Bling It On!

by Jill Santopolo

  “What do you think Principal Rogers wants from us?” Lily asked, just as Charlotte said, “Our booth got chosen!”

  Aly looked at Charlotte first. “I know!”

  Then she turned to Lily. “I don’t know!”

  Charlotte and Lily both laughed, but Aly didn’t. She didn’t like it when she couldn’t figure out why someone wanted to talk to her about something.

  * * *

  “Come in, girls, come in,” Principal Rogers said when the girls reached her office.

  Aly had never been in the principal’s office before. She couldn’t help looking around. There was an orange couch the exact color of Teeny Tangeriney polish, a huge wood desk, four really tall bookcases filled with books and picture frames and a tennis racket, and a red, orange, and yellow striped rug on the floor.

  “I like the idea of your booth, girls,” Principal Rogers said, “and am thrilled to have you include your braiding and nail polishing at the carnival. I think you’ll raise a lot of money for the girls’ team. But I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to have a photo booth. The budget is too high, and Aubrey, Maisie, and Jade’s Super-Model booth is very similar, but much less expensive.”

  Aly swallowed. “But that was how we were going to make extra money and maybe get the boys as customers too.” And not have to ask Joan to bake, Aly thought.

  Lily and Charlotte nodded.

  Principal Rogers thought for moment. “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about appealing to the boys. I think you’ll get enough customers at your booth to keep you busy for the whole carnival. However, if you’d like to think of an additional idea, that would be fine. It just can’t be a duplicate concept or theme.”

  “Okay,” Aly answered. “Thanks, Principal Rogers.”

  The girls shuffled out of the office and down the hall. Aly was happy and relieved about being chosen, but what would they come up with? She really didn’t think manicures and braiding would be enough on their own. Especially since the boys were doing tattoos. Maybe we should have included Sparkly, Aly sighed to herself, even though the idea wasn’t great.

  five

  Deep Blue Sea

  The next day at lunch, Aly was feeling mopey. She and Brooke had talked the night before and couldn’t come up with one good idea to add to the Sparkle Spa Celebration booth. She was also feeling a bit guilty over not telling Brooke about the cookie bet. Or Mom. Or Joan. Or anyone.

  “Brooke thinks we should just leave it with manicures and braiding and nothing else,” Aly told Charlotte and Lily as she took a bite of her cheese sandwich. Even her lunch seemed sad today. A cheese sandwich, an apple, water, and a bag of pretzels. Sad sad sad.

  “I really think we should add something else,” Charlotte said, biting into a donut. Aly was pretty sure her own mother would not consider a donut with frosting and sprinkles and something gooey inside appropriate lunch food.

  “But what?” Aly answered. She knew Charlotte was trying to help with the bet too. “With everything Brooke and I thought of, either another booth is doing it, or it’s too expensive, or too hard to pull off.”

  “Well, what was on your list?” Lily asked. “Maybe we’ll come up with something new.”

  Aly pulled the Sparkle Spa schedule notebook out of her pocket and turned to the inside cover, where she had written the list. She handed it to Lily.

  Lily read, then sighed. “You’re right,” she said. “This has pretty much everything.”

  “Let me see.” Charlotte looked over Lily’s shoulder. Aly could see Charlotte’s lips moving as she read everything from glitter tattoos (the boys were doing tattoos, so that was out), to face paint (Daisy and Uma were doing that one), to make your own bracelets (too expensive), to make a music video (too expensive and too hard to pull off), to spin art (ditto—and also too similar to Carina and Daniella’s booth).

  Aly was taking another bite of her sandwich when someone asked, “Is anyone sitting here?”

  The someone asking was Suzy Davis. And Suzy Davis rarely asked anything. If there was space at a table, Suzy usually just sat in it, even if someone else was trying to save it for a friend.

  “Um, no,” Aly said. “You can sit there if you want.”

  “Thanks,” Suzy said, and she sat down. She didn’t say one mean word or make fun of the Sparkle Spa or anything. Aly was almost worried about her.

  “Are you okay, Suzy?” Aly asked.

  “What do you think?” Suzy asked. She looked down at her yogurt instead of at Aly.

  “You’re upset about not being chosen for the carnival?” Aly asked it like a question, just in case she was wrong.

  “You must be a genius for figuring that out,” Suzy said. But there wasn’t as much energy in her insult as usual.

  “I’m sorry your booth wasn’t picked,” Aly said. “It was a good idea.”

  “Then maybe you’re not a genius after all,” Suzy said, “because Principal Rogers didn’t think it was.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, she made us take the photo booth off our Sparkle Spa Celebration booth.”

  Suzy shrugged. “Aubrey’s is a better photo booth anyway.”

  Aly took a sip of water. “I know. But I’m still bummed about it.”

  Suzy nodded.

  Aly didn’t say anything to her after that, and Suzy didn’t say anything to Aly. But Aly somehow felt more connected to Suzy than she ever had before.

  * * *

  After school that day, the Sparkle Spa team met at Charlotte’s house, making plans and lists for their booth. They talked about which polish colors to bring from the salon, how many glittery elastics they’d need to buy for braids, and booth theme decorations.

  “Can we afford more balloons?” Brooke asked. “We only have seven left over in the closet, and I don’t think that’s enough.”

  Lily pulled Charlotte’s mom’s laptop closer to her and checked on the prices for balloons. “Balloons are really cheap,” she said. “I think we can get those, no problem.”

  Brooke wasn’t finished. “We need big brown paper, too. I already have markers, so we won’t need any of those.”

  Gurgle. Gurgle.

  Brooke started giggling. “What was that?” she asked.

  “My stomach,” Charlotte laughed. “Does anyone want grapes? I’m starving.”

  “We heard,” Lily said.

  Charlotte headed into the kitchen. But a minute later she came running back out without any grapes.

  “Guys!” she said. “The boys are in the kitchen. They just said they’re doing something extra-special for their booth that’s going to make them win for sure, because every single person is going to want one. But they won’t tell me what it is!”

  Aly could feel the girls’ trip to Water World slipping away. And the cookies.

  “How could the boys possibly make tattoos more special?” Lily wondered. “I know what we have to do,” she said. “Charlotte, you need to be a spy.”

  “A spy?” Sophie asked. “Like, sneak up on the boys and listen to what they’re saying?”

  “Exactly,” said Lily. “Listen with your ear to the door. And since it’s your house, you can go anywhere you want.”

  Charlotte smiled. “Well, it’s a little sneaky, but I like this plan. Aly, do you want to spy with me? Four ears are better than two.”

  Aly thought eavesdropping on people was probably not the nicest thing to do, but she was desperate to find out the boys’ secret plan, and she knew Charlotte was too. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

  The girls decided they needed an alibi, in case the boys saw them. They went to the kitchen and grabbed a bunch of grapes. Then they tiptoed past the closed door of Caleb’s room.

  “I’m going to drop a grape,” Charlotte whispered. “Then we’ll both bend down to pick it up, and listen at the crack in the bottom of the door. If anyone comes by, like my mom, or if one of the boys opens Caleb’s door, we’ll have an excuse.”

  “Maybe you should drop two gr
apes,” Aly suggested. “So we each have one to pick up.”

  “Good plan,” Charlotte agreed. She dropped the grapes on the floor, and she and Aly crouched down quietly. Aly stared at the Deep Blue Sea carpeting and listened as hard as she could. Once she strained her ears, she could hear Caleb’s, Garrett’s, and Cameron’s voices. They had Caleb and Charlotte’s dad’s iPad and were choosing tattoos to order from an online store.

  “Let’s get some sports ones,” Cameron said.

  “Okay,” Caleb said. “How about five baseball, five soccer, five basketball, and five football?”

  “We should order some extra soccer balls, in case the Angels want some,” Garrett said. “And some stars and hearts and other things that girls seem to like.”

  Aly smiled. It was nice that Garrett was making sure there were soccer balls for the Angels—and she knew some girls who came to the Sparkle Spa who would love star and heart tattoos. But they still hadn’t heard anything that sounded top secret.

  “We can get special star ones,” Caleb said.

  Aly looked at Charlotte. Aha—this might be it. Aly held her breath.

  “Oh yeah?” Cameron said. “They have glow-in-the-dark stars? That’s great, then. We should order double the amount.”

  Aly opened her eyes wide. Glow-in-the-dark tattoos. That must be the secret. She grabbed the grape closest to her off the floor, Charlotte grabbed the other one, and they raced back to tell the rest of the girls.

  But even though they’d figured out the secret, Aly thought, they couldn’t do anything about it.

  six

  Cheer Up, Buttercup

  Are you ready yet?” Brooke shouted up the stairs. Aly and Brooke were in the kitchen, but their parents were still upstairs.

  While they waited for their parents to drive them to the carnival, Aly was busy double-checking the wheelie suitcase that was filled with:

  balloons

  streamers

  Scotch tape

  polishing tools like emery boards and hand cream

  exactly 498 glittery hair elastics

  Aly pulled out the list of nail polish colors they had packed the night before:

  Carnival Polishes

  Cherry on Top (red)

  Orange You Happy (orange)

  Cheer Up, Buttercup (yellow)

  Oscar the Green (green)

  Deep Blue Sea (blue)

  We the Purple (purple)

  Cotton Candyland (pink)

  Silver Celebration (silver)

  Golden Oldies (gold)

  Witches’ Brew (black)

  They were all there, two bottles of each.

  “Mom and Dad, I said, are you ready yet?” Brooke called up the stairs, louder this time.

  Still no one answered, so Brooke went marching up the steps.

  Aly checked on the beautiful and sparkly poster Brooke had made, which was carefully rolled up so it wouldn’t crease.

  Then Brooke came back downstairs, with Mom and Dad following. “They’re finally ready,” she announced.

  “We are,” Dad said, laughing. “Are you girls ready for your big day?”

  “It’s not such a big day, Dad,” Brooke said. “It’s not like the day we opened the Sparkle Spa.”

  “Still, it’s not every day you run a booth at a carnival,” he answered.

  Aly smiled. “You’re right, Dad,” she said, and handed Brooke the poster to carry outside. “I’m so glad it’s happening when you’re home.”

  Aly and Brooke’s dad traveled all the time—usually from Mondays until Fridays—but sometimes he worked on Saturdays and Sundays too. Aly felt lucky he was home this weekend so he could see the booth.

  The Tanners piled into the car.

  “Are you sure you have everything?” Mom asked.

  Aly nodded. “I double-checked twice,” she said.

  “Does that mean you checked four times?” Brooke asked.

  Aly counted. “Three,” she said. “I checked once, then double-checked, then double-checked again.”

  “I think you triple-checked,” Brooke said.

  The whole family laughed.

  Once they got to Auden Elementary, the girls’ carnival team had a meeting with Principal Rogers. The boys were on the other side of the field, meeting with AP Amari.

  Principal Rogers wore the same outfit she wore each year for the carnival: Auden’s school colors, a purple shirt and gold pants, and purple sneakers with gold soles. She raised her voice above the chattering girls. “Good morning, girls. We’ve got a busy day today, so please listen carefully. All of the girls’ booths will be on the right side of the field, and all of the boys’ booths will be on the left. You’ll have thirty minutes for setup. The carnival begins at ten o’clock and will end at three o’clock.”

  Principal Rogers continued, “Do you see those thermometers over there?”

  Aly saw a big painted thermometer with dollar signs on it. One was painted purple and the other was painted gold.

  “Ours is the gold one, girls,” Principal Rogers said. “Every half hour, please have someone from your booth bring me whatever money you’ve made that last half hour. I will tally it on our thermometer. I’m so proud of your ideas this year. I truly believe you can win it.”

  Aly and Charlotte exchanged looks and crossed their fingers.

  Principal Rogers handed out the carnival maps. When Brooke looked at the paper, she squealed, “We’re next to cotton candy!”

  Aly nodded. “I think that’s a great spot. Everyone loves cotton candy. I bet we’ll get a lot of traffic.”

  “Kids might even walk over for a braid while they’re still eating cotton candy,” Lily said.

  As the Sparkle Spa team was heading to their spot, Principal Rogers asked, “What did you girls decide to add instead of the photo booth?”

  Aly looked at Brooke. “Actually,” she said, “we couldn’t think of anything.”

  “That’s too bad,” their principal said. “But if you happen to think of anything else during the day, please let me know and I’ll give you permission.”

  Once the girls reached their spot, they quickly taped up their sign, blew up balloons, and decorated with streamers for the party theme. Sophie and Brooke set up two manicure stations, and Charlotte and Aly set up two braiding stations.

  “If more people want manicures than braiding, I’ll go back and forth,” Aly said, reminding everyone of the plan.

  “Right,” Brooke said.

  Lily had brought the teal strawberry donation jar from the Sparkle Spa and was holding it carefully. “I’ll collect all the money and bring it to Principal Rogers every half hour.”

  At 10:00 a.m. sharp, AP Amari blew a whistle into a bullhorn. The gates opened and kids and parents came rushing onto the school field.

  Boys and girls rushed over to the carnival booths—Wheel of Chance, Soccer Score, and Win a Fish. Luckily, a few walked straight toward the Sparkle Spa booth, and soon Sophie and Brooke were polishing and Charlotte and Aly were braiding as fast as they could.

  “Can I have a Dutch braid?” a fourth grader named Eliza asked.

  Aly nodded. “No problem. Please give Lily two dollars, and come sit down.”

  As Aly was finishing Eliza’s braid, Clementine, a third grader in Brooke’s class, came over. “Can you give me two braids, one on each side?” she asked.

  “Absolutely,” Aly told her.

  Clementine handed two dollars to Lily and waited patiently until Aly snapped the rubber band around the bottom of Eliza’s braid.

  As Clementine sat down, Aly looked over at Brooke and Sophie. “How’s it going with the manicures?” she shouted to them. There were so many people at the carnival, she practically had to scream to be heard.

  “We’re fine,” Brooke and Sophie both answered.

  Mom and Dad came by, eating cotton candy. Mr. Tanner had won a box of golf balls from the Sports Trivia booth.

  “The Sports Trivia booth?” Brooke asked. She was busy polishing
the nails of Tuesday Martin, another third grader. “That’s a boy booth! You’re raising money for the boys, Dad! That’s the wrong side! Quick—go to another girl booth.”

  “What’s going on?” the girls’ dad asked their mom.

  “It’s a competition,” Mom said. “Remember, the girls told you last night at dinner? If the girls raise more money than the boys, they get to go to Water World for free. If not, the boys do.”

  “That’s right,” Dad said. “Now I remember. Sorry, Brookie. How about if I go . . . decorate a cookie over at that booth?”

  Aly looked over at Talia Lieber’s booth. Cookies in fun shapes like robots, dogs, and stars looked like they might be as tasty as Joan’s. Aly hadn’t forgotten for one second about Cameron and Charlotte’s bet. She sure hoped carnival-goers were visiting more of the girls’ booths than the boys’ booths.

  “Good plan, Dad,” she said. “Maybe you and Mom should decorate two . . . and share with us.”

  “Actually,” Mom said, “I think we’ll decorate one for each of your team. Five cookies, coming up. Let’s go, Mark.”

  Lily ran the Sparkle Spa Celebration money to Principal Rogers while Aly gave a French braid to Jayden Smith and Sophie polished Marla Goodman’s nails with Orange You Happy.

  Brooke had just finished a Golden Oldies manicure when AP Amari blew his whistle. He was also dressed in purple and gold from head to toe, and was standing next to the thermometers with a can of red paint.

  “I have an announcement to make!” he bellowed. “Right now the boys have made three hundred twenty-four dollars.” Yelps and cheers of “Boys rule!” were heard from the boys’ side of the field.

  The assistant principal went on. “And the girls have made three hundred two dollars. Good work, everyone! I’ll be painting the money onto the thermometers so everyone can see how they’re doing!”

  Brooke groaned. “The boys are winning. I wish I could polish faster. And that Dad didn’t give that dumb Sports Trivia booth a dollar.”

  Charlotte groaned too. “I wish we could come up with one more thing for our booth, like Principal Rogers said. There are two problems, though. One, we can’t think of anything. And two, we’d need someone else to do it, because we’re all so busy.”