Fashion Disaster (2 page)

A
few hours later the Sparkle Spa was super busy. Once Charlotte arrived, she greeted all the customers, using her clipboard to check off the day's appointments and inform clients who would be doing their manicures or pedicures.

“Hi, Hannah,” Charlotte said to a fourth grader who walked through the door. “You're with Sophie today. Please choose your color from the wall. We just got a new one called Ever Green that I think is really pretty.”

“Does it go well with stripes?” Hannah asked. “Because I was thinking about stripes today.”

Brooke turned her head from where she was polishing Clementine Stern's toes. “Perfect with stripes,” she said. “Especially if you pair it with White Out or Silver Celebration. Those both look really good against Ever Green. I tested some out yesterday when the box of new colors was delivered.”

Aly finished the final clear coat atop a Red Between the Lines manicure for Uma Prasad, a sixth grader Aly knew from school, and then led her to the drying area. On her way back to her station she stopped to ask Charlotte, “Who do I have next?”

Charlotte looked at the clipboard in front of her. “You've got Tuesday next,” she said. “Then Daisy and then Parker—pedicures for the first two girls and a manicure for Parker.”

Aly nodded just as Tuesday walked in the door.

“Hi, Tuesday,” Charlotte greeted her. “You're with Aly today. Just pick your color and she'll get started.”

Aly headed over to the second pedicure chair, to the left of the one Brooke was using. She loved how well the Sparkle Spa ran now and how many regular customers they had. Pretty much all of their clients returned once they'd had their nails done there the first time.

Just as Aly was helping Tuesday up onto the chair, she heard a voice yell,
“Stop everything!”

Aly did stop. Brooke did too. And Sophie. But Charlotte did not. She kept blocking the doorway.

“Hey,” she said, “you don't have an appointment.”

“This is not
about
appointments!” the girl yelled, and then pushed passed Charlotte.

Aly heard Brooke groan.

It was Suzy Davis. Aly should have guessed. Ever since kindergarten, Suzy and Aly had been
enemies, but just this year, things had gotten a little better. Then Suzy's uncle had married Joan, Aly and Brooke's favorite manicurist at True Colors, and Aly and Suzy had been junior bridesmaids together at the wedding. Because of that, they ended up kind of friendly. Not best friends or anything, but certainly not enemies anymore.

“Hey, Suzy,” Aly said. “What's going on?”

Suzy thrust a doll out in front of her. The doll was wearing a dress the color of Cotton Candyland and had straight, dark, silky hair—kind of like Sophie's, except Sophie's was longer.

“Look,” Suzy said. “Doesn't her hair look gorgeous?”

Aly shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “But what's the big deal?”

Suzy cleared her throat. “I have figured out a way to make the Sparkle Spa the best spa in all the world.”

Brooke stood up and put her hands on her hips. “It already
is
the best spa in all the world, Suzy Davis. We've had this conversation a million times already.”

Sophie nodded in agreement.

Suzy just rolled her eyes.

But Aly was curious. Even if Suzy was a pain and didn't say things in the nicest way possible—or even in a way that was nice at all—she
did
have good ideas. “What's your idea this time?” Aly asked her.

“Haircuts!” Suzy said, thrusting the doll forward again. “I just cut this doll's hair, and it looks better than the haircut you got last month.”

“Hey!” Aly said.

She waited for Brooke to say something, because Brooke
always
said something to Suzy Davis when she was mean, but Brooke was silent. Aly looked over, and her sister seemed deep in thought.

“So,” Suzy continued, “I think that you should turn
part of the Sparkle Spa into a hair salon and that I should offer haircuts. Especially since your mom said I couldn't join the salon with my spectacular makeup services.”

Twice, once at Auden Elementary's carnival and once on the school's Picture Day, Suzy had run her makeup business. Aly had mentioned inviting her to join the Sparkle Spa team as a makeup artist, but Mom had said no. Aly was pretty sure it was because Suzy had once stolen the list of all the Sparkle Spa's clients.

“The thing is,” Charlotte said, “doll hair is different from human hair.”

Aly nodded. “It's true, Suzy. Just because you can cut doll hair, that doesn't mean it would work the same way on a real person. Maybe you could open a doll hair salon?”

Suzy rolled her eyes again. “That's the lamest thing I've
ever heard. I'm not going to cut doll hair all day long.” Then she scanned her eyes across everyone in the spa. “How about I prove I can cut people's hair? Who's going to let me give them a haircut?” she asked. “Clementine? Uma?”

“Sorry,” Clementine said, “I just got a trim.”

“Not me,” Uma said. “I like my hair the way it is.”

“You sure you don't want bangs?” Suzy asked. “I think they'd make your eyes look even bigger.”

“Positive,” Uma replied. “And my eyes look fine just the way they are, thank you very much.”

“I'll do it,” Brooke said.

Aly gasped. “What?” she said to her sister.

Brooke shrugged. “I was thinking about a haircut—you know we just talked about it—and the doll's hair does look great. Can you give me the same cut?” she asked Suzy.

“Of course,” Suzy said.

Aly shook her head. “But, Brooke . . . that's
doll
hair. And it's
straight
doll hair. I don't think your hair will turn out the same.”

Brooke looked at Suzy.

Suzy looked at the doll. “It'll look just like this,” she said. “I even brought my own scissors.”

Brooke nodded again. “Let's do it.” Then she turned to Clementine and said, “I'll finish your toes in a minute.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, Brooke?” Sophie asked quietly.

“Absotively posilutely,” Brooke said. “I've been thinking about making a change, and then Suzy showed up offering one. It's like the whole universe wants me to get a haircut. This haircut was meant to be.” That was what Mom said when things worked out perfectly. But Aly wasn't quite sure this was a meant-to-be moment.

Brooke got up and headed over to an empty
manicure station and sat down. “Is over here good?” she asked.

“Well,” Suzy said, walking over to her, “for now. But not once I get my own space in a corner or something.” She stood behind Brooke.

Aly felt like she should do more to stop this, but then again, maybe Suzy
was
right. Maybe doll hair and real-person hair were pretty similar. Maybe Brooke's haircut would look fantastic, like she was a movie star or something. And maybe the universe
did
want Brooke to get a haircut. Maybe it
was
meant to be. But Aly was definitely less certain about that than Brooke seemed to be.

“Okay,” Suzy said, looking at Brooke's braid. “First, I'm going to cut off the braid. Then I'm going to do the styling part.”

Brooke nodded, a smile on her face. “Do it!” she said.

Aly found herself shutting her eyes.

“Here I go!” Suzy said.

Aly heard the sharp sound of scissors slicing through hair.

Then she opened her eyes and gasped.

W
hat is it? Why did you make that sound?” Brooke asked her sister.

Aly watched as Brooke's long braid slithered to the floor like a snake. At almost the exact same time, Brooke's hair fluffed up in the shape of a triangle around her head. Aly gulped. “Just surprised is all,” she said. “I haven't seen you with short hair since you were a baby.”

Then the salon went quiet as all the girls, in various stages of manicures and pedicures, watched Suzy continue to cut Brooke's hair.

Aly
watched her snip along the bottom to make it even, but Brooke's hair didn't lie even. It was fluffy. And no matter what Suzy did, it stayed in the shape of a triangle. It did not look anything like the sleek bob on the doll Suzy had brought with her.

“Um,” Tuesday said to Suzy, “do you have to wet it? That's what they do when I get my hair cut.”

Suzy's face was starting to lose its usual confident look. “I didn't wet the doll's hair,” she replied, “so I'm not going to wet Brooke's hair.”

“But people hair and doll hair aren't the same,” Charlotte repeated.

Brooke looked at the faces everyone in the Sparkle Spa was making. They weren't bad, but they weren't necessarily good, either. More like . . . concerned faces. “Can someone bring me a mirror?” she asked.

“No!” Suzy shouted. “I'm not done yet.” She was walking slowly around the back of Brooke's head, like she was trying to figure out what to do next.

Suzy was holding Brooke's chin in one hand and the scissors in the other when Brooke and Aly's mom popped her head in from the main salon. “Hi, girls,” she said cheerfully. And then she paused. “What is going on in here?” she asked, walking into the room.

No one answered. Aly had no idea what to say.

“Brooke,” Mom said, very slowly, “what's happened to your hair?”

“How does it look, Mom?” Brooke asked. “Suzy's an expert doll haircutter and is giving me a haircut.”

Mom pressed her lips together. Aly knew that meant she was upset. Very upset.

“No,” Mom said, “Suzy is no longer giving you a haircut.”

“But I'm not done yet,” Suzy said.

“Yes,” Mom answered, “you are. Please take your doll and your scissors and sit over there until I can call your parents.”
She pointed toward an empty pillow in the jewelry-making area.

“But—” Suzy started to object.

“Now,” ordered Mom.

Suzy walked over and sat down.

“Can I see it?” Brooke asked. “Please?”

Mom went to her desk, pulled out a mirror, and brought it over to Brooke. The minute Brooke saw herself in the mirror, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Nooo!”
she wailed. “I want my hair back! This looks terrible. Suzy Davis, you made me look like that Sphinx statue we learned about in school when we were studying Egypt! My hair is a fluffy triangle!”

Mom took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “Brooke, come with me. We'll get you an appointment at Snip to My Lou, and you won't look like the Sphinx anymore. Aly, you and Sophie take care of your customers for the rest of today. But later we're
going to talk about how you let this happen. And, Suzy, I haven't forgotten about you. I'll call your parents after I make Brooke's appointment.”

“I was just trying to give Brooke a good style,” Suzy said.

“But you didn't!” Brooke cried.

Suzy looked down at the scissors in her lap. Aly could tell she felt bad. Suzy hadn't
meant
to make Brooke look like an old Egyptian statue.

Mom and Brooke walked out of the Sparkle Spa, but no one moved. Finally, Aly stood up. She was worried about Brooke's hair and about getting in trouble later, but she also had a business to run.

“Okay,” she said. “Charlotte, can you rearrange the schedule so that Sophie and I take over Brooke's clients? And can you please call anyone whose time needs to be moved?”

“I can help polish,” Suzy offered quietly.

Suzy was actually a very good polisher, but Aly had a feeling that was not the best idea at the moment. Mom seemed like she wanted Suzy out of the salon. “Thanks, Suzy,” she said. “But we'll be okay—just me and Sophie. We've done it before, right, Soph?”

Sophie nodded. “We'll be fine.”

“Who's going to finish my toes?” Clementine asked. “They're Pinktacular.”

“I will,” Aly said. “Let me just quickly clean up.”

Aly headed over to where Brooke had been sitting and picked up her braid. It was weird to see it on the floor, not attached to Brooke's head. Aly walked toward the trash to throw it out, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she dropped the braid in the bottom drawer of Mom's desk. She'd deal with that another time.