Hailey Twitch and the Wedding Glitch (4 page)

“Hailey,” Maybelle says, “You cannot be wearing your dress to school. That is not allowed.”

“It is going to be fine,” I tell her. It is later that night. Me and Maybelle are in the kitchen. And we are setting the table. That is because Cousin Angela and Aunt Denise are coming over. They are bringing our dresses. And we are going to try them on. And then tomorrow, I will wear mine to school! And I will show that Natalie Brice that I am not a liar. It is a completely wonderful plan.

“What if you get that dress dirty?” Maybelle asks.

“I do not get dirty.”

“You fell in a big mud puddle the other day.”

“Maybelle! That is not polite.” I am putting all the spoons down on the table. That is because my mom is making a delicious broccoli soup for an appetizer. Broccoli is not good. But it is good in soup. I drop Cousin Angela's spoon right on the floor. Whoops.

I pick it up.

“You better get her another one,” Maybelle says.

“Looks clean to me.” I put it back down next to her plate.

When Cousin Angela and Aunt Denise get over, they have Cousin Genevieve with them. She is the bride. And so she wants to see us in our dresses.

“Now, Maybelle,” I whisper to her. “Do not be causing any mischief with the dresses.”

“I will if I want,” Maybelle says. Then she whispers, “I am trying to be bad at magic, remember?”

I have a weird feeling about this right in my stomach. But I cannot think about it too long.

And that is because those wonderful dresses are coming right out of their dress bags.

“I will try mine on first!” I say. I go rushing right at it and try to make a grab for that dress.

“Hailey!” Cousin Genevieve yells, pulling it away. “You have to wash your hands first. We cannot get this dress dirty.”

I do a big sigh. Washing your hands is for babies. My hands are clean as a whistle. But me and Cousin Angela go in the bathroom to wash up.

“Whose nail polish is that?” Cousin Angela asks. She is looking at the bottle that is sitting on the sink. It is blue nail polish. And it is Kaitlyn's. I am too young to have nail polish.

But Cousin Angela does not know that. So I say, “That nail polish is mine.”

“You are allowed to wear nail polish?” Cousin Angela asks. She has lots of soap, soap, soapy suds on her hands.

“Of course.”

“No, you are not,” Maybelle says. “That is Kaitlyn's nail polish.” Maybelle is washing her hands, too.

I give her a look to be quiet. Even though Cousin Angela cannot hear her. It is not any of Maybelle's business about that nail polish. It is nobody's business but my own self's.

“My mommy says nail polish is only for big girls,” Cousin Angela says.

“Well, I am a big girl.” I dry my hands off on a purple towel. “I am seven years old.” I pick up the nail polish and take the top off. Then I paint my one pinkie nail blue. “See?” I say. “It is mine.”

I put the cap back on. “Now come on. We have to try our dresses on.”

“BLUE NAILS FOR ME, TOO!” Cousin Angela yells.

“No,” I tell her. “Blue nails are for big girls only.”

“ANGELA IS A BIG GIRL!” Cousin Angela screams. And then she picks up that bottle of nail polish. I grab it. And I try to pull it out of her hands. But she pulls it back very hard.

“Let go right this instant,” I tell her. “I am seven, and you are five, and that means I am the boss of you.” But Cousin Angela does not listen. She pulls on it harder.

And then that bottle of nail polish goes flying into the air. It is spinning around and around and around, and I reach up and try to catch it. But I miss. I knock right into it with my hand. Nail polish goes spilling and splattering all over. Blue is splattering on the walls and all over us.

Cousin Angela looks at me. She has a speckle of blue nail polish right on the tip of her nose. “You made a mess,” she says. “Now you are going to be in big trouble, mister.”

“I did not make a mess,” I say. “You did.”

“No, you!”

“No!”

“You, you, you!” Then Cousin Angela moves over to the sink. There is a pool of blue nail polish right in there. She dips her fingers in that blue. And then she smears them right on her cheek. “Face paint!” she says. “HAHAHAHAHAHA.”

Wow. She is laughing a lot about that face paint. She thinks it is the most hilarious thing ever invented.

“Maybelle,” I whisper. “Please, please, please use your magic to clean this place up. If you do, I will be your best friend.”

“Your best friend is Addie Jokobeck,” Maybelle says. She is dipping her nails into that polish, too.

“But you will be my new one,” I say. “If you clean it up. And we can do all the fun things that best friends forever do!”

Maybelle thinks about it. Then she pulls her wand out. She points it at that nail polish bottle. And then it is flying back up into the air and even more nail polish is coming out.

“Ahhh!” Cousin Angela screams.

“Ahhh!” I scream.

It is all over. Like a big rainstorm of blue sticky nail polish.

My mom and Aunt Denise and Cousin Genevieve come running into the bathroom.

“Girls!” my mom says. “What is all this yelling about?” Then she sees that very big mess. “Hailey,” she says. “Please go to your room.”

• • •

We cannot try on the dresses. And dinner with the broccoli soup is even canceled. That is because Cousin Angela and I are two big messes covered in blue nail polish. We both need to have baths immediately.

“Why did you do that, Maybelle?” I ask when I am in my bath. I am covered all up in bubbly bubbles. I have a very scratchy sponge. I am supposed to be scrub, scrub, scrubbing all up.

“You know why,” Maybelle whispers. “I am trying to be bad at magic so that Mr. Tuttle will not make me go back to the castle.”

“Yes, but you could have been bad at magic without making a big mess.” This nail polish is not very good at coming off of skin. It is stuck right on my arms no matter how hard I scrub. “Or you could have made that big mess go on Cousin Angela only.”

“Hailey!” my mom calls. “Did you get all that nail polish off yet?”

“I am getting there!” I say. There is still some blue on my legs. And on my arms. But I am wearing long sleeves and long pants for pajamas so no one will have to know. It will be like my own little secret.

• • •

The next morning I wake up for school very, very early. It is so exciting that I can hardly wait. And that is because I am going to be wearing that flower girl dress right to school!

But first it is time for breakfast.

“Hello,” I say when I get downstairs. “Good morning, Kaitlyn!” I am wearing jeans. And a gray T-shirt with a big smiley face on the front. That is a trick. So that no one will think I am wearing my dress to school. Because Maybelle is right about that. It is not allowed.

“What are you up to?” Kaitlyn asks me. She is sitting right at the table eating a bowl of oatmeal.

“I am not up to anything,” I tell her. I am trying to look very innocent on my face. I go to get my cereal bowl out of the cupboard.

“Yes, you are,” she says. “You are not wearing anything sparkly. And you are being very nice to me. You are up to something. ”

“I am being nice to you,” I say, “because I am very sorry that I spilled your blue nail polish all over.”

“You spilled it all over?” Kaitlyn says. “That was a brand-new bottle of nail polish!”

“Yes, well, Cousin Angela was pretending to be a big girl. And she knocked it all over.” I push the box of Apple O's across the table to her. “Would you like some cereal, Kaitlyn? I will pour it for you.”

“Mom!” Kaitlyn yells. “Mom!”

My mom comes running into the kitchen. She is wearing some very fancy work clothes of black pants and black high-heeled shoes. “Wowza,” I say. “You look like a knockout.”

“Thank you,” she says. She pours some Apple O's into my bowl.

“Mom, Hailey spilled my nail polish all over, and I just bought that nail polish with my babysitting money!” Kaitlyn says. Kaitlyn thinks she is so smart because she has a babysitting job.

“Everyone just stay calm,” I say. “It is just some nail polish. It is not the end of the world.” Some people have real problems. Like getting music at the wedding. And stopping their sprite from having to go back to the castle.

I take a big spoonful of Apple O's. One falls off my spoon and onto the table. Maybelle picks it up and starts to eat it right up. Apple O's are her very favorite cereal of all time.