Free Bling It On! by Jill Santopolo

one
Blue Your Best
    A ly Tanner sat in the back of the auditorium at Auden Elementary School in a chair the color of Blue Your Best nail polish. Looking at row after row of kids sitting in front of her reminded Aly of the ocean.
    She was sitting between her best friends, Charlotte and Lily. Toward the middle of the room, Aly thought she could see the tip-top of her younger sister Brooke’s head, tilted toward Brooke’s best friend, Sophie Chu. Brooke was probably telling Sophie a story, becauseshe was always telling stories, or asking questions, or wondering about things. Aly wondered if Brooke was the biggest chatterbox in the whole third grade. It was quite possible. She might even be the biggest chatterbox in all of Auden Elementary.
    â€œMay I have your attention! Boys and girls, your attention, please!” Principal Rogers was standing on the auditorium stage, with Assistant Principal Amari next to her. The whole room quieted down—Aly checked, and even Brooke was looking straight ahead.
    â€œI’m here today to talk about Auden Elementary’s Annual School Carnival!” Principal Rogers said.
    All the kids cheered, including Aly. She loved the school carnival. There were a lot of booths. Last year Aly and Brooke had gotten their faces painted at the Face the Music booth and their hair spray-painted with purple stripes at Mane Event. And Aly had wontwo goldfish. She had carried them in their plastic bags around the carnival and named them Goldie and Lox. This year, Aly had no idea what she and her friends would do, but whatever it was, she knew it would be fun.
    â€œJust like last year,” Principal Rogers added, “the fifth and sixth graders are invited to submit proposals for booths. Assistant Principal Amari and I will choose twenty to be at the carnival.”
    Another cheer erupted from the room, but this time Aly didn’t join them. She’d forgotten that fifth and sixth graders were the ones who ran the booths. She tucked her hair behind her ears, but as usual it didn’t stay and flopped back in front of her eye. She’d have to decide between thinking up ideas with her friends and just going to the carnival like she did last year. Running a booth sounded like a lot of work, but it might be fun, too.
    â€œOh my gosh!” Charlotte whispered to Aly. “We could have a Sparkle Spa booth!”
    Aly turned to look at her friend. “You think so?” she asked.
    â€œIt would be awesome,” Lily whispered from Aly’s other side. “We should totally do a Sparkle Spa booth.”
    Even though they were still in elementary school, Aly and her sister, Brooke, were in charge of the Sparkle Spa, a sparkly nail salon for kids that was in the back room of their mom’s grown-up nail salon, True Colors. Charlotte and Lily, and Brooke’s friend Sophie, sometimes worked there too. And once in a while Charlotte’s twin brother, Caleb, helped out. Even though it was hard work running a salon, most of the time Aly thought it was pretty awesome, especially when kids at school told her how much they loved the way their nails looked at their dance recitalor their aunt’s wedding or their grandparents’ anniversary dinner.
    Aly figured that was how their mom felt, too, when she saw grown-ups with True Colors manicures and pedicures.
    â€œDo you think anyone would come?” Aly asked. “I mean, it takes a long time to get your nails polished, compared to getting a flower painted on your face or throwing Ping-Pong balls into a cup of water to win a fish.”
    Charlotte tapped the little Sparkle Spa schedule book that was sticking out of Aly’s jeans pocket. “You know how many customers come to the salon. Why wouldn’t they come to a booth at the carnival?”
    Charlotte seemed certain about this, but Aly wasn’t so sure.
    â€œStudents,” Principal Rogers continued, “this year we have a special addition to the