Fashion Disaster (3 page)

A
few minutes later Mom came into the salon and beckoned Suzy to come with her. After she left, the mood in the Sparkle Spa lifted. The girls who were waiting for their manicures and pedicures—or waiting for their manicures and pedicures to dry—started chatting again.

But even though things felt back to normal for everyone else, they didn't feel that way for Aly. Even more than wondering what kind of trouble she would be in, she was worried about Brooke and what in the world her haircut was going to look like after her appointment. Anything would be better than a blond, fluffy triangle that looked like the head of the Sphinx.

J
oan drove Aly home that day. In addition to being the girls' favorite manicurist and Mom's best friend, she was the COO of True Colors—the person in charge of the salon when Mom wasn't around.

“So big happenings at the Sparkle Spa today,” Joan said as they drove down Main Street, Sparkly sitting on Aly's lap.

“I should've tried to stop Brooke,” Aly said with a sigh. “I did try a little, but . . .” Her voice trailed off.

Joan
glanced over at Aly in the passenger seat, her hands firmly on the steering wheel. “I know your mom holds you responsible for everything in the Sparkle Spa, but this wasn't your fault, kiddo. Suzy wanted to cut hair, and Brooke volunteered, right?”

Aly nodded, stroking Sparkly's head. “Yes.”

“Sometimes you can't save people from themselves,” Joan continued. “If Brooke said Suzy could give her a haircut, then she has to take responsibility for that. The same way that if Mrs. Howard picks a really terrible color for her nails—”

“Like Souper Green?” Aly asked, naming a color that was almost an exact match for the pea soup served in her school's cafeteria.

“Like Souper Green,” Joan agreed as she flicked the blinker signal on before making a right turn. “When Mrs. Howard picks Souper Green, all I can say is, ‘Are you sure that's what you want?' If she says ‘Yes,' I
have to polish her nails that color, because she chose it. Even if I think it's a bad idea and would never want my own nails that color. So just because
you
wouldn't want Suzy to cut your hair, that doesn't mean you have to stop her from cutting everyone's hair on the planet.”

Aly looked out the window and thought about that. “Not everyone's hair,” she said to Joan. “Just Brooke's. Because Brooke is my sister and I
knew
it was a bad idea.”

Joan shrugged. “Well, Brooke might have liked the haircut. You really had no way of knowing that.”

Aly thought some more. It was an interesting point she hadn't considered. But at least a yucky nail polish color could be removed instantly. A person was stuck much, much longer with a yucky haircut.

Sparkly licked Aly's thumb. He'd been very quiet during
the ride home. For a moment Aly wondered if he was feeling okay, but then she returned to thinking about Brooke's haircut.

“I told your mom that, by the way,” Joan said. “So I don't think you're going to be in any trouble when you get home.”

“Thanks,” Aly said. She wished she could hug Joan, but since Joan was driving and Aly had a dog in her lap, she figured it wasn't the safest idea. Joan really was the best, though. She fixed Aly's and Brooke's problems all the time. And she baked them delicious cookies too. Aly didn't know what she would do without Joan—or what Mom would do without her either.

Soon the car stopped in the Tanner driveway.

“This is you,” Joan said when Aly didn't get out right away.

“I know,” Aly replied. Then she unbuckled her
seat belt and gave Joan a big hug. “Thank you for the ride. And for talking to Mom, too.”

“Anytime,” Joan said.

“I'm home!” Aly yelled as she walked in the door. “Brooke? Mom?” She knew Dad had already left on a business trip earlier that day and wouldn't be back until Friday night, so she didn't bother calling for him.

“Upstairs!” Mom called back.

Aly put Sparkly down on the floor and headed toward the staircase. Sparkly didn't follow, he just curled up under the kitchen table. When Aly reached her and Brooke's room, she heard sniffling.

“Brooke?” Aly asked as she walked in.

Brooke quickly stuck her head under a blanket. “Don't look at me!” she cried.

Aly looked at Mom. Mom whispered, “All afternoon.”

“Brookester,”
Aly said, “let me see what Lou did. She's a great haircutter. She styles my hair all the time. Even if Suzy Davis doesn't like my haircut, I do a lot.”

“I hate Suzy Davis!” Brooke said, her voice muffled by the blanket.

“I know,” Aly said. “But let me see your hair.”

Slowly, Brooke pulled the blanket off the top of her head. Her eyes were red from crying. “What do you think?” she sniffled. “Be honest.”

Brooke's hair didn't resemble a triangle anymore, which was a very good thing. And there was something that made the waves look almost like curls. So it was actually bouncy more than fluffy. Plus, there were little bits of hair that curled around Brooke's eyes that were actually pretty nice.

“It's cute!” Aly said. “For real, it's cute!”

Brooke peered at Aly as if she didn't quite believe her.
Then, with her reddened eyes, she sent Aly a Secret Sister Eye Message:
Are you telling me the whole truth?

“It's just not what you're used to,” Aly said. “That's all. But it's cute, for real.”

Again Brooke sniffled. Then she climbed out of bed and went to look in the mirror that was hanging on the girls' bedroom wall.

And she started crying again.

“I hate it!” she wailed. “It doesn't look like me! Are you sure there's no way to put my braid back on?”

Mom sat down on Brooke's bed. “Brookie, we talked about this. You're still you no matter what your hair looks like. And when you make a decision, you have to take responsibility for it. You told Suzy she could cut your hair. That was your decision. And every decision has consequences.”

“I can't go to school like this!” Brooke sobbed. “Please don't make me.”

Aly
sat next to Mom. She thought about things Brooke liked. She even made a list in her head:

Sparkles

Pink

Yellow

Hair accessories

Animals

Art

“I have an idea!” Aly said. She raced to the girls' closet and took out a basket filled with their hair accessories. She ignored all of the elastics, because Brooke's hair was too short for those now, and instead started pulling out clips, headbands, and sparkly bobby pins.

“You can still use all these fun things in your hair, just like before,” Aly explained. “You'll just look like a different version of yourself.”

“You think?” Brooke said, picking up a pink glittery headband with a rhinestone cat on one side.

“I know,”
Aly answered.

Brooke slid on the headband. Aly walked over to her and pulled a couple pieces of hair forward so they curled on Brooke's forehead.

Brooke looked in the mirror again. “Oh!” she said, staring at herself. “Maybe that's not so terrible.”

Then she wailed once more. “But I need to wear my glasses to school, and I can't wear my glasses with a headband because it gets too crowded behind my ears!”

Mom started digging through the basket of hair accessories. “Found them!” she said, holding up a set of barrettes made of sparkly, braided rainbow-colored ribbons, with streamers on one side. “Remember when I made these for you a few years ago? I think they'll look great with your glasses.”

While Mom clipped the barrettes into Brooke's hair, Aly grabbed Brooke's pink glasses from her
drawer. Brooke had a few different pairs, so she could change them to match her outfits. Brooke slipped them on, then looked in the mirror.

“Not terrible at all!” she said, and Aly saw a tiny smile on Brooke's mouth. “I guess I can go to school after all.”

Mom breathed a sigh of relief. Now Aly hoped that no one at school would make fun of Brooke's new hair—or even say one word about it. Because she knew that all it would take was one comment for Brooke to hate it all over again.

A
re you
sure
I look okay?” Brooke asked Aly for probably the thirty-seventh time that morning. “Not just okay, but
better
than okay? People aren't going to think I look like a boy or anything?”

Aly studied her sister. Brooke was wearing a Fairy Teal dress, Mellow Yellow rhinestone sneakers, tons of rainbow-colored necklaces and bracelets, her pink glasses, and the sparkly braided-ribbon barrettes in her hair. “I don't think anyone will mistake you for a boy, Brooke. I promise. And you look great.”

Brooke
looked in the mirror again. “Maybe I should wear a hat,” she said. “Remember the one Grandma got me for my birthday that I didn't like because it wasn't comfortable with my braid? Maybe I should wear that one. Then no one will see my haircut.”

Aly pushed her own hair out of her eyes. “I don't think you need it. But how about I find it for you and you bring it to school just in case?”

Brooke went to tug on her braid, but it was gone. Aly saw her sister's lips start to tremble.

“You can tug on your earlobe!” Aly suggested. “Every time you go to tug on your braid, tug on your earlobe instead!” Then she climbed on the step stool to reach the highest shelf in the girls' closet.

“My earlobe?” Brooke said, and then she laughed, giving it a try. “This is actually funny. You do it.”

Aly tugged on her earlobe too and then jumped down from the stool with Brooke's hat in her hand. It
was pink with a wide brim and a yellow sunflower on the front. “Here you go,” she said, handing it to Brooke.

The girls made their way down the stairs and found Sparkly sitting at the bottom of them.

“Did he come upstairs last night?” Aly asked Brooke. “Did you notice?”

Brooke shook her head. “I was too busy worrying about my hair,” she said. “I don't remember.”

Aly picked Sparkly up, and he licked her neck. Aly wasn't sure, but she thought he felt a little heavier than usual. Was it possible that he was growing more? The animal shelter had said he was fully grown, but maybe they were wrong.

Aly kissed his head and put him back on the floor. Maybe getting larger took lots of energy and that's why he'd been so quiet lately and hadn't come upstairs last night.