Sophie nodded. “Maybe I’ll give her a call when I get home,” she said.
Aly thought that was a good idea. “As long as she’s not sleeping, I bet she’d like that.”
Sophie nodded again, but she didn’t leave the salon. “Um . . . ,” she said. “Since you’re here, there’s something I wanted to show you.” She held out her hand for Aly to see. “I practiced polishing a lot last night. Look.”
Aly inspected Sophie’s fingers. They were close to perfect. Not a drop of color on her skin, and every part of every nail was polished.
Aly grinned at Sophie. She really did need help tomorrow, and if Sophie could polish, that might fix Aly’s scheduling problem. And even if she did a terrible job, the thing about polish is that it’s easy to take off.
Aly looked at Joan’s clipboard list. Then she took a big breath. “Sophie,” she said, “I’m making an ESSD—an Executive Sparkle Spa Decision: You’re now an official Sparkle Spa manicurist. Can you come in and polish tomorrow afternoon?”
Sophie beamed. “Absolutely!” she said.
For what seemed like the first time since Brooke broke her arm, Aly exhaled with relief. She put her arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “Welcome to the team,” she said.
“Aly!” Joan called from the reception desk. “Your mom is on the phone. She said you should head home now.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sophie said, still smiling, and she walked out the door.
Aly got her backpack and started to head out too. But before she did, she stopped at the reception desk and blurted out, “Joan, just like you, I made a big decision today: I hired a new manicurist for the Sparkle Spa. Sophie. And now everything’s going to be okay tomorrow.”
At first Joan was silent. She stared at Aly for a few seconds, then finally said, “Aly, you’re in charge of the Sparkle Spa. If you think that’s the right thing to do, you should do it. But you have to take responsibility for this decision—no matter what happens.”
Aly gulped. “I know,” she answered. “I know.”
five
White Christmas
When Aly walked through the door, Brooke was curled up on the overstuffed chair in the corner of the kitchen. Sparkly was at her feet.
“It feels like I haven’t seen you in a year,” Aly said, speeding over to her sister.
“More like three hundred years,” Brooke answered. But she didn’t sound like her usual bouncy self.
“Hi, Aly,” Mom called from the laundry room. “I’ll be up in a second!”
“She’s transferring,” Brooke said. “Washer to dryer.”
Aly nodded. “So how does your arm feel?” she asked, studying Brooke’s cast.
In the light it was really bright, like the White Christmas polish at the salon.
“It hurts,” she said. Her face started to crumple. “And I can’t polish nails. I can’t go to school or to the Sparkle Spa. I never get to see anyone—not you or Joan or Sophie or anyone.”
Aly sat on the arm of the chair and stroked her sister’s head. She almost started crying herself because Brooke was so sad. This was definitely not the time to worry her with Sparkle Spa issues. Besides, Aly had fixed everything by hiring Sophie. She’d tell Brooke all about it later.
“You’ll feel better soon,” she said. “You’ll go back to school and polish nails, and I’m here right now. I even brought your homework home. Besides, it’s only been two days. Not even.”
Brooke didn’t stop complaining there, though.
“I didn’t like the hospital either,” Brooke said, snuggling her head against Aly. “It smelled funny. The doctor had to give me a shot, and I had to wait for a hundred million years. It was so boring . . . and a little scary.”
“But you made it through,” Aly said. “And you don’t have to go back, right?”
“Wrong,” Mom replied, coming up the steps into the kitchen. “You have a doctor’s appointment in two weeks.”
“When can everything get back to normal, Mom?” Brooke asked. “I can’t wait.”
“Remember what we talked about?” Mom answered. “Salon on Saturday. Your arm will feel much better by then. And school on Monday. You just need some time for the swelling to go down.”
“That’s too long,” Brooke grumbled. “I hate having a broken arm.”
Aly almost wanted to say, Then you should’ve listened to me and not gone racing around the house after your hair band, but she kept it zipped inside. Instead, she said, “I have a present for you. From Mrs. Franklin.” Aly pulled the paw stickers out of her pocket.
Brooke smiled for the first time since Aly got home. “They’re to decorate your cast.”
Brooke looked at the fiberglass on her arm. “I can decorate it?” she asked.
Aly shrugged. “Mrs. Franklin seemed to think so.”
“Mom,” Brooke said, a little louder, “can I decorate my cast?”
“Sure,” she said. “No reason why not. But after dinner.”
“I’ll cut your chicken tonight, Brookester. But don’t get used to it,” Aly offered, and gave her sister’s braid a gentle tug.
After dinner, homework, and a quick conversation with Dad during which Aly begged him to come home—now!—Aly went back to the office to sleep on the couch, and Brooke got to stay up late decorating her cast.
Aly had unscrewed the tops of six different polishes—and had peeled up the edges of a bunch of stickers so it would be easier for Brooke with her one hand. But Aly wasn’t allowed to stay up to help Brooke decorate.
Brooke had slept for so much of the day that she didn’t have to go to bed yet. Plus, she could sleep in tomorrow because she wasn’t going to school. A definite broken-arm perk, as far as Aly was concerned. One she was trying hard not to feel jealous about.
Aly got into bed, but she couldn’t get comfortable. She couldn’t stop thinking about all the dance showcase manicures scheduled for tomorrow. Sophie would be a good second manicurist, but Aly knew she’d be slow, slow, slow, just like Aly and Brooke had been at the beginning. She had to figure out a way to make the afternoon go as smoothly as possible.
Aly climbed out of bed and tiptoed over to her mother’s desk. She quietly wiggled the mouse on the computer to see if it was on. The screen lit up.
On it were the words Joan West, COO, True Colors, along with the salon’s address and phone number, plus a cool picture of a bottle of nail polish the same exact colors as the sign on the salon. It looked like the layout for a business card. Mom must have been working on it today. Neat, Aly thought.
She opened up a new document and started typing a list.
Ways to Speed Up Sophie’s Polishing
1. Ask someone else to open and close bottles for her.
2. Have someone else or the customer remove any old polish.
3. Ask someone else to set up her station.
Lists always made Aly feel better and more prepared. Reading over it, she realized she’d added “someone else” to each item. If that “someone” wasn’t Aly, who would it be?
Then the answer came to her. Of course, Aly thought, and typed:
4. Ask Charlotte and Lily if they’ll also help.
With her mind a bit quieter now, she climbed back into bed. But just as she was about to fall asleep, Aly sat up with a start. Oh no! She never told Brooke—or Mom—about hiring Sophie. Or that their other friends had helped out on Tuesday.
Although she hadn’t meant to keep it from Brooke, Aly also didn’t want Brooke to feel bad about not being able to work at the salon this week, so maybe it was a good thing that she’d forgotten to tell her. Besides, Aly decided as she snuggled back into bed, Brooke wouldn’t mind anyway. Charlotte and Lily had helped out in the Sparkle Spa before, and Sophie was her best friend after all.
six
Copperfield
After school on Thursday, Aly, Sophie—and Charlotte and Lily—sped to True Colors. At some point they gave up racewalking and started running, so they were all a little ou
t of breath by the time they ran through the salon’s front door.
“Carrots are in the fridge!” Joan said as the girls rushed in. “Water, too.”
Mom usually had snacks waiting for the girls when they arrived after school. Aly was happy that Joan had remembered. She was starving.
“Oh, and Lily, there’s a bag of cookies with your name on it,” Joan called after the girls.
Once they were all in the back, Aly read from the list she had written during lunch that she’d titled “Jobs”:
Lily: Set up the manicure stations
Charlotte: Open and close polish bottles and help people chose colors
Sophie: Second manicurist
Lily asked, “Sophie’s polishing?”
Aly nodded.
“High five!” Lily said, holding her palm out to Sophie. Sophie smiled and slapped it.
Charlotte was happy with her job too. But then she looked around, like she was searching for something. “Color of the Week!” she said. “What is it?”
Aly’s eyes popped open. Choosing the Color of the Week was usually Brooke’s job, but without her here, Aly had totally forgotten. “How about one of the new Presto Change-o shades?” she suggested. “Arnold, the delivery guy, brought them yesterday, and they look like two different colors, depending on how the light hits them. Do you want to pick one, Charlotte? They’re on the bottom shelf of the display, on the right.”
Charlotte picked Copperfield, the gold and red shade. “How about this?”
“That’s good,” Aly said, nervously looking around. “Did I miss anything else? The dancers will be here any second.”
“Well,” Lily said, sounding a little nervous herself, “you know how the Sparkle Spa has special treatments? Like the rainbow sparkle pedicure for the soccer team and the thumbs-up man-icure for guys? Should you create something special for the dancers?”
Lily was right. But Brooke usually thought up those, too. “How about . . . ,” Aly said. “How about . . .”
“How about a heart on the dancers’ pinkies, painted in a different color?” Sophie offered. “That way, everyone can show the audience how much they love dancing.”
Aly nodded. “Good plan, Soph,” she said. “Let’s call it . . . ‘I Love Dancing’! So, Charlotte, everyone has to pick two colors if they want the special I Love Dancing manicure. And we need to get some of those tiny nail art brushes my mom keeps in the closet.”
“Got it,” Charlotte said.
“Okay, everyone. Now we’re ready,” Aly announced.
But Lily corrected her. “The donation jar!” she said. “Aly, you always forget the donation jar. I’ll be in charge of that, too.”
“It’s all yours, Lil,” she said. “And no walk-ins. Scheduled dancers only. Sophie’s not as fast as I am yet, so any walk-ins will have to come back another day. No exceptions.”
“Yes, boss,” Charlotte said, and everyone started laughing.
Aly thought about how lucky she was to have such good friends. She might not even need Brooke this week with them around.
A few minutes later the first dancers arrived.
Sophie was definitely slow—Aly could finish almost two manicures in the time it took Sophie to do one—but she was good. She chatted with the customers and didn’t seem nervous at all. She did mess up once, but luckily, it was on Mia—and since Mia was a regular and had gotten to know Sophie at the Sparkle Spa, she didn’t mind so much.
“It’s your first day on the job,” Mia said to Sophie. “Don’t worry. You’re doing better than I could ever do.”
Aly was leading a girl named Maisy over to the drying station when Charlotte’s twin brother, Caleb, peeked into the salon.
“Um,” he said, “how’s it going? Charlotte said you might need some help, and, well, I finished up at baseball practice in the park. Mom said it was okay if I came.”
Aly grinned. Caleb was probably the nicest boy in the whole fifth grade. “I think we’re okay,” she said. “It’s busy, but it’s not that bad.”
Caleb pointed at Lily. “What’s going on over there?” he asked. She was organizing Sophie’s manicure station with one arm while the other was hugging the big teal donation jar.
“She’s doing two jobs—donations collector and station resetter,” Aly explained.
Aly could barely hear Caleb when he spoke: “I can do one of them, if you want. I mean, probably the donation jar, because I don’t know about setting up, um, what did you call them? Stations?”
“Great idea,” she said. Then she turned to Lily. “Caleb’s going to help with the donations for a bit.”
Lily darted over and handed him the ceramic strawberry. “Thanks,” she said. “But just so you know, collecting donations is my favorite job, so I’m going to want it back.”
Caleb scrunched his eyebrows. “Sure,” he said. “No problem.” Caleb parked himself and the giant strawberry by the Sparkle Spa door. “This way, I can do security, too, just like my dad,” he said. Caleb and Charlotte’s dad was chief of security for one of the largest buildings in town.
“I don’t know if we need security,” Aly told him, “but we do need someone to tell walk-ins that we’re booked up.” Aly handed Caleb the appointment book. “All the dancers who are scheduled for a manicure are written down in here. Don’t let anyone else in, okay?”
Aly was in the middle of an I Love Dancing manicure for a girl named Zorah, with Golden Delicious fingernails and Copperfield pinkie hearts, when she heard Caleb say, “I’m sorry. If you don’t have an appointment, I can’t let you in.”
Aly stopped mid-polish. And groaned. It was Suzy Davis.
Ever since Aly fixed Suzy’s messed-up manicure and hairdo before the Sixth-Grade Fall Ball a few weeks ago, Suzy had been nicer to her than she used to be. But Suzy was still Suzy. That meant she still had some mean inside her.
“I need a manicure. Now,” Suzy demanded. “And it looks like Sparkle Spa is open today. So I’m coming in. It’s a free country.”
Caleb stood in the doorway. “Even in a free country, there are private places where people get to make their own rules. The rule here is that you need an appointment to come in. At least for today. No walk-ins.” He looked over at Aly for confirmation.
“I’ll be right back,” Aly told Zorah. Usually, Brooke was the one who stood up to Suzy, but today Aly had no choice. She walked over to the door.
“What’s the problem, Suzy?” she asked.
“I just cracked my thumbnail. I need a manicure. This minute.” She shoved her broken nail past Caleb into Aly’s face. Aly winced. It looked like it hurt.
“Suzy, I can’t take care of that right now—we’re too busy today with the dance showcase—but I can give you a nail file. You can fix the cracked part yourself.”
“This is a nail salon,” Suzy answered, her voice growing louder. “Not a do-it-yourself place. This is ridiculous!”
All of the dancers in the salon stared at Suzy.
Caleb cleared his throat. “If you don’t leave, I’m going to get Joan.”
“What is your problem?” Suzy said. “I mean, all I want is a manicure!”
Caleb didn’t budge. “Bye, Suzy,” he said.
Suzy glared at him. “You stink big-time, Caleb Cane,” she huffed, and left.
Charlotte beamed. “Isn’t my brother awesome?” she said.
“He sure is,” Aly agreed, walking back to her station. “Zorah, let’s finish up your fingers.”
By five thirty Aly had done nine manicures and Sophie had done five. “Nice work, team! I couldn’t have done this without you,” Aly said. Even though she missed Brooke, she was super happy she’d gotten through the day without any major disasters. Well, not counting Suzy Davis, but truly, because of Caleb, that had been only a minor mishap.
And right then and there, Aly made the biggest ESSD of all: She offered everyone jobs at the Sparkle Spa.
Lily would be the CFO; Charlotte, the COO; Caleb, the chief of security; and So
phie, a manicurist.
Aly was delighted with her new Sparkle Spa team. She knew Brooke would be too. At least she hoped so.
seven
Silversmith
Aly didn’t have to wait long to find out how Brooke felt.
She arrived home to two surprises: a happy Dad, who had managed to return one day earlier and . . . a furious Brooke, who had just gotten off the phone with Sophie.
“Sophie is a Sparkle Spa manicurist? And she polished nails today instead of me? And you let Charlotte pick the Color of the Week? Who made you the boss of the world?” Brooke shouted. She stomped up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door.
Sparkly started yapping and whimpering.
Mom and Dad exchanged looks.
Aly felt her face turning the color of Ruby Red Slippers nail polish. It wasn’t exactly the response she was expecting.
“Aly, sit down,” Mom said firmly. “And, Mark, why don’t you go check on Brooke?”
Sparkly followed Dad upstairs while Aly and her mother sat across from each other at the kitchen table.
“Is what Brooke said true?” Mom asked.
“I had no choice, Mom,” Aly said. “Remember how you said that the CEO has to jump in and make decisions and take care of emergencies? Without Brooke and you around, I had to make sure the Sparkle Spa customers were taken care of.”
Mom didn’t answer, so Aly continued. “Isn’t that what the leader of a business does, Mom?”
Her mother smiled. It was a small one, but it was a smile.
“You’re right, Aly. That is what the person in charge has to do. But I think you may have forgotten that your sister is your partner. She works with you, not for you. She shouldn’t have heard the news from Sophie. In fact, she should have been part of the decision.”
Aly felt her stomach drop a little. She couldn’t argue. Mom was right, and Aly had overlooked that point, but still, she thought her decisions were pretty good ones. “Everything happened so quickly,” she started to explain. “And I didn’t want Brooke to worry about not being around to help during such a busy week. I just wanted to do what was best—for our customers and for Sophie and Brooke and everyone. Charlotte and Lily and Caleb helped out too. If they hadn’t, it would’ve been a disaster at the Sparkle Spa, and we’ve worked so hard to build it. I didn’t want it to fall apart just because of Brooke’s arm.”
True Colors Page 3