Makeover Magic (7 page)

Maxie's scream brought Mom running, with Miss Gonzales, the sixth-grade teacher from Auden, behind her. Miss Gonzales put down the bag she was carrying and hurried over to Maxie. “What's wrong?” she asked, just as Mom said, “Is everything okay in here?”

“Take a look for yourself,” Aly said. “Princess Polish bought cheap feathers, and now Maxie's turning purple.”

“Let me see,” Miss Gonzales said, inspecting Maxie's forehead. Maxie tilted her head closer to the teacher. “I think you can get it off with soap and water. It'll be fine. You'll still look lovely tonight.”

As Miss Gonzales and Mom returned to True Colors, Maxie pleaded, “Can you get me back to normal, Aly? Please, please, please?”

Brooke stared at Aly over her glasses, sending the Secret Sister Eye Message:
I am still very mad at them.
But Aly shook her head at Brooke. What kind of people would they be if they let Bethany and Maxie and Joelle go to the Fall Ball with messed-up nails and color-splotched skin? They were more professional than that.

“We can do it,” Aly answered. “But you'll have to
wait. We have other customers with booked appointments,” and she pointed to the group of boys now waiting at the door.

“That's right.” Brooke nodded. “You'll have to wait.”

Aly handed cotton balls and polish remover to Maxie, Joelle, and Bethany. “And you'll have to help out,” she added.

But the girls weren't looking at Aly, they were staring at all the boys in Sparkle Spa.

“What happened to you three?” a lacrosse player named Aiden asked.

“Don't look!” Bethany squealed as she turned around and tried to hide her face in her arm.

Maxie covered her face with her arm too. “Ack! I can't believe that the one day I have purple spots on my face is the same day that
boys
are at Sparkle Spa.”

Joelle stood her ground. “We had a feather problem,”
she told the boys. “But it's going to be fixed.” Then she turned to Aly and said, “Thank you for fixing us.”

“Thank you,” Bethany echoed. “So much. We'll never go anywhere else to get our nails done again.”

“Never,” Maxie agreed, her face still in her arm.

The boys looked at one another. “Did she say ‘feathers'?” asked Lee, who played the trumpet in the band with Lucas.

“She did,” Lucas confirmed from the spot where he was waiting for Oliver. “But don't worry. They don't do feathers in here. You're safe.”

Aly couldn't help but laugh. Then she returned her attention to Oliver's man-icure.

“This place is crazy!” he said to her as she finished filing his nails.

Aly nodded. “Today for sure,” she said. “It's a good thing our dog is home with our dad.”

“Sometimes there's a dog in here too?” Oliver asked.

“A little one,” Aly said. “Okay, I think you're all done now.”

Oliver held up his hands and inspected them. “My hands do look kind of different. My nails are, like, smooth and shiny. Thanks, Aly.”

Aly smiled. “Well, you're welcome to come back whenever you want.”

Oliver called out to Lucas, and just as they left another sixth-grade girl burst through the door. She had green feathers in her hair and green splotches on her skin. Aly knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth.

“Do you need us to fix you up before the Fall Ball?” she asked.

The girl nodded.

Aly ran her fingers through her hair. “Okay, just
go talk to Lily—she'll schedule you in.” She pointed the girl in Lily's direction.

Soon after that, two more sixth graders came in with the same Princess Polish problems. And just when Aly thought there couldn't be any more surprises, the biggest one of the day walked through the door.

Suzy Davis.

Followed by her younger sister, Heather.

“What are you doing here?” Brooke asked.

They rushed past Brooke, right over to Aly. Suzy stared at the floor, and she spoke so softly, Aly could barely hear her.

“Tonight's my parents' anniversary party, and Heather and I went to Princess Polish. I don't know what happened, but our nails are peeling and turning colors, and Princess Polish won't do anything about it. I know Sparkle Spa isn't as fancy as
they are, but, um, I was wondering if maybe you could, um . . . Ugh!” Suzy looked up. “Could you help us?”

Aly thought about all the awful things Suzy Davis had said and done at school over the years. If Aly started from kindergarten, she could probably count up to a hundred. That gave her an idea. One of her better ones, she thought.

“We'll help,” she said, “but you have to make me a deal. If we redo your nails, you can't say anything mean to me for the rest of the school year.”

“Mean? Who's mean?” Suzy said. Then she rolled her eyes. “Fine, Aly. Whatever. Deal. You just have to fix us.”

Deal? Aly couldn't believe Suzy had agreed.

“Okay, then,” Aly said. Honestly, she would've fixed Heather's nails anyway, and maybe even Suzy's, but this was fantastic. She wondered if Suzy would
keep up her end of the bargain and actually leave her alone at school now. It would be fun to see.

Aly directed Suzy and Heather over to the waiting area, handing them some cotton balls and polish remover to give them a head start. Then she sat down at her manicure station across from Garrett.

“Did Suzy Davis just promise to be nice to you?” he whispered, handing her a bottle of Heavy Metal for his thumbs-up man-icure.

“Yes,” Aly said as she dunked his hands in warm, soapy water.

“Is it always this weird in Sparkle Spa?” he asked.

Aly laughed. “No,” she said. “Today seems extra weird.”

But it was also extra exciting.

Aly looked around the salon. Brooke was giving one pedicure after another, and Charlotte was
furiously unbraiding and rebraiding hair. And the bracelet-making area was filled with waiting customers.

Aly and Brooke were grinning from ear to ear as they sent each other one of their silent messages:
This is one of the most sparkly days ever!

T
hree hours later Sparkle Spa was empty. Only Brooke and Aly were left, sitting in the pedicure chairs, hardly able to move. All their customers were gone, and Charlotte's mom had just picked her and Lily up to take them home.

“
That
was the craziest day ever,” Brooke said, flopping back against the seat cushion. “Since it's Saturday, I'd say it's time for us to do each other's nails. I'd been thinking News Prince because of the extra glitter, but maybe tomorrow. I'm all polished out.”

Aly flopped against her own chair. “I'm all polished out too. And braided out. And talked out. And everything-ed out.”

“Everything-ed out,” Brooke repeated with a sigh. “That's totally it. I'm everything-ed out. But at least everyone will look beautiful at the Fall Ball. I know you said before that we'd be like fairy godmothers today, but I think it's more like we were Cinderella's mice, racing around all day. No wicked stepsisters, no carriage turning into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight . . . but everyone really will look like princesses.”

“Or princes,” Aly added, looking around the room and noticing how much straightening up they had to do. She slowly got up and started putting polish bottles back in the display.

“You know, Brooke, I wish we could see the whole thing—everyone all dressed up, the party lights, the dancing, the fancy food . . .”

“Me too,” Brooke said. “Actually, I could use
some fancy food myself right now. Maybe we can clean up later?”

“Food would be good,” Aly said. “But let's bring Mom the money from the donation jar first—make sure she'll take it for True Colors so all our work will have been worth it. Can you believe we've been able to keep this a secret from her for so long?”

Before Aly even finished her sentence, Brooke was already heading into the main salon. Aly grabbed the donation jar and followed.

Everyone had left True Colors except for Mom, who was at the reception desk, going through the day's receipts; Joan, who was cleaning up her manicure station; and Mrs. Franklin, one of the girls' favorite regulars, who was zipping up her purse and heading out the door.

“Joanie,” Brooke said, “do you have any cookies today? Aly and I are Starvin' Marvins.”

Joan tucked some hair back into Brooke's braid.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn't have a chance to bake last night.”

Mom looked up from the reception desk and checked her watch. Aly checked hers too: 5:52. “I just have a few more things to do,” Mom said, but then she noticed that Aly was holding the Sparkle Spa donation jar. “Why are you carrying the jar, Aly?”

“Mom,” Aly began, waving Brooke to her side. “We've decided to give True Colors our donations. We didn't count it, but it looks like a lot.”

“Oh, girls,” Mom said. She looked like she was about to cry.

Brooke added, “There's a lot more money in there than usual, not only because of all our extra customers for the Fall Ball, but because we came up with suggested donations for our special services today. Please take it. We want you to have it all—to help keep True Colors open.”

“Plus,” Aly said, “if it weren't for True Colors, there wouldn't be a Sparkle Spa. And we don't want Princess Polish to put both of us out of business.”

Mom didn't say a word. Aly couldn't tell if she was angry or happy.

After what seemed like forever, she finally said, “You girls amaze me. But as kind and generous and thoughtful as you are, I can't accept your donation.”

“But why not?” asked Brooke. “We did this for you.” Now it looked as though Brooke might cry.

Mom pulled Aly and Brooke close and kissed the tops of their heads. “True Colors isn't a charity. And while I'm not happy that Princess Polish has moved in across the street, my business is doing fine. You don't have to worry. But I love you girls more than I can say for caring as much as you do. We'll figure out a different charity to donate the money to—maybe Businesswomen Unite this time? It's a
charity that helps women entrepreneurs start their own businesses.”

Mom hugged both of the girls again. “How does that sound?” she asked.

“If you think that's best,” Aly said. And then her stomach chose that time to rumble.

“You two really are hungry, aren't you?” Mom asked.

Aly was, actually, very hungry. She hadn't eaten lunch today.

“We are!” Brooke answered.

“Why don't you let them run out and grab something from the Sweetery, Karen?” Joan suggested.

Mom pulled a few bills out of her wallet. “That's a good idea,” she said. “Here's ten dollars. While you're at the bakery, Joan and I will start cleaning up Sparkle Spa for you.”

“You don't have to do that, Mom,” Aly said. She
wanted to show her mother she and Brooke were responsible business owners, which meant cleaning up after themselves.

Mom squeezed her shoulder. “Don't worry about it,” she said. “But don't get used to it either.” And she winked.

“Wow! I haven't been outside all day,” Brooke said once the sisters left True Colors. “The fresh air feels good. . . . I think I'm going to get something chocolatey with sprink—” Brooke stopped mid-sentence and tugged on Aly's sleeve. “Look, Aly.” She pointed across the street.

Princess Polish was dark. The lights were out.

“It looks like they closed early,” Brooke said.

Aly squinted. “I think there's a sign on the door.”

The girls walked to the corner and crossed the street to check it out.

CLOSED FOR AN EMERGENCY
, the sign read.

“Do you think they
really
had an emergency?” Brooke asked.

Aly shook her head. “Not a real one. I think they used old polish and cheap feathers and ended up with a lot of unhappy customers.”

Brooke nodded. “Do you think they'll close for good?”

Aly looked at the sign and peered in through the window. “I don't know,” she answered. “Maybe it's temporary, until they get new supplies.”

“Well, I hope it's for good.” Brooke slipped her hand into Aly's as they kept walking toward the bakery.

“Me too,” Aly said. “And I hope no other nail salons open up nearby.”

“Just True Colors and Sparkle Spa,” Brooke said.

It was funny, though. Aly was thinking that having Princess Polish there did make Sparkle Spa
better—it had made them come up with some new ideas, which was always a good thing.

The bells from the church downtown started to ring. Aly counted the bongs. One, two, three, four, five, six.

“When does the dance start?” Brooke asked as they walked into the Sweetery.

“Right now,” Aly answered, standing at the back of the line.