Authors: Jill Santopolo
Bling It On! (7 page)
Aly and Charlotte met at the front doors of Auden. Aly opened her backpack and took out a container of cookies.
Joan's cookies
.
Even though the carnival had ended in a tie, the girls still felt they owed Cameron his winnings. Right after the carnival, Aly and Charlotte had confessed their problem to Mom and Joan. Mom wasn't pleased, but Joan said as long as Aly and Charlotte helped her
bake the cookies, she didn't mind. Brooke helped too, even though she was a little mad Aly hadn't told her about it either.
The girls walked over to the buses lined up for Water World. Charlotte spotted Cameron, standing in front of Caleb. She took the container from Aly and handed it to him.
“You won the bet, fair and square, Cameron. And I bet these are the best cookies you'll ever taste.”
“Thanks, Charlotte,” he answered. “That's really nice of you. I guess girlsâwell, at least you and Alyâare pretty cool.”
*Â Â *Â Â *
Once they were at Water World, Aly, Charlotte, and Lily teamed up with Caleb, Garrett, and Cameron, and the six of them raced up Rocket Launcher for their fourth trip down. It was nice being friends with the boys again instead of enemies.
“Rocket Launcher is the best water slide in this whole place!” Caleb said, sliding his tube onto his shoulder so it would be easier to climb the ladder.
Lily slipped her tube over her head. “It totally is,” she agreed.
Aly thought so too. When she was almost at the top of the ladder, she turned around to look out at the rest of the park and all of Auden Elementary sliding, swimming, and racing.
At the bottom of the ladder, Aly saw Suzy Davis, alone. Just like that, she made a decision.
“I'll meet you guys at the top,” she said.
“Are you sure?” Charlotte asked.
Aly nodded and pointed toward Suzy Davis. “I just want to tell her something.”
Aly stuck her arm through her tube, the way Caleb had done, and climbed back down the ladder.
“Hey, Suzy,” she said. “Why don't you slide with
us today? The Rocket Launcher is really fun. And I told everyone else I'd meet them on top. So . . . if you want, you can come too. They're waiting up there.”
“They're waiting for
you,
” Suzy said, rolling her tube back and forth. “Not me.”
“Same thing,” Aly said. “Really, you should come.”
Suzy took a deep breath. “Well, I guess one slide with you guys wouldn't kill me.” She paused. “But don't think this means we're friends. I would never be friends with someone who wore a bathing suit with smiley faces.”
Aly looked down at the smiley faces on her bathing suit. Suzy couldn't be serious,
could she
? Aly turned around and noticed there was a smile playing across Suzy's mouth.
“Oh, of course,” Aly said. “I would never expect you to be friends with someone who liked smiley-face bathing suits.”
Suzy bit her lip but then started laughing. Aly started laughing too.
Aly didn't know what she and Suzy Davis were, but they certainly weren't enemies anymore. And maybe that was the best thing to happen because of the carnival. Even better than a day at Water World.
(or a Friend!)
a Bling It On Sparkle Pedicure
By Aly
(and Brooke!)
What you need:
Paper towels
Polish remover
Cotton balls
(or more paper towels)
A bottle of clear polish
A bottle of super-bright, super-sparkly polish
(We think a bright sparkly red feels perfect for a carnival, but you can choose whichever color you want!)
What you do:
1. Put some paper towels on the floorâor wherever you're going to put your feet.
(This is so you don't get sparkles on the carpet or floorâor grass or sidewalk if you're polishing outside. Which is a lovely place to polish, by the way.)
2. Take a cotton ball or a piece of paper towel and put some polish remover on it. If you have polish on your toes already, use enough to get it off. If you don't, just rub the remover over your nails once to get off any dirt that might be on there. (
It might make lumps. Or show through if you chose a lighter color.)
Also, for some reason this makes the nail polish stick better.
3. Rip off two more paper towels. Roll the first one into a tube and then twist it so it stays tube-shaped.
Then weave it back and forth between your toes to separate them a little bit more. After that, do the same thing with the second paper towel. You might need to tuck it in around your pinkie toe if it pops up and gets in your way while you polishâyou can also cut it to make it shorter if you want. (
Or just fold the tube before you start weaving, so it's the right size.)
4. Open up your clear polish and put a coat of clear on each nail. Then close the clear bottle up tight.
(You can do your toes in any order, but Aly usually starts with my big toes and works her way to my pinkies.)
5. Open up the bright, sparkly polish. Put a coat on each toe.
(If you're in a rush, you can skip to step seven. But we like to do a second coat
to make the color extra bright and extra sparkly.)
6. Repeat step five. Then let the polish dry for about two minutes.
(Basically, if you sing “Happy Birthday” to yourself twice through, that'll be long enough. Or you can sing “Happy Birthday” to someone else.)
7. Open up your clear polish. Put a top coat of clear polish on all of your toes. Close the bottle up tight.
8. Now your toes have to dry for about twenty minutes
(though it could take longer)
. You can fan them for a long time, or sit and make a bracelet or read a book or watch TV or talk to your friend
(or sister!)
until you're all dry.
(One way to test is to very carefully touch your big toe with the
pad of your thumb. If it's not at all sticky, you're probably done.)
And now you should have a sparkly Bling It On pedicure! Even after the polish is dry, you probably shouldn't wear socks and closed-up shoes for a while. Bare feet or sandals are better so all your hard work doesn't get smooshed. (
And so you can show off your fancy feet!)
Happy polishing!
JILL SANTOPOLO
is a big fan of sparkles. She's also a big fan of sisters. And spas. And writing. In addition to the Sparkle Spa books, she's the author of the Alec Flint Mysteries. You can find her online at
www.jillsantopolo.com
. Or you can find her in person in New York City, where she likes getting her nails painted with Good as Gold nail polish.
Read more
books!
ALADDIN
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
Also by Jill Santopolo
Book 1:
All That Glitters
Book 2:
Purple Nails and Puppy Tails
Book 3:
Makeover Magic
Book 4:
True Colors
Book 5:
Bad News Nails
Book 6:
A Picture-Perfect Mess
Coming Soon
Book 8:
Wedding Bell Blues
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
