On Sunday, Aly was pretty quiet at the Sparkle Spa. Joan didn’t seem her usual self either.
“Don’t you think Joanie should be happier, since she’s getting married?” Brooke asked Aly. She was giving Daisy Quinn, a sixth grader, a polka-dot manicure. “If I were planning a wedding with someone as nice as Isaac, I’d be the happiest person on the whole planet.”
Aly just shrugged. She was giving Daisy’s younger sister Violet a stars-and-stripes manicure. She was finding it hard to concentrate on the stripes, worrying that Joan was sad because Aly wasn’t going to be one of her flower girls.
“Maybe the person doesn’t really want to get married,” Daisy offered.
Aly shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it,” she said. But as she painted stripes on Violet’s pinkies, she had to wonder.
After the girls finished their appointments for the day, they cleaned up, which included wiping up a giant spill of the new color Green Tease. One of their customers, Uma Prasad, had accidentally knocked over the bottle with her elbow. Nobody had realized until it was too late.
Aly was on her knees, using nail polish remover on the linoleum floor, when Mom and Joan walked in. “Aly,” she said, “do you remember what Rock & Wrap It Up told us about the donations? I left the paper with all the information at home.”
Aly’s list was at home too, but she closed her eyes and tried to recall what was on it. They’d put the phone on speaker when they’d called the various charities, and Aly had taken notes—mostly because having lists helped her make decisions, and she wanted to help Mom make the right one about Joan’s wedding. Aly could picture what she’d written in purple glitter pen on a mint-green piece of paper:
Rock & Wrap It Up Donation Information
• Food that has been on anyone’s plate cannot be donated.
• All hot food has to stay at a safe temperature between the time of the wedding and pickup time.
• Everything has to be wrapped up in advance by people who know about food safety.
• The donation truck will arrive fifteen minutes after the reception ends.
“Thanks, sweetie,” her mom said after Aly recited each item. “I knew it was good to have you two on the phone with me.”
“Thanks, kiddo,” Joan said. “You girls gave me the idea for this donation because of your policy at the Sparkle Spa. There is always so much extra food at a wedding, and I hated the idea of throwing it out.”
“You’re doing it because of us?” Brooke asked. She had flopped on the pillows in the waiting area.
“Well, I thought if you girls could donate all of your profits to charity, the least I could do was donate my extra wedding food.”
“Maybe the next time our strawberry donation jar is full,” Aly said, thinking out loud, “we could donate the money to Rock & Wrap It Up. What do you think, Brookester?”
“I like it,” Brooke said.
Joan walked over and put her arm around Aly’s shoulders. “You’re a good kid, Aly,” she said. “I hope you don’t let Isaac’s niece push you around.”
Aly leaned into Joan. Had she been letting Suzy Davis push her around? That was a definite possibility.
The next day at school Aly was sitting at her usual lunch table, Charlotte next to her and Lily across from them. Just as she bit into a Granny Smith apple, Suzy came by.
“I have so many ideas about Heather and Brooke’s makeup and nails,” she said to Aly. “I know the Sparkle Spa’s not open today, so I was thinking we should get together to talk about it. You can come to my house after school.”
“Even when the Sparkle Spa’s not open,” Aly replied, “I usually stop by to help out at True Colors. My mom’s expecting me.”
Suzy rolled her eyes. “So call her and tell her you can’t. Don’t you think Joan and Uncle Isaac’s wedding is a little more important that reorganizing a dumb polish wall?”
Aly sighed. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll call her.” But as she said those words, Aly wondered if this is what Joan meant about letting Suzy Davis push her around.
“Good,” Suzy said. “Meet me in front of the school after the last bell. My babysitter will be there in a red car.”
“Red car,” Aly repeated. “Got it.” She’d have to find Brooke and make sure she had someone else to walk with her to True Colors. Or maybe Suzy’s babysitter could give her a ride. Either way, Brooke wasn’t allowed to walk to the salon from school alone, so Aly had to figure out a backup plan. Suzy Davis was complicating everything!
Once Suzy walked away, Charlotte asked, “What was that about?”
“I think it’s about me messing up. Big-time,” Aly said. “Joan asked me and Brooke and Suzy and Heather to be flower girls, and then Suzy said the two of us were too old. I agreed.”
“I know,” Lily said. “You told us about it yesterday.”
“Right,” Charlotte said, “and you are too old. I was a flower girl when I was four. Suzy may be mean, but she’s not dumb. And you said the dress was way too young.”
“Well, Suzy also decided that she and I would be Brooke and Heather’s stylists for the wedding. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that yesterday.”
“That sounds like fun!” Charlotte said.
Aly took a sip of juice. “It does,” she said. “But . . . but . . . I really wish I were in the wedding instead. Even if it means being the oldest flower girl ever.”
“Maybe you could come up with something else to do,” Lily suggested. “Think of all the jobs there are at the Sparkle Spa—there must be even more for a wedding.”
“Like what?” Aly asked. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and spread her napkin out on the table, ready to make one of her lists.
“Well, there’s the bride,” Lily said, “and the groom.”
Charlotte broke off a piece of her vanilla cookie with M&M’s on top. “Aly can’t be the bride or groom, Lily.”
“I know, I know,” Lily said. “I was just getting warmed up. Um, how about ring bearer?”
“That’s for little kids too,” Aly said.
“And usually boys,” Charlotte added through a mouthful of cookie. “Caleb was the ring bearer when I was the flower girl at our aunt’s wedding.”
“Bridesmaid?” Lily said.
“For grown-ups,” Charlotte responded.
“Groomsman?” Lily said.
“Also grown-ups,” Aly told her.
“Were there any other jobs at your aunt’s wedding?” Lily asked Charlotte.
Charlotte took another bite. “My older cousin Stacey gave out programs. Maybe you could do that, Aly.”
Aly was intrigued. “Did she get to walk down the aisle?”
Charlotte shook her head.
“Then I don’t want that one either.”
All three friends stared at one another. Then Lily finally said, “Maybe you should just talk to Joan again about being a flower girl.”
“I don’t think that’s an option anymore,” Aly muttered. “I think I’m going to have to be a stylist and that’s that.”
The girls finished eating and started walking back to class. Charlotte put her arm around Aly’s shoulders. “Well, at least you’ll get a nice dress. Maybe Lily and I can go shopping with you.”
For the first time that day, Aly smiled. That would be fun. And the wedding was about Joan and Isaac, after all. She had to start focusing on them—she’d try, anyway.