Mom looked at Aly for a long moment. Then she got up and gave Aly a hug from behind, resting her chin on Aly’s head. For a second Aly kind of wanted to cry. “Why don’t you wait until Dad comes downstairs, and then you can apologize to your sister,” Mom finally said.
“I will,” Aly told her. She knew she had to. She knew it was the right thing to do—plus, she hated it when Brooke was mad at her. But she knew that in addition to apologizing, she was going to have to tell her sister about giving the other kids jobs at the Sparkle Spa too. If Brooke was already upset about them working there for a day, she was not going to be happy about the longer-term arrangement. “First, I’m going to make a peace offering, though.” Aly thought making Brooke’s favorite snack might help out a little. It was worth a try.
As Aly made a heart-shaped cream cheese and jelly sandwich for Brooke, she and her mom talked about the new Presto Change-o colors that had arrived while Mom was home with Brooke—how some shades looked muddy, but how the metallics, like Silversmith, seemed popular.
When Dad came back into the kitchen, Aly quickly took the sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk upstairs. “Brooke?” she called, knocking on their bedroom door. “Brookester?”
“I’m not talking to you,” Brooke answered.
“You just did,” Aly said. “And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. And I’m leaving you a present.”
Then Aly went to the office—she figured it would take Brooke a little while to come around, and she still had some reading to do for her Lewis and Clark project. Once she was finished sticking flags on the book Ms. Abbott had given her about Sacagawea, noting that Lewis and Clark would probably have gotten lost and not been very good explorers without Sacagawea’s help, Aly sat down at the computer. After clicking around for a bit, she found the new business card Mom had made for Joan. She copied it and pasted it into a new document over and over, then started typing new wording into each little rectangle. In just a few minutes she’d made Sparkle Spa business cards for everyone on the team—Sophie, Lily, Charlotte, Caleb, and herself—so she could give them out tomorrow at school. She pressed print and watched the pages pile up.
She’d have to cut the thick paper to the right size, but the cards looked pretty good. She especially liked the purple star she’d added in place of the polish bottle Mom had on Joan’s card. It had little lines around it to make it look like it really was sparkling. Once Brooke was talking to her again for real, she’d make one for Brooke, too.
Aly picked up the sheets of paper.
“What are those?” Brooke said, standing at the door.
Aly jumped and the pages went flying. “You scared me!” she said. Aly bent down to pick up the papers. “They’re Sparkle Spa business cards.”
Brooke adjusted the strap of the sling on her shoulder. “For us?” she asked, her eyes growing big. “Is that another way besides the sandwich that you’re apologizing to me? Because that’s so cool!”
“Well, they’re Sparkle Spa business cards, but they’re not just for us.” Aly swallowed hard. She knew she had to say it, but the words stuck in her throat. “They are for our friends,” she finally continued. “Sophie wasn’t the only one who helped out. Charlotte, Lily, and Caleb worked there today too, so I gave them all jobs at Sparkle Spa.”
Brooke blinked once. Then twice. Aly was afraid Brooke would cry. But she didn’t. She yelled. “You did what?”
“They’re our friends. And I needed help. Fourteen dancers were booked, and there was no way I could give them manicures all by myself.” Aly was trying to defend herself, but it sounded like a bad excuse, even to her.
Tears ran down Brooke’s face. “Sparkle Spa is our thing, Aly. Ours. And you’re acting like it’s only yours,” she sniffed.
“You left me, Brooke!” Aly said. “You left me all alone, and I had to do everything myself. We’re lucky our friends offered to help; otherwise, I would’ve had to cancel everything. All the girls who were counting on us for manicures for their showcase would’ve been so upset. That would have been terrible for Sparkle Spa business.”
Brooke crossed her unbroken arm over her broken one. “You could’ve talked to me about it. It’s like you didn’t even care I wasn’t there. Did you at least give me a good job on my business card?” Brooke asked, her voice quivering.
“I didn’t give you one yet,” Aly muttered. “But you can choose your own. Right now Lily’s in charge of money, and Charlotte’s in charge of the schedules and how things work, and Sophie only wanted to be a manicurist, not in charge of any—”
“What about you?” Brooke asked.
“Um, I’m . . . I’m CEO,” Aly whispered.
“What does that mean?” Brooke demanded.
“Well, it kind of means I’m in charge of everything,” she admitted. But then she quickly added, “But we can share the title. Or—or you can have it if you want it, and I can be something else.”
Brooke started crying now for real. “You didn’t even think about me! I broke my arm, and you forgot all about me and took away the Sparkle Spa. I don’t even want to be your sister anymore.” She ran out of the office, down the hall.
And before Brooke slammed the bedroom door for the second time that night, she yelled out, “And don’t worry about giving me a job, Aly. I quit.”
eight
Blue Skies
Friday was usually one of Aly Tanner’s favorite days of the week: No school for two whole days, Sparkle Spa for one full day each weekend (not just a weekday afternoon), and she and Brooke always polished each other’s fingernails first thing on Saturday morning so they would look fancy all weekend long.
But this Friday, Aly floated through the day, barely talking to anyone or noticing anything. She gave Charlotte, Lily, Caleb, and Sophie their new business cards, and she wished the dancers luck for their showcase that night, and she stopped by True Colors right after school to see if Joan needed any help, but the whole time, she was thinking about Brooke and how she’d quit their whole Sparkle Spa business. No matter how many lists Aly tried to make, she couldn’t figure out a way to fix things.
When Aly got home, Brooke was sitting in the overstuffed chair in the kitchen reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. She didn’t even look up when Aly walked in.
Mom and Dad were busy preparing dinner and didn’t seem to notice that the sisters weren’t on speaking terms. Aly knew she could ask her parents for advice, but she wanted to try to fix the problem herself.
After a quiet dinner, Aly went to the office, took out a sparkly pen and a piece of purple paper, and started to write.
Dear Brooke,
Please come back to the Sparkle Spa. It won’t be the same without you.
You are my sister, and we started the spa together. I should have thought of that before anything else.
No one can ever take your place.
I’m so, so sorry.
Love, your sorry sister,
Aly
Aly slipped the note under their bedroom door, along with a Sparkle Spa business card that she’d made for Brooke that named her co-CEO. Aly realized that she should have given Brooke that title from the start. The sisters were a team, and she’d never forget that again. If only Brooke would agree to come back to the Sparkle Spa. . . .
Early Saturday morning Aly was awakened by Sparkly’s lick, followed by a hug—a hug from Brooke.
“I forgive you, Aly,” Brooke whispered in her sister’s ear. “Let’s get ready for work.”
Brooke needed help getting her cast through the armhole of her T-shirt. And with the straps on her sandals. And with brushing her hair, too. Aly even put toothpaste on Brooke’s toothbrush for her—but she drew the line when Brooke asked if Aly would brush her teeth for her. So Brooke did that herself.
“Broken arms are the pits,” Brooke said, after she spit out her toothpaste.
Aly nodded. “But you’ll be better soon.”
“Six weeks!” Brooke answered as she handed her hair elastic to
Aly. “That’s forever.”
“Not even close to forever,” Aly said.
An hour later Mom was driving the girls to the salon. Sparkly was spending the day with Dad.
“The whole team will be there today,” Aly warned Brooke.
“I know, I know,” Brooke said. “It’s fine. I’m glad they helped keep the Sparkle Spa in business.”
When the girls walked through the front door of True Colors, all of the manicurists made a big deal over Brooke being back. Each one wanted to sign and decorate her cast. Meanwhile, Aly headed to the Sparkle Spa, where she was surprised to see Charlotte, Caleb, and Lily already there. Sophie was there too, sitting at the second manicure station, ready for work.
“Look what I did,” Charlotte said as soon as Aly walked in. She pointed to three sheets of paper attached to the wall in a row, with a pen dangling from a string taped next to each sheet. Charlotte had made photocopies of the pages from the Sparkle Spa appointment book for next Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.
“This way,” she said, “customers can sign up for appointments themselves while they wait.”
“Oh.” Aly said. She sort of wished Charlotte had asked her first, and she was a little worried about what Brooke would think.
But before she could respond, Charlotte added, “And I made these signs for the front window of True Colors.” She held up one that read: KIDS, COME TO THE BACK! SPARKLE SPA IS OPEN! And another that said: SPARKLE SPA IS CLOSED, BUT CALL TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. She’d left space underneath to include a phone number.
“I think we should get a business cell phone so people can leave messages,” Caleb said.
“No cell phones allowed,” Aly said quickly. “But thanks for thinking of it.” She was starting to feel a tiny bit uncomfortable about all these new suggestions.
“And, Aly, look at the new donation box,” Lily said. “The old jar could break, so I brought in this safe, which even has a combination lock.” Lily practically shoved the box in Aly’s face.
“Oh,” Aly said again. She didn’t want a new donation box. She loved the sparkly teal strawberry Mom had made in art school. And she knew Brooke did too. But what could she say? Lily was only trying to do her job as CFO.
A few seconds later Brooke walked in, her cast covered with rainbows and hearts.
“Brooke!” Sophie squealed, standing up. “I’m so glad you’re back!”
Brooke squinted at her. “What are you doing in my manicure chair?” Brooke hissed.
Sophie’s face paled. “I, um, I’m a manicurist now, remember? This is where I was sitting on Thursday . . . ,” she said quietly.
Brooke looked around. “What’s that on the wall? And why isn’t the strawberry donation jar on the side table?” she said, clearly growing more upset at each new change she noticed.
“Charlotte made us sign-up charts, since she’s the COO now,” Aly said nervously. “What do you think?”
Brooke didn’t answer. Instead, she focused on Caleb. “He won’t be here all the time, will he? Everything will be different if there’s a boy in the Sparkle Spa! Aly, you’re ruining everything! Again!” She turned around and ran back into True Colors.
Aly’s stomach flip-flopped. “I’m really sorry, everyone,” she said. “I think Brooke is just a little surprised. It’s my fault. I should’ve explained things better to her. I’ll go get her.”
But before Aly had a chance to follow her sister, two sixth graders from their school, Uma and Aubrey, came in for manicures and pedicures. Aly had totally forgotten about them, but they’d made appointments on Monday and were right there in the book. Aly poked her head into True Colors and saw Brooke talking to their mom.
“I picked my colors,” Uma called out.
“Me too,” said Aubrey. “Which are we doing first? Fingers or toes?”
Aly looked at Brooke one more time and then sighed. “Toes,” she said to Aubrey and Uma. “Let’s get started.”
The day was busy with both regulars and walk-ins. Sophie was improving, but she was still pretty slow. Charlotte kept coming up with new ideas every hour, from where to move the stations to what colors to paint the walls. Caleb pretty much sat near the door, checking out his sneakers. And Lily kept counting the donations over and over. Nobody asked about Brooke at all. But Aly was thinking about her all day long. She couldn’t believe no one else was.
Even without Brooke, everything was going along smoothly. Aly was putting the top coat on Keisha’s fingers—she was a second grader Aly knew from the library—when Charlotte said, “Aly, I think we should have two Colors of the Week, not just one. And three on special occasions like Halloween and the Fourth of July.”
And that’s when Aly snapped.
She waited until Keisha left and there were no customers in the salon. Then she exploded. “Charlotte, you have to stop asking me so many questions about colors and appointments. Lily, please stop rattling the coins in the box. And, Caleb, you haven’t gotten off that chair all day!”
They all just stared at Aly.
No one said anything for close to a minute.
“Are you feeling okay?” Charlotte finally asked. “Did we do something wrong? We’re just trying to be helpful.”
Oh, boy. What had she done? Aly felt terrible. Really terrible. “No, it’s me. Not any of you. I’m so sorry,” she said. “I think I just miss Brooke.”
Aly absolutely needed all her friends’ help, but she really missed Brooke.
She missed their Secret Sister Eye Messages and Brooke pushing up her glasses and tugging her braid. She missed Brooke’s awesome ideas. She missed Brooke’s color combinations and the way she knew which new polish everyone would like best.
And if she was being perfectly honest, Aly had to admit that having all these new job titles at the Sparkle Spa had kind of added a few too many bosses to the mix. Did she have to accept every single one of their suggested changes now that Charlotte, Lily, Sophie, and Caleb were part of the team?
Being CEO was hard. And without Brooke, it was even harder.
The rest of the afternoon was fine, and the only one who seemed bothered by Aly’s outburst was Aly. She made sure she was extra nice to everyone because of it, even though she hated the safe that Lily had brought and liked the manicure and pedicure stations exactly where they were.
“Thanks, everyone,” Aly said as her friends were getting ready to leave. “Really. You all did a super job, and I’m sorry again for getting upset earlier.”
“No problem, Aly. We know you miss Brooke. See you at school on Monday,” Charlotte said, waving good-bye.
Sophie was the last to leave the spa. “I’m sorry I’m so slow, Aly, but I really love being here and polishing nails,” she said quietly. “I just . . . I just wanted you to know that.”
“Sophie, you’re a great manicurist.” Aly sighed. “I didn’t mean to be mean today.”
Once the Sparkle Spa was empty, Aly went on a hunt for Brooke. She found her sitting with Mom on the sky-blue bench in front of True Colors. They were both eating ice cream. With sprinkles. Aly didn’t say a word, she just stood there listening.
Brooke was chattering away, too busy to notice her sister. “They changed things,” she said. “While I was gone, Sophie took my spot and Charlotte made new signs and Caleb is a boy.”
“Joan had new ideas too,” Mom said. “For True Colors. I wish she would have asked me first, but sometimes being part of a team means letting other people do what they want to make a project or a game or a business the best it can be.”
“I don’t know if our friends love Sparkle Spa as much as I do,” Brooke said, staring at the roses that Joan had drawn on her cast.
“You might be surprised, Brookie,” Mom said. “They’re just trying hard to make it even better than it already is.”
“I guess,” Brooke said. “But I liked it better when the team was just me and Aly, and we did everything together, just us.”
Aly took a deep breath and finally spoke up. “I
liked it that way too, Brooke.” Then she sent a Secret Sister Eye Message that said, I miss you so much.
And when Aly felt tears forming in her eyes, she saw them in Brooke’s eyes too.
nine
Forget Me Not
All day Sunday, Aly and Brooke talked about what had gone right and what had gone wrong after Brooke’s accident. That way they could learn from what had happened.
They each made a list.
How to Fix Aly’s Mistakes
1. Talk to Brooke before you make any Executive Sparkle Spa Decisions! She’s your partner.
2. ESSDs should sometimes be discussed with Mom.
3. Think before you make big decisions, like hiring all your friends to work.
4. Don’t yell at your friends in the Sparkle Spa. They’re just trying to help.
5. Try not to be mean like Suzy Davis.
How to Fix Brooke’s Mistakes
1. Watch out for backpacks that are lying on the floor.
2. Don’t chase Sparkly through the whole entirehouse.
3. Don’t get mad at Caleb for being a boy.
4. Sometimes it’s okay when there are changes at the Sparkle Spa. People are just trying to make it even better.
5. Try not to be mean like Suzy Davis.
And when Charlotte, Lily, Sophie, and Caleb showed up for work at the Sparkle Spa on Tuesday, Aly folded up her list, stuck it in her back pocket, and apologized to them. She apologized again for her outburst on Saturday. She apologized for giving them all jobs without talking to Brooke first. And she told them that they could keep their jobs at the Sparkle Spa for as long as they wanted, but they had to understand that Brooke and Aly were the ones in charge. And they would make decisions together, just like Lewis and Clark. Even though those explorers needed help from their friends too, like Sacagawea.
True Colors Page 4