “We were waiting inside for our babysitter. She’s going to take me to the spa. I don’t know why you waited for me—I didn’t say I was going to walk there with you.”

  “But . . . but . . . ,” Brooke sputtered.

  “It’s okay,” Aly said. “See you at the salon, Suzy.”

  The girls started walking while Suzy, Heather, and Jayden climbed into the red car.

  “She makes me so mad! Heather better not turn into Suzy,” Brooke fumed.

  “I just don’t understand,” Charlotte added, pumping her elbows back and forth. “Doesn’t she want to be friends?”

  Sophie wiped a strand of hair out of her eye. “I don’t think she does. Maybe we should try harder to be friends with her.”

  Brooke picked up her racewalking speed. “I am not trying harder with her,” she huffed.

  “Hey, wait,” Lily said, trying to catch up to her. “Slow down!”

  Aly thought maybe Sophie was right. Then again, maybe she wasn’t.

  When the girls reached the salon, the babysitter’s car was parked out front.

  “You girls are a little late today,” Mom said when they walked through the front door. “Is everything okay?”

  “Well—” Brooke started, but Aly cut her off with one of their secret looks.

  “Everything’s fine,” she said.

  “Okay. Pretzels and juice are back in the Sparkle Spa for you. And don’t forget your homework.”

  “We never do, Mrs. Tanner,” Charlotte said.

  Mom smiled. “Just a reminder.”

  The girls expected to find Suzy in the back room, but she wasn’t there.

  “I wonder where she is,” Lily said. “Maybe she’s sitting in the car?”

  “She better come in soon. We need to prep her before the soccer players get here,” Aly said.

  Just as the girls were finishing their homework, Suzy showed up. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you giving manicures?” she asked.

  “Everyone has to finish their homework before we open the salon,” Brooke explained. “It’s a rule. A Sparkle Spa rule.”

  “Well, everyone except for me, because I’m not doing it,” Suzy said. “I don’t do my homework until after dinner. And,” she added, looking at the bag of open pretzels on the break table, “I already had a better snack than that in the car. I’m ready to start polishing.”

  Charlotte looked alarmed. Aly cleared her throat. “Before you can be a manicurist, I need to see how well you do—have you been practicing what we went over on Sunday? You can polish my nails. Toes or fingers, you pick—either one is fine.”

  When Suzy didn’t answer right away, Aly stood still and crossed her arms. Charlotte did the same. Then Brooke. They all stared at Suzy.

  Suzy rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. She grabbed a bottle of Not So Grapeful off the polish shelf and sat down at one of the manicure stations. “I’m ready, Aly. Let’s go.”

  Bethany and Mia, two of the soccer players, were booked first. Brooke and Sophie turned on the water to fill the pedicure basins as the girls took their seats.

  “Can you believe we made it to states?” Mia said as she excitedly wiggled her toes in the water. “Please make my pedicure extra sparkly and extra powerful today so we can take the whole championship!”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Suzy muttered under her breath.

  “Shhh,” Aly whispered to her.

  “I can believe you guys made it,” Lily said from her spot near the donations jar. “You’re awesome—undefeated all season!”

  Bethany laughed. “It’s true. We are.”

  Charlotte glanced at the wall calendar. “Jenica’s due in next,” she announced. “And Valentina.”

  “Jenica’s here!” Jenica said from the door.

  “And Valentina, too,” Valentina said. “Oh, do you have a new manicurist?” she asked as she and Jenica made their way to the couch to wait.

  “Hi,” Suzy said, introducing herself. “I’m Suzy Davis. I work here now too.”

  “Cool!” Valentina said.

  “She’s an intern,” Aly clarified. “Just for this week. Her mom wants her to learn about running a business.”

  Aly thought Suzy was about to hiss at her.

  “Speaking of running things,” Jenica said, “did you come up with any great ideas for the soccer party?”

  Suzy stopped polishing Aly’s nails for a second.

  “Well,” Aly said, “we were thinking manicures and pedicures and braids and bracelets and pizza and cookies.” She still wished they’d come up with something else. “And, um, something else exciting.”

  Jenica nodded. “What’s the other exciting thing going to be?”

  “We’re still working on that,” Charlotte said.

  Suzy put down the bottle of polish. “It could be a pool party,” she said. “My house has a really big pool, and my parents keep it heated year-round.”

  “I love pool parties,” Valentina said.

  “It can’t be a pool party,” Brooke snapped. “It’s a spa party. How would we get all of our spa supplies to a pool?”

  “In a suitcase?” Bethany suggested.

  Aly wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed like the team wanted a pool party. But Brooke was right. And also, this wasn’t Suzy’s salon. She wasn’t allowed to make the plans.

  “We’ll talk about it,” Aly said.

  “Okay.” Jenica smiled. “I know you’ll make the party awesome.”

  Suzy had just one more nail to polish. “So,” she said, “am I approved?”

  Aly looked at her fingers. She checked for polish on her skin and streaks on her nails, but the manicure was almost perfect. Aly couldn’t believe it. On Sunday, when Suzy had polished Charlotte’s nails, she wasn’t that good. Suzy must have practiced a lot in the last couple of days. There was no reason Aly couldn’t make Suzy a manicurist.

  “You’re approved,” she told Suzy.

  Suzy jumped up from the chair.

  “What?” asked Brooke. She walked over to her sister and held up Aly’s hands, inspecting them for a long time.

  “So?” Suzy asked.

  “You must have practiced a ton,” Brooke said.

  Suzy shrugged. “Whatever, it’s just polishing. It’s not that hard.”

  Brooke’s faced flushed. She was about to yell when Sophie said, “Well, I’m impressed. It took me a lot longer to learn.”

  “So who do I get to do first?” Suzy asked.

  “She can polish my nails while I wait for a pedicure chair to open up,” Valentina offered.

  “I’ll help you pick out a nail color if you want,” Lily told her.

  “You know,” Suzy said, sitting down at the second manicure station, “I can give you all some tips about how I do manicures.”

  And that’s when Brooke lost it. “We are the experts,” she said. “And this is our salon. You’re lucky you’re here.”

  Aly raised her eyebrows at Brooke, who immediately closed her mouth.

  “Your loss,” Suzy replied. “Come on, Valentina. I’ll give you the best manicure you’ve ever had in your life. Way better than the ones you usually get here.”

  Aly did not like Suzy. And she did not like how Suzy was trying to take charge of everything. But she was curious: What manicure tips did Suzy have that she and Brooke didn’t know?

  six

  Rainbow Bright

  I never thought I’d be happy we’re not open on Wednesday,” Brooke said.

  She and Aly were stretched out on the floor pillows in the Sparkle Spa doing their homework, glad that no one was there to bother them, especially Suzy.

  “I know,” Aly said as she put her finger on her spot in The Master Puppeteer, her reading homework for language arts. “Having Suzy Davis as our intern is the worst thing that ever happened to this place.”

  Brooke popped a carrot into her mouth. “At least she’ll be gone after this weekend.” She looked at her
math sheet. “If Andrew has four cookies and Sarah has three cookies and they give Jason two cookies, how many cookies do Andrew and Sarah have left?”

  “Are you asking me to do your homework for you?” Aly asked her sister. Brooke sometimes tried to get away with that.

  “Help,” Brooke said. “I’m asking for help.”

  Aly stood up and grabbed seven bottles of nail polish. She put them down in front of Brooke. “Okay, give Andrew four bottles of polish,” she said.

  Brooke put four bottles in a group on her right.

  “Now give Sarah three, next to Andrew’s.”

  Brooke moved the other polishes over, so all seven were grouped together.

  “Now take two of those polishes and give them to Jason.”

  Brooke took two of the bottles and put them on her left side.

  “Now count the ones on your right,” Aly told her as she sat back down, holding her book.

  “Five?” Brooke asked.

  Aly grinned.

  “That was so cool!” Brooke said. She went to the polish wall, took down more bottles, and finished her homework quickly and quietly while Aly continued reading.

  “How’s it going in here?” Joan asked. “I don’t know what’s making me so thirsty today, but I need another bottle of water from the fridge.”

  “Aly made my homework easier with nail polish,” Brooke reported.

  “Glad to hear it,” Joan said, sitting on the floor next to the girls. “So, how’s the intern working out?”

  Brooke was about to spew out their long list of complaints, but Aly silenced her with a look. She didn’t want Joan and Mom to think they couldn’t handle problems like real businesswomen.

  “I think her mom wants her to be an intern more than she does. But we’re still teaching her,” Aly said. “We’re making the best of it.”

  Joan ruffled Aly’s hair. “You girls always do,” she said. “By the way, I have some new cookies I want you to test out. Brookie, they’re in my bag in the closet in a container.”

  Brooke jumped up and ran to the closet. Cookies were her favorite. Especially Joan’s.

  When Brooke handed Joan her bag, she pulled out two rainbow-colored cookies that looked like the twisty tops of soft-serve ice cream covered in glitter. They reminded Aly of Rainbow Bright nail polish, which had about a million different sparkly colors in it.

  “Sparkles you can eat?” Brooke asked, wide-eyed.

  Joan nodded solemnly. “These cookies are called Unicorn Goop,” she said.

  Aly and Brooke burst out laughing.

  “Goop?” Brooke gasped.

  Joan was laughing now too. “Taste them,” she said. “They don’t taste like goop, I promise.”

  The cookies were sweet and lemony and crisp on the outside. “Mmm.” Aly smacked her lips. “I like the lemony part.”

  “I think I can taste the sparkles,” Brooke said. “They’re like rainbows in my mouth!”

  “So a thumbs-up?” Joan asked.

  Aly nodded. “Except for the name.”

  “Wait!” Brooke said. “These would be perfect for the soccer team! Joan, could you make them for a spa party we’re having this Sunday?”

  “I’d be happy to,” she said, standing up. “But how about if you girls help me? Tomorrow afternoon I’m going to use some of the time I bought in the Sweet Treats kitchen at the auction. If you come with me, we can make Unicorn Goop together.”

  “Joan, can’t we call them Unicorn Treats?” Aly asked.

  Joan smiled. “Sure, why not?” Then she checked her watch. “I have to get ready for Mrs. Bass. She’ll be here in a minute or two. When you girls are done in here, the True Colors polish display needs organizing. And the magazines need restacking.”

  “We’re on it,” Aly said. “No problem.”

  When Joan had returned to the main salon, Brooke told her sister, “Well, at least Suzy didn’t come up with Unicorn Treats for the soccer party. They’ll be our surprise.”

  Aly sighed. “I guess,” she said. “But I still think we need something more.”

  After school on Thursday the girls walked to Sweet Treats Kitchen & Bakery instead of True Colors. Joan was already there, waiting for them with all of the Unicorn Treats ingredients laid out on the counter.

  “Look who else is here,” Joan said as the girls walked in.

  It was Isaac—the photographer the girls had met when they took part in Adoption Day at the Paws for Love animal shelter a while back.

  “Hi, Isaac,” Aly said.

  “Hi, Isaac,” Brooke echoed.

  “Nice to see you girls again,” he said. “Joan asked me to take some pictures for her baking website, so just pretend I’m not here. We’re going for a natural look.”

  Isaac clicked away, photographing the girls from all different angles.

  Joan, Aly, and Brooke measured and mixed and probably made a little bit more of a mess than they should have. Isaac took pictures the whole time.

  After the cookies went into the oven, Isaac said, “Okay, ladies. Big smiles in front of the oven.”

  Aly and Brooke stood on either side of Joan with their arms around her waist.

  Isaac clicked.

  And so did an idea in Aly’s head.

  Walking home from Sweet Treats, Aly told Brooke her idea.

  “We can do photo shoots at the soccer party,” she explained. “Remember Katie Heller’s sixth-grade graduation party? She had a Polaroid camera, and we all got to take home instant photographs that day.”

  “I still have that picture on my bulletin board,” Brooke answered. “But, Aly, how are we going to get an instant camera in time for Sunday?”

  seven

  Orange You Happy?

  Aly was at lunch with Charlotte and Lily when she saw Brooke waving at her from the door of the cafeteria.

  “I’ll be right back,” Aly told her friends.

  “Everything okay?” she asked Brooke when she got to the door.

  “No. There’s an SSE—a Sparkle Spa Emergency: Sophie’s sick.” Brooke frowned. “She came to school this morning but got a fever. She had to go home right before lunch. What are we going to do for all of her customers at the Sparkle Spa?”

  Aly closed her eyes and tried to think. “Well, you and I could just wiggle our schedules around and each do more people . . .”

  Brooke tugged on her braid. “Are you sure people won’t get mad about having to wait or be rescheduled? It is a school day, you know. Kids have homework and after-school stuff.”

  Brooke was right. Customers wouldn’t be happy. It was too bad Charlotte and Lily weren’t interested in being manicurists. Oh no. That left only . . .

  “Suzy Davis,” Aly said.

  Brooke groaned. But then she said, “You’re right. Suzy Davis. But I really don’t like that Suzy Davis is the answer to our problem.”

  “Wait a minute. What are you doing out of class?” Aly asked. The third graders were usually finished with recess by the time the fifth graders had lunch. Brooke should’ve been back in class by now.

  “Bathroom pass,” Brooke said, holding up a wooden circle dangling from a piece of yarn. “I have to go back, though.”

  “Okay, see you after school. I’ll go find Suzy now and tell her the news.”

  Most of the fifth graders had finished lunch and had gone outside. Aly and Charlotte tracked Suzy down on the bench near the monkey bars. She was scribbling something in a notebook, but the minute she saw the girls coming, she snapped it closed.

  “So we’re in a bit of a bind,” Aly told Suzy, “and we really need help.” She took a deep breath. “It would be really great if you could come into the salon right after school and take all of Sophie’s clients for us today.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” she said.

  “Suzy!” Charlotte almost yelled. “Can you be nice for one afternoon and help us out?”

  Suzy scrunched up her mouth for a moment. “How about this: If I do help you pick up the slac
k today, you have to listen to my ideas for improvements to your salon.”

  “Suzy!” Charlotte really did yell this time.

  But Aly knew that they needed Suzy’s cooperation today. Badly. So she nodded and said, “We’ll listen. That doesn’t mean we’ll do everything you suggest, but we’ll listen.”

  “Okay,” Suzy answered. “Fine. I’ll fill in for Sophie today.” Then, all of a sudden, Suzy stood up on the bench. “Attention, everyone!” she announced to the whole schoolyard. “I’ll be a full-time manicurist at the Sparkle Spa today. If you come by and ask for me, you’ll get a free cupcake too!”

  Free cupcakes! Aly couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She jumped up on the bench next to Suzy. “You will not get a free cupcake!” she yelled out. “And Suzy is pretty much all booked up for the afternoon anyway!”

  Suzy glared at Aly.

  Aly glared back at Suzy.

  “I was going to bring the cupcakes myself,” Suzy said.

  Aly ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s not a bad idea, Suzy, but you have to ask first. You’re just our intern there—you’re not a permanent team member. And even permanent team members have to ask me and Brooke.”

  Suzy jumped off the bench, grabbed her notebook, and stomped away.

  “See you later, Suzy!” Charlotte called after her.

  Aly climbed down from the bench. “I hope she shows up at the spa,” she muttered.

  “Me too,” Charlotte said. “Me too.”

  The minute Suzy walked through the Sparkle Spa door, she took over.

  “First of all,” Suzy began as she laid out polish remover and an emery board at the manicure station she was clearly claiming as her own for the day, “you really need a third manicure station and a third pedicure chair in here. That way, all of the polishers you have on staff now can be working at the same time, taking more customers, even if they all want just manicures or just pedicures.”

  Suzy had a point. But Aly didn’t think they’d be able to convince their mom to buy them more stations. The ones they had now were hand-me-downs from True Colors.

  “We’ll talk to our mom about it.” Aly just wanted to keep Suzy happy until all their appointments for today were taken care of.