Auden Angels Day at the Sparkle Spa was always on Tuesdays. Well, it wasn’t just Auden Angels Day—other kids could come to the spa then too—but it was the day that the Auden Angels came for their rainbow sparkle pedicures. Ever since September, the sixth-grade soccer team had made appointments to have their toenails polished all through the fall outdoor soccer season and the winter indoor soccer season. Anjuli, the goalie, had her fingernails done too. There was usually space for a few other kids to make appointments, but not many.
After school, Aly, Brooke, Charlotte, Lily, and Sophie met to walk to the Sparkle Spa. In order to get there faster, the girls race-walked, propelling themselves forward with their elbows, just like they’d seen people do when they watched the Olympics on TV. Aly and Brooke were expert race-walkers.
“So, still no new place?” Charlotte huffed, trying her best to keep up.
“No,” Brooke answered. “But Mom’s going to start looking again tomorrow. She might want another business to share the space with True Colors.”
“Like the Sparkle Spa?” Sophie asked.
Aly shook her head. “Like a grown-up business,” she said. “But the Sparkle Spa will have room there too.”
“We hope!” Brooke said, her hair bouncing.
“What do you mean, you hope?” Lily asked.
“Even though Mom said the other day there would be room for us, last night at dinner she didn’t guarantee a space. We’re a little nervous, but we’re trying not to be.”
Lily stopped race-walking, pausing right in front of Baby Cakes, a kids’ clothing and cake store. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? The Sparkle Spa might close?”
Aly stopped too. “We don’t think so, but we just don’t know for sure.”
Brooke stopped next to her sister. “And until we know something for sure, we decided not to worry about it. Right, Aly? Because it might be a waste of worrying.”
Aly nodded. Though the truth was, she was still worried.
When the girls reached True Colors, they said hello to all the manicurists and the regular customers they knew, like Mrs. Franklin. Her dog, Sadie, was a pet model and had just gotten cast in a TV commercial for medicine that treated allergies. Mrs. Franklin was very excited about it, and the girls were too.
“So we’ll be able to see Sadie on TV?” Brooke asked. “That’s the coolest ever. Do you think maybe Sparkly could be on TV one day?”
Aly and Brooke’s dog Sparkly was very sweet and very tiny, but he was not a dog model at all. Mostly he hung out in his corner of the Sparkle Spa when the girls were at school. Joan had made a deal with the girls’ mom that she would walk him during the day. The girls loved Joan for it. Sparkly did too.
“Maybe,” Mrs. Franklin told Brooke. “But it’s a lot of work, getting your dog on TV, and a lot of training.”
Brooke scrunched up her face. She did not like training Sparkly. Pretty much all he knew how to do was “fetch” and “lie down.” One afternoon she’d tried teaching him “shake hands,” but it hadn’t worked out very well.
The girls headed into the Sparkle Spa, where Mom had celery sticks, peanut butter, and water waiting for them. They ate their snack and did their homework—one of Mom’s rules—and then opened the Sparkle Spa for business.
Jenica, the Angels’ captain, arrived first with Bethany and Giovanna. Jenica and Bethany jumped into the pedicure chairs, and Giovanna sat near them.
“Is it okay if I pet Sparkly?” Giovanna asked.
“Sure,” Charlotte told her. “He likes when you scratch his ears.”
“I heard your mom might be moving her salon,” Jenica said. “My nana told me.”
Aly turned on the water in the pedicure basin and looked up at Jenica. “That’s the plan,” she said.
“We’re hoping that means we get a bigger Sparkle Spa,” Brooke said. “But we don’t really know.”
Jenica nodded. “You should see if you could get three pedicure chairs, if you do.”
On Aly’s list, she’d had written four pedicure chairs, just in case another manicurist started working at the Sparkle Spa. But three pedicure chairs would be really nice too, Aly thought. At least then she, Brooke, and Sophie could do pedicures at the same time—with no clients waiting.
Aly was in the middle of removing Jenica’s old toenail polish when someone knocked on the door. Charlotte headed over with her schedule clipboard. All the people who worked at the Sparkle Spa had special jobs, like in a real business. Charlotte was officially the COO—chief operating officer—of the Sparkle Spa. That meant she was in charge of schedules and lots of other chores that involved organizing.
“Oh,” Charlotte said when she saw who was there. “Hi, Suzy.”
“Hi,” Suzy replied. “Brooke and Aly’s mom said I could come back here while she talks to my mom.” Then she sniffed the air a little bit. “Nice job covering up the dog smell in here. It’s usually worse.”
Brooke stood up with a bottle of Under Watermelon polish in her hands—one of the colors in the rainbow sparkle pedicure. “For the last time,” she said to Suzy, “the Sparkle Spa does not smell like dog!”
Suzy nodded. “That’s what I’m saying. It smells better today.”
Brooke huffed and knelt back down to paint Bethany’s toenails.
Aly sniffed the air. She thought it smelled a little bit like vanilla and wondered if Mom or Joan had sprayed perfume or something else in the room while the girls were at school.
“So, what’s your mom talking to Mrs. Tanner about?” Lily asked Suzy. Lily was stationed next to the sparkly teal strawberry that was the Sparkle Spa’s donation jar. Mom wouldn’t let the girls charge for their services, but she allowed them to put out a donation jar. Once she took out the cost of the nail polish and other supplies, she told the girls they could donate the money to whatever charity they wanted. So far they’d donated to lots of places, including the pet adoption center where they’d gotten Sparkly.
Since Lily was really good at math, she was the CFO—chief financial officer—of the Sparkle Spa. That meant she handled all the money and reminded clients to donate.
“Aly and Brooke’s mom sent an e-mail to a bunch of women who run businesses, including my mom, asking if anyone wanted space in her new salon. My mom’s business is mostly online, but she liked the idea of having a real store with lots of storage for her supplies, so she came to talk to Mrs. Tanner. If it works out, then I’ll get to have Suzy’s Spectacular Makeup there too.”
“Really?” Brooke asked. “Your mom said that?”
Suzy picked up a bottle of Orange Juice polish. “Not exactly,” she said. “But it’s only fair. If your mom can give you a space to run a business, my mom can too.”
Aly and Brooke sent a Secret Sister Eye Message to each other: She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Aloud, Aly said, “That would be nice.”
“What kind of business does your mom run, anyway?” Bethany asked as Brooke went back to giving her a pedicure.
“Personalization,” Suzy said. “Like if you want sweatshirts with your name on them, or aprons with a company’s logo on them, or pencils, or whatever. She helps you make them, and then sends them to your house.”
“Oh yeah,” Giovanna said. “My nonna bought hats from her when my whole family went on vacation together. They were really cool.”
“All her stuff is cool,” Suzy said. “So hopefully she’ll get a store, and then I’ll get a store, and it’ll be great.”
“Totally,” Giovanna agreed.
But Aly wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about a lot of things:
• Whether it would be great if Suzy’s mom rented out space in True Colors.
• Whether that would mean Suzy would get her own space in True Colors.
• And whether it would be great—or not—if she did.
But Aly tried to remember her promise to Brooke that she wouldn’t worry until there was something serious to worry about. So she kept quiet and continued polishing Jenica’s toes.