Purple Nails and Puppy Tails (4 page)

Brooke ran over to the sparkly teal strawberry that served as the Sparkle Spa's donation jar and lifted it up. “We can donate all the money that people give us for polishing nails,” she said.

Aly was pretty certain it still wouldn't be enough.

“What else can we do to make money?” Jenica asked as Aly polished her pinkie with Under Watermelon.

Aly asked, “What else are we good at?”

Bethany thought for a minute and said, “We can wash cars. Or walk dogs. I can feed my neighbor Mrs. Berman's cat.”

Brooke was starting on Bethany's right foot when she said, “We're good at polishing nails.”

Aly stopped Jenica's pedicure in the middle of her big toe. That was it! A polish-a-thon!

“Remember when we did that math-a-thon at school?” she said, and started to polish again. Auden had held an event where people donated money for every math problem the students finished, and then all the funds were given to a hospital that treated kids with cancer.

“Sure,” Jenica said.

“Well, what if we had a polish-a-thon and people donated money each time we polished someone's nails?”

“You can do that, but wouldn't it be easier if you just asked for a donation from the person who was getting their nails done instead?” Bethany asked.

That was a lot like charging money, it seemed to Aly, and Mom had said no charges for Sparkle Spa services. Just donations. But maybe this would be different, if it was just for one day.

Aly knew she'd have to compose a list to convince Mom. She'd come up with the list later. Right now they had the rest of the soccer team to do.

But then Bethany said, “I've been thinking about a manicure, too. But maybe not the same one Jenica has.”

“Hey! I like my color,” Jenica said.

Bethany shrugged. “It's nice, but I want something different.”

Brooke jumped up. “I know—Up the Lavender to the Roof.” She ran over to the polish display and pulled down a bottle of a really light lavender shade, with dark lavender sparkles. “Cool, right?” she said, handing it to Bethany.

“Actually, it
is
pretty awesome. Can you do it?”

Aly looked at her purple polka-dot watch again. Adding this manicure would mess up their schedule a bit, but if she finished up Jenica's toes especially quickly and then started on Bethany's hands while Brooke was finishing up her feet, it just might work.

“Okay. We can do it,” she said.

Jenica leaned back in her pedicure chair and pressed the little button that activated the back massage built into the chair. Bethany did the same. “So,
do you think Woodrow Wilson is going to be a tough school to beat?” Bethany asked Jenica.

Jenica shrugged. “As long as Maxie and Joelle keep assisting each other up near the goal, I think we can handle it. Plus, remember, we have sparkle power,” she said, wiggling her toes.

“What do you think?” Aly began. “Would the soccer team and their sparkle power want to help out if we get my mom to agree to the polish-a-thon?”

“Let's find out when the rest of the team gets here,” Jenica said.

Just then Brooke and Aly's mom came into the Sparkle Spa to refill the mini-fridge with water. “Find out what?” she asked.

Aly sighed. She wasn't ready to ask Mom about the polish-a-thon. But Brooke started talking immediately.

“We want to hold a bake sale and polish-a-thon
to raise money for Paws for Love,” she said. And then she blurted out the whole plan. It wasn't the way Aly would have explained it, but Brooke got the point across.

When Brooke finished, Aly held her breath.

Mom pressed her lips together for a second. It was one of the things she did when she was trying to make a decision. She loaded the mini-fridge and didn't say anything for a while. “You know,” she finally said, “I think that would be great for True Colors to do too. Why don't we have a polish-a-thon for kids in the Sparkle Spa and one for adults in True Colors? Then we'd raise even more money, and maybe get newspaper coverage too.

“We can put flyers up all over town. It would give us a leg up over that Princess Polish shop that's supposed to open across the street next month.” Mom barely took a break before continuing: “As far as the
bake sale and the doggie treats are concerned, you're going to have to ask Joan. That's up to her. Let's discuss this more later. Right now I have to go paint Miss Nina's nails. I'll talk to her about this plan too—I know she's very involved in the shelter.”

Mom headed back into the main salon.

The girls were speechless. That was the quickest Mom had ever agreed to
anything
. Aly didn't even have to make a list! And Mom wanted True Colors to get involved too! And be in the newspaper! And put posters up all over town!

They'd have to check with Paws for Love and get two “paws-up”—but once they did, the old-timers would be on their way to new homes. Or at least Aly hoped they would.

O
n Thursday night boxes of green- and red-pepper pizza were on the welcome desk. Lemonade and apple juice cartons sat on the windowsill. People sat in pedicure chairs, at manicure stations, some even on the floor. True Colors had never looked quite this way before.

It was the first meeting of the polish-a-thon planning committee, and the salon was packed. All the manicurists from True Colors were there, along with the Auden Elementary soccer team. Charlotte, Lily,
Sophie, and even Mrs. Franklin showed up. She'd left Sadie at home.

Joan and Aly were the “captains,” while Mrs. Tanner was on the phone being interviewed by the local paper,
The Auden Herald
.

“It's great having you all here,” Joan said. “We have a lot to figure out tonight. Anyone who wants to bake or be involved with selling the cookies and brownies and dog treats, come with me. Anyone who's going to help out with the polishing, you can talk to Aly.”

Aly walked to the front door, a clipboard in her hands. Brooke, Lily, Sophie, Jenica, Mia, Giovanna, Joelle, Anjuli, and almost all the manicurists from True Colors followed. She was kind of nervous, looking at the group in front of her.

“First, thank you, everyone, for volunteering your time,” she said quietly. Joan had helped her
make a list of what to say, and it started with saying thank you.

“Speak louder!” Jenica said.

Aly turned bright red.

“I'm happy to do whatever it takes to get the dogs adopted,” Jenica added.

“Me too,” Mia agreed.

“Second, we have to go over the rules. Grown-up manicurists, an adult manicure is ten dollars. Sparkle Spa manicures are five dollars. If too many kids show up, we might have to send them to True Colors, since it's just Brooke and me polishing. My mom said that's okay—their manicures will still be five dollars.”

Lisa, one of the salon's manicurists, nodded. “Sounds good,” she said.

Aly smiled. She felt a bit more relaxed. “For the polish-a-thon, people can get only one color—not fancy stuff.”

“That's too bad,” Joelle said.

“It would take too long,” Brooke told her, answering for Aly. “We have to go as fast as we can to raise enough money for all the puppies.”

“What about featuring one special manicure for the day, an easy one—like a sparkle top coat or a rhinestoned pinkie?” Giovanna suggested.

Aly thought about that. If it was something easy, they could probably pull it off. Plus, people might be disappointed with just regular polish.

“A paw print!” Brooke said excitedly. “We could do a paw print on people's thumbs!”

“In a different color,” Sophie added.

Aly nodded her head. “Okay, we'll do special paw print manicures and pedicures for anyone who wants them. I like it.”

“It makes sense because of the dogs,” Jenica said. “But what do we do? The people who aren't polishing?”

“You'll be assisting,” Aly said. “The kind of stuff Brooke and I do for True Colors all the time.”

“Like keeping the polish wall organized?” Joelle asked.

“Exactly,” Aly said. “Joelle, do you want to be in charge of the polish display in the Sparkle Spa, and, Mia, you can be in charge of the wall in True Colors?”

Mia nodded.

Brooke's friend Sophie raised her hand. “I want a job,” she said.

“We really need a polish checker, Sophie—someone who can make sure the bottles don't run too low and can replace them when they do. We also need someone to collect the donations.”

“I can do that,” Jenica said. “I'll do it in the main salon.”

“And I'll do it in the Sparkle Spa,” Lily said. “That's an easy job.”

Aly wrote down everyone's roles. She said, “We also need two general helpers to empty trash cans, stack magazines, get customers coffee and water, and keep the jewelry station in the Sparkle Spa stocked with supplies.”

“I'll do it for the Sparkle Spa,” Anjuli said.

“And I'll do it in True Colors,” Giovanna added.

Then she, Jenica, and Mia did a three-way high five. “Go Team True Colors!” Jenica cheered. “We'll make sure things run really smoothly,” she assured the manicurists.

Lisa and Jamie smiled at her. Then Jamie turned to Aly. “Do you need us for anything else? We know the prices, we know the rules, and we know who's going to be helping us out.”

Aly scanned the list on her clipboard. “I think that's it,” she said. “Except—don't forget to get here extra, extra early on Sunday. The polish-a-thon starts
at nine a.m. on the dot. Thanks again, everyone.”

Aly glanced over at Joan's group. It looked like they, too, were wrapping up their discussion.

“Is it time for posters yet, Aly?” Brooke asked. Aly was amazed at how patient Brooke had been, quietly waiting.

Aly nodded. “Yep. Grown-ups can go grab some pizza. Girls, it's time to make some posters.”

Brooke stood up and announced loudly, “Listen everyone. We need to make a ton of posters to hang all over town. I've got lots of markers and paper in the Sparkle Spa. You can draw wherever you want. I like the floor best.”

Everyone pitched in, even Mom, who was an awesome artist. She drew pictures of puppies—some on posters, but some on smaller flyers, too, so she could photocopy them and hand them out around town.

Above, below, and all around the drawings, Aly
and some of the other girls filled in the space with all kinds of banners:

Polish-a-Thon Fund-Raiser for Paws for Love Adoption Day!

$5 Manicures for Kids!

$10 Manicures for Adults!

Baked Treats for Humans & Dogs: $2/each!

This Sunday, 9:OO a.m.–2:Oo p.m.

At True Colors Nail Salon on Main Street.

Then Brooke told the rest of the helpers to use real polish to color in the dogs' nails on the posters—she'd picked Reddy or Not. Aly thought the posters looked fantastic, especially Mom's. She had even drawn a dog that looked kind of like Sparky!

Later that night Aly was brushing out Brooke's hair and weaving it into a French braid. It was the best way to sleep when you had long hair, Brooke had decided. That way, it didn't get too knotted up, and she didn't have a hard ponytail holder pushing into her head when she rolled over in her sleep.

“I can't believe the polish-a-thon is only three days away,” Brooke said as Aly's fingers danced through her hair, making a neat and even braid.

“I know. It's fast,” Aly said. She sometimes wondered if they should add French braiding to the services they offered at the Sparkle Spa. “But Adoption Day is a week from Sunday, and we need to make sure we have time to buy all the bows and sweaters and collars and bandanas and—”

“And paw-lish!” Brooke said, turning her head so fast that the braid slipped out of Aly's hands. “Don't forget the pet-icures.”

Aly
had
almost forgotten the pet-icures. With all the polish-a-thon planning, she wasn't even thinking about next weekend.