Makeover Magic (8 page)

Aly thought about what it would feel like to win an On the Ball trophy and how nervous some of the sixth graders must be now. But it was a good kind of nervous, she figured—the way you feel right before you open a present you've hoped for and dreamed about getting.

A
fter Aly and Brooke ate their treats—a peanut butter cookie for Aly and a rainbow cookie covered with chocolate sprinkles for Brooke—the girls quickly walked back to True Colors.

“Mom, Mom, you'll never believe what we saw,” Brooke blurted out. “It looks like Princess Polish might be closing!”

Mom looked at Joan, her eyebrows raised. “Well, that's interesting. Let's see if they open for business tomorrow,” she said.

But that wasn't the only news. As Mom and Joan were cleaning up, they had discovered a canvas bag in the back room. “Aly, we found this in Sparkle Spa,” Mom announced, holding it up. “Did one of your customers leave it? There are trophies inside.”

Miss Gonzales! That bag was Miss Gonzales's! She had been holding it when she ran into Sparkle Spa after Maxie screamed. She was the teacher in charge of the Fall Ball and the awards. Aly gulped. “They're for the On the Ball winners!” she said.

“Oh no!” Brooke cried. “What if they can't announce the winners because there aren't any trophies? Because the trophies are
here,
in True Colors, instead of
there,
where they should be!”

“Where should they be?” Joan asked.

“At school!” Brooke and Aly said together.

“Well,” Mom said, “it's almost time to go anyway. I'll drive you over to Auden.”

“Go, go,” Joan said, shooing all three of them out the door. “I'll lock up here.”

On the way to school, Brooke could hardly sit still. “Hey, Aly,” she said. “Do you know what this means?”

Aly shook her head.

“It means we get to go to the Fall Ball.” Brooke's smile was so huge, it seemed to take up half her face.

Aly grinned. “You're right.” Even though she was pretty sure her smile wasn't as big as Brooke's, Aly couldn't wait to see how everything looked.

“I'll wait right here,” Mom told them as she pulled up to the curb. “In and out, so we can get home to Dad and Sparkly and dinner.”

“In and out!” Brooke said. “We promise.” She took Aly's hand, and they scooted out of the car. They ran toward the entrance, straight into Mr. Thomas, the security guard.

“Good evening, girls. Where are you going?” he asked. “I don't think either of you is old enough to be going to the dance.”

Aly held out the bag with the trophies inside. “We're making a delivery.”

“A very important one,” Brooke added. “It's the trophies for the On the Ball winners. Miss Gonzales left them at our nail salon.”

“I see,” Mr. Thomas said. “That
is
very important. Let me lock the door and escort you in.”

Aly, Brooke, and Mr. Thomas walked down the second-grade hallway, past the nurse's office, and into the gym. Aly and Brooke paused in the doorway.

The gym didn't look anything like a gym.

The balloons had covered all the lights, so the whole room had a purple and gold glow.

The glitter on the posters sparkled, and the streamers swayed gently back and forth.

There was also some sort of machine that blew bubbles from under the stage.

And Mr. Mehta, the music teacher, was up on the stage with big speakers and a computer.

“Wow,” Brooke said breathlessly.

“Whoa,” Aly said. It was even more beautiful than she'd imagined. Then she focused on all the sixth graders. They looked so fancy and grown-up. She spotted Anjuli in her bright purple dress. And Bethany and Mia. Then she saw Jenica in her Good Knight–colored dress dancing with Lee, one of the boys who had come into Sparkle Spa earlier that day.

“Okay, enough looking, we have to go deliver the trophies.” Aly said to Brooke.

It felt funny to walk into the ball wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but Aly did it anyway. She looked around the edges of the gym for teachers and finally spotted
Miss Gonzales, then headed straight toward her. Miss Gonzales was talking to an adult Aly didn't know.

“Miss Gonzales, Miss Gonzales,” Aly shouted over Mr. Mehta's loud music.

Miss Gonzales looked up.

Aly held out the bag. “I think you left these at True Colors today.”

“I—oh!” Miss Gonzales said, taking the bag from Aly. “
That's
where I left them! Thank you so much for bringing them over. I've been going crazy trying to find my bag . . . and trying to figure out where I could find another set of trophies somewhere else in the school.”

Aly smiled. “Happy to help.”

She was about to turn and leave when Brooke said, “Um, Miss Gonzales, are you announcing the winners soon? Do you think maybe you could do it right
now
?”

Aly couldn't believe Brooke! But it would be nice if they could hear the announcements.

“Actually, it's almost time anyway,” Miss Gonzales said. “And now that I have the trophies, I don't think anyone would mind if I sped things up by a few minutes.”

She walked up on the stage and spoke to Mr. Mehta. The music got softer, and Miss Gonzales tapped the top of a microphone.

“Hi, sixth graders!” she said.

“Hi, Miss Gonzales!” a few of them answered.

Miss Gonzales held the microphone a little closer to her mouth. “As you all know, winning an On the Ball trophy at Auden is a very big honor. These trophies go to two members of our community—one boy and one girl—who embody the Auden spirit of helping others.

“So many of you sixth graders have worked on wonderful community projects this year, from fund-raising to tutoring to food drives and toy drives. I wish every single one of you could win a trophy.

“But there are two students whose projects stood out as exemplary to all the teachers. And they are: Jenica Posner, for promoting team building and sharing knowledge through Superstar Sports, and Oliver Shin, for focusing on those less fortunate and changing school policy through the Helping the Hungry at Lunch program!”

Along with the rest of the kids at the dance, Aly cheered for Jenica. She cheered for Oliver, too, even though, personally, she would have picked Cute Lucas for his Reading Buddies project.

Next to Aly, Brooke was jumping up and down, yelling, “Yay, Jenica! Three cheers for Jenica!”

Jenica and Oliver walked to the stage, and Miss Gonzales presented them with the trophies. Then Mr. Mehta started playing the school song on his keyboard, and all the kids—including Aly and Brooke—sang along.

The sixth graders grabbed hands and formed a circle that was almost as big as the whole gym. When they got to the last line of the Auden Elementary song—
“And we will always love our community”
—everyone raised their clasped hands in the air and shouted: “Go, Auden!” Then they clapped and cheered. It was one of the coolest things Aly had ever seen.

Even though Aly and Brooke weren't sixth graders, they both felt like they were part of the celebration. After all, a lot of those hands that had been raised in the air a moment ago had been in Sparkle Spa that afternoon. Knowing that they had contributed to the Fall Ball—just in this small way—made them feel proud and a part of something bigger than themselves—their community.

Aly had to admit, it was a pretty magical feeling.