Spa booth too, and knew it would never work without her and Sophie polishing.
âGood question, Brooke.â Mr. Amari turned to Principal Rogers. âWhat do you think?â he asked her.
Principal Rogers took the microphone. âI think if our fifth and sixth graders want children from the younger grades to help, thatâs perfectly fine with me. If you need more workers, feel free to ask the kindergarteners through fourth graders. Good luck, everyone.â
âYes!â Brooke cheered, and sat down. Then shepopped up. âThank you!â she squeaked, and sat down once more.
âBrooke and Sophie can help,â Charlotte said, clapping. âThatâs perfect. Then our booth will have three manicurists, just like the salon.â
Since Aly and Brooke were co-CEOs of the Sparkle Spaâinitials that stood for chief executive officer and meant they were in charge of their business togetherâAly figured Brooke would probably want to be co-CEO of the carnival booth, even if she wasnât a fifth or sixth grader. And Aly thought that was okay.
But would a Sparkle Spa booth actually make enough money for the carnival, especially since such a great prizeâand Charlotteâs cookie betâwas on the line? And then, just like that, Aly had a worse worry: What if their proposal for a Sparkle Spa booth wasnât chosen? What would they do then to win the prize?
two
Red-y, Set, Go
A ly and Brookeâs mom had lots of rules for the Sparkle Spa:
1. It could be open three days a week (Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdaysâunless a special event was scheduled).
2. They could offer four services to their customers (manicures, pedicures, hair braiding, bracelet making, but no makeup or tattoos).
And the most important one to Mom:
3. The girls had to finish homework before polishing nails.
Since it was Tuesday, the girls headed over to the Sparkle Spa after school.
Tuesday was the sistersâ favorite day at the salon. That was when every single girl on the Auden Elementary soccer teamâthe Auden Angelsâcame to the spa. Jenica Posner, the captain of the team and also the coolest sixth grader, had really been the reason Aly and Brooke started the Sparkle Spa in the first place.
A few months ago when all the True Colors manicurists were busy, Mom allowed Aly to give Jenica a rainbow sparkle pedicure, and then Jenica played really well in her soccer game. After that, the entire soccer team wanted rainbow sparkle pedicures everyweekâthey were sure it gave them sparkle power. Their sparkle power took them all the way to the state finals, where they won!
Now the Angels were playing indoor soccer for the winter season and wanted to keep up their sparkle power, which meant pedicures every Tuesday.
âSo,â Jenica said as she climbed into one of the two pedicure chairs. âAre you going to have a Sparkle Spa booth at the carnival?â
Aly and Brooke had talked about it on the walk from school to the salon. Aly still wasnât convinced it was the best idea. And she hadnât mentioned a word about the Cameron and Charlotte Cookie Bet. Aly had made Charlotte promise not to say anything to anyone, just in case it somehow got back to her mother and Joan that theyâd promised a batch of Joanâs cookies without asking her first.
âMaybe,â Brooke said. She turned on the faucetin the pedicure basin, filling it with soapy water to soak Jenicaâs feet. âI think itâs a good idea. Aly sort of does. But sheâs a little worried we wonât make enough money at the carnival because of how long it takes us to do manicures.â
âRight,â Aly said. She was giving Anjuli Jones, the Angelsâ goalie, a pedicure. Anjuli always had her fingers polished as well as her toes. She switched up her colors each week, and this time she handed Aly a bottle of Red-y, Set, Go for her nails.
Brooke took a towel to dry off
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