“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.
How to Give Yourself (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 floor—or wherever you’re going to put your feet. (This is so you don’t get sparkles on the carpet or floor—or 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 polish—you 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.
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Read more books!
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ALADDIN
Visit us at
simonandschuster.com/kids
authors.simonandschuster.com/Jill-Santopolo
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.
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This Aladdin hardcover edition October 2015
Text copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by Cathi Mingus
Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.
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Series design by Jeanine Henderson
Jacket design by Laura Lyn DiSiena
The text of this book was set in Adobe Caslon.
Library of Congress Control Number 2015908993
ISBN 978-1-4814-2391-5 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-2390-8 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-2392-2 (eBook)