Bad News Nails (4 page)

Aly took a deep breath. Maybe this internship would change things with Suzy. Maybe after she worked here, she'd stop staying mean things about the Sparkle Spa. Maybe.

Aly decided to be very professional by pretending that she'd never met Suzy—to wipe off all the old polish and start with clean fingernails, so to speak. She would act exactly like she would with a stranger, talk to her as if she were a girl she was meeting for the very first time.

“Welcome, Suzy. We're really glad to have an intern.” Aly forced herself to smile. “We're looking forward to you working at the Sparkle Spa and have lots to teach you.”

Suzy put her hands on her hips. “Let's get one thing straight right off the bat,” she stated. “I'm
not
glad to be your intern. I
don't
want to work here. And my mom is making me do this because she wants me to run a business like her one day.”

Suzy narrowed her eyes and continued, “When your mom told all the other businesswomen about—” Suzy stopped talking and shook her head. “Never mind,” she said. “Anyway, I bet there's nothing you can teach me that I don't already know.”

“When our mom told all the other businesswomen about what?” Brooke asked.

“Didn't you hear me? I
said
never mind,” Suzy replied, plopping herself on a pillow in the jewelry-making area. “I can just sit here all day . . . even though this place is gross and smells like dog.”

“It does
not
smell like dog!” Brooke screeched. She turned to everyone else. “Does it?”

“Maybe a tiny bit in Sparkly's corner,” Lily said, sniffing. “But it's not a bad smell at all. Right, Sparkly?” she cooed, stroking his head. Sparkly barked and wagged his tail.

“I told you,” Suzy said. “Smells like dog. Bad for business.”

“But—I—you—” Brooke couldn't even get her words out.

Aly shook her head at Brooke slightly. She decided she was going to ignore anything mean that Suzy Davis did or said. She'd just act like it hadn't happened and change the subject.

Aly cleared her throat. “Do you know how to polish nails?” she asked. “We can teach you. Then you could do your mom's nails or your sister's.”

Suzy glared at Aly. Then she shrugged. “Well, I don't know how to polish nails, so I guess I might as well not waste my whole day here. Fine, show me.
But you'd better be a good teacher, otherwise forget it. Also, where's
my
apron?”

Aly frowned. “We, um, didn't know you'd be coming when Sophie ordered the aprons. Sorry.”

When Aly went to get Color Me Happy from the polish wall, Brooke followed. “How long is she going to be here?” she whispered.

“One week,” Aly whispered back.

“That's terrible,” Brooke said. “A week of terribleness.”

Aly had no idea how she'd last a whole week with Suzy Davis in their salon. It was hard enough to last five minutes.

A
ly usually looked forward to Tuesdays. It was rainbow sparkle pedicure day at the salon, which meant they were always booked with the soccer team. But today she was not looking forward to Tuesday at all. Suzy Davis was coming back to the Sparkle Spa for the second day of her internship.

When the final bell rang at 3:07, Aly met up with Charlotte and Lily on the front steps of the school. Sophie and Brooke soon joined them.

“Do we have to wait for Suzy?” Brooke asked.

Aly sighed. “I think so.”

Every time Aly thought about Suzy in the salon, she also thought about how Suzy had accidentally-on-purpose poured chocolate milk on her white leggings in third grade. On school picture day. And how Suzy had come into the Sparkle Spa demanding that someone fix her broken nail when the day was already booked, then had screamed and yelled when no one could do it right away. She really was the pits.

A few minutes later Suzy came out of school with her younger sister, Heather, and Heather's friend Jayden.

“What are you doing here?” Suzy asked Aly. “Shouldn't you be at the Sparkle Spa?”

“We were waiting for you,” Brooke told her. “What took you so long?”

Suzy pointed to a red car in front of the school.
“We were waiting inside for our babysitter. She's going to take me to the spa. I don't know why you waited for me—I didn't say I was going to walk there with you.”

“But . . . but . . . ,” Brooke sputtered.

“It's okay,” Aly said. “See you at the salon, Suzy.”

The girls started walking while Suzy, Heather, and Jayden climbed into the red car.

“She makes me so mad! Heather better not turn into Suzy,” Brooke fumed.

“I just don't understand,” Charlotte added, pumping her elbows back and forth. “Doesn't she want to be friends?”

Sophie wiped a strand of hair out of her eye. “I don't think she does. Maybe we should try harder to be friends with her.”

Brooke picked up her racewalking speed. “I am
not
trying harder with her,” she huffed.

“Hey, wait,” Lily said, trying to catch up to her. “Slow down!”

Aly thought maybe Sophie was right. Then again, maybe she wasn't.

When the girls reached the salon, the babysitter's car was parked out front.

“You girls are a little late today,” Mom said when they walked through the front door. “Is everything okay?”

“Well—” Brooke started, but Aly cut her off with one of their secret looks.

“Everything's fine,” she said.

“Okay. Pretzels and juice are back in the Sparkle Spa for you. And don't forget your homework.”

“We never do, Mrs. Tanner,” Charlotte said.

Mom smiled. “Just a reminder.”

The girls expected to find Suzy in the back room, but she wasn't there.

“I wonder where she is,” Lily said. “Maybe she's sitting in the car?”

“She better come in soon. We need to prep her before the soccer players get here,” Aly said.

Just as the girls were finishing their homework, Suzy showed up. “What are you doing? Why aren't you giving manicures?” she asked.

“Everyone has to finish their homework before we open the salon,” Brooke explained. “It's a rule. A Sparkle Spa rule.”

“Well, everyone except for me, because I'm not doing it,” Suzy said. “I don't do my homework until after dinner. And,” she added, looking at the bag of open pretzels on the break table, “I already had a better snack than that in the car. I'm ready to start polishing.”

Charlotte looked alarmed. Aly cleared her throat. “Before you can be a manicurist, I need to see how
well you do—have you been practicing what we went over on Sunday? You can polish my nails. Toes or fingers, you pick—either one is fine.”

When Suzy didn't answer right away, Aly stood still and crossed her arms. Charlotte did the same. Then Brooke. They all stared at Suzy.

Suzy rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. She grabbed a bottle of Not So Grapeful off the polish shelf and sat down at one of the manicure stations. “I'm ready, Aly. Let's go.”

Bethany and Mia, two of the soccer players, were booked first. Brooke and Sophie turned on the water to fill the pedicure basins as the girls took their seats.

“Can you believe we made it to states?” Mia said as she excitedly wiggled her toes in the water. “Please make my pedicure extra sparkly and extra powerful today so we can take the whole championship!”

“That's ridiculous,” Suzy muttered under her breath.

“Shhh,” Aly whispered to her.

“I can believe you guys made it,” Lily said from her spot near the donations jar. “You're awesome—undefeated all season!”

Bethany laughed. “It's true. We are.”

Charlotte glanced at the wall calendar. “Jenica's due in next,” she announced. “And Valentina.”

“Jenica's here!” Jenica said from the door.

“And Valentina, too,” Valentina said. “Oh, do you have a new manicurist?” she asked as she and Jenica made their way to the couch to wait.

“Hi,” Suzy said, introducing herself. “I'm Suzy Davis. I work here now too.”

“Cool!” Valentina said.

“She's an intern,” Aly clarified. “Just for this week. Her mom wants her to learn about running a business.”

Aly thought Suzy was about to hiss at her.

“Speaking of running things,” Jenica said, “did you come up with any great ideas for the soccer party?”

Suzy stopped polishing Aly's nails for a second.

“Well,” Aly said, “we were thinking manicures and pedicures and braids and bracelets and pizza and cookies.” She still wished they'd come up with something else. “And, um, something else exciting.”

Jenica nodded. “What's the other exciting thing going to be?”

“We're still working on that,” Charlotte said.

Suzy put down the bottle of polish. “It could be a pool party,” she said. “My house has a really big pool, and my parents keep it heated year-round.”

“I love pool parties,” Valentina said.

“It can't be a pool party,” Brooke snapped. “It's a
spa
party. How would we get all of our spa supplies to a pool?”

“In a suitcase?” Bethany suggested.

Aly wasn't sure what to say. It seemed like the team wanted a pool party. But Brooke was right. And also, this wasn't
Suzy's
salon. She wasn't allowed to make the plans.

“We'll talk about it,” Aly said.

“Okay.” Jenica smiled. “I know you'll make the party awesome.”

Suzy had just one more nail to polish. “So,” she said, “am I approved?”

Aly looked at her fingers. She checked for polish on her skin and streaks on her nails, but the manicure was almost perfect. Aly couldn't believe it. On Sunday, when Suzy had polished Charlotte's nails, she wasn't that good. Suzy must have practiced a lot in the last couple of days. There was no reason Aly couldn't make Suzy a manicurist.

“You're approved,” she told Suzy.

Suzy jumped up from the chair.

“What?” asked Brooke. She walked over to her sister and held up Aly's hands, inspecting them for a long time.

“So?” Suzy asked.

“You must have practiced a ton,” Brooke said.

Suzy shrugged. “Whatever, it's just polishing. It's not
that
hard.”

Brooke's faced flushed. She was about to yell when Sophie said, “Well, I'm impressed. It took me a lot longer to learn.”

“So who do I get to do first?” Suzy asked.

“She can polish my nails while I wait for a pedicure chair to open up,” Valentina offered.

“I'll help you pick out a nail color if you want,” Lily told her.

“You know,” Suzy said, sitting down at the second manicure station, “I can give you all some tips about how I do manicures.”

And that's when Brooke lost it. “
We
are the experts,” she said. “And this is
our
salon. You're lucky you're here.”

Aly raised her eyebrows at Brooke, who immediately closed her mouth.

“Your loss,” Suzy replied. “Come on, Valentina. I'll give you the best manicure you've ever had in your life. Way better than the ones you usually get here.”

Aly did not like Suzy. And she did not like how Suzy was trying to take charge of everything. But she was curious: What manicure tips
did
Suzy have that she and Brooke didn't know?

I
never thought I'd be happy we're
not
open on Wednesday,” Brooke said.

She and Aly were stretched out on the floor pillows in the Sparkle Spa doing their homework, glad that no one was there to bother them, especially Suzy.

“I know,” Aly said as she put her finger on her spot in
The Master Puppeteer,
her reading homework for language arts. “Having Suzy Davis as our intern is the worst thing that ever happened to this place.”