Bad News Nails (5 page)

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?”

A
ly 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 slack
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.