Free Bad News Nails by Jill Santopolo

one
Sprinkle Sprinkle Little Star
    C an you believe we get to go to a fiesta?” Aly Tanner’s younger sister, Brooke, asked as they stood in the Sparkle Spa staring at the nail polish display.
    â€œIt’s a gala,” Aly told her, laughing. “Not a fiesta.”
    Brooke laughed too. “Oh, right. A gala. Don’t you think ‘fiesta’ sounds more fun though?”
    Aly kind of thought it did. But it didn’t sound as fancy as a gala—the Businesswomen Unite Fund-Raising Gala, to be exact. “It does,” Aly said. “ButI don’t think people get to wear fancy dresses to a fiesta.”
    Because Brooke and Aly had started their own business, the Sparkle Spa, in the back room of their mother’s nail salon, True Colors, Mom said the girls could come with her to the gala. She’d even let them buy new, sparkly dresses to wear. Joan, the girls’ favorite manicurist, who also helped Mom run True Colors, was coming too.
    â€œDo you think we should start polishing?” Brooke asked.
    Even though the Sparkle Spa was usually open on Friday afternoons, the girls had closed it today so that they could get ready for the gala. They were going to get dressed at the Sparkle Spa and do each other’s hair and nails.
    â€œToes first?” Aly asked.
    Brooke nodded. “I just need to pick out my colors.”
    Aly pulled their dresses out of the closet. Brooke’s was yellow and ruffly, with gold glitter all over the skirt. She had shiny gold sandals to wear too. Aly’s dress was orange, which wasn’t usually her favorite color, but she especially loved this dress. It was silky and came down to her ankles and had a gold glittery belt. Her sandals were the same as Brooke’s, but in a larger size, since she was a fifth grader and her sister was a third grader.
    â€œHow about Lemon Aid?” Aly asked, pulling the bottle of polish from the shelf and holding it up to Brooke’s dress.
    Brooke shook her head. “Too much yellow.”
    Brooke was a very good “color picker.” She helped a lot of the customers at the Sparkle Spa choose their nail polish and sometimes even helped the customers in True Colors. And she was usually the one to decide on the Sparkle Spa’s Color of the Week. This week itwas a multicolored glittery shade called Sprinkle Sprinkle Little Star.
    â€œI think pink looks nice with yellow,” Brooke said, picking up Under Watermelon. “Maybe this color on my toes. And the Color of the Week for my fingernails! I think I’m set now. How about you?”
    Aly looked at her dress. “What color do you think goes best with orange?” she asked.
    Brooke picked up Please Don’t Teal. “This one,” she said. “And you should use Sprinkle Sprinkle Little Star for your nails too. We can match!”
    Aly smiled. “Okay,” she said. “Take off your flip-flops. You can go first.”
    Brooke climbed into the blue-green pedicure chair that was almost the same color as Please Don’t Teal. Aly turned the water on to fill up the basin.
    â€œLet’s make a list,” she said, “of everything we’re excited for tonight.”
    Aly loved making lists. They helped her organize her thoughts. Brooke’s brain seemed like it was hardly ever organized, but she was actually pretty good at helping Aly make lists.
    â€œOne,” Brooke said, swinging her legs back and forth, “we get to wear the fanciest dresses we’ve ever had.”
    â€œTwo,” Aly added as she squirted soap into the water, “we get to be counted as official businesswomen who started their own company.”
    Brooke looked at Aly. “Do you think we should bring our business cards?”
    â€œGood idea,” Aly said. “I think we have some in the desk.”
    A little more than a month ago, Brooke had broken her arm. Because of that, Aly had needed help from some of their friends