Something very wonderful is happening right at this very moment. And that wonderful thing is called being a flower girl! Yay! The flower girl is the most important part in a wedding. That is because she is in charge of dropping beautiful rose petals onto the ground right in front of the bride.

The bride is my cousin, Genevieve. She is getting married in one week.

That means that in seven whole days I get to wear a fab, fab, fabulous princess dress. Because that is what flower girls do. In fact, that is where I am right now. At the fabulous princess dress shop. It is called Brides and More. And it is only for dresses for weddings. For brides. And flower girls.

"I want this one!" I yell. I am run, run, running right into the store and right up to a very beautiful white long dress with lace all on it.

"Hailey," my mom says. "That is a dress for a bride."

"Or a flower girl," I say.

"A bride," she says.

"Or a flower girl," I tell her.

"No," my mom says.

"Why not?" I look around for someone who works in that store. I see a lady over in the corner. She is wearing a name tag. And she has very frizzy brown hair. "Excuse me, lady!" I yell. "We need some help with this dress right over here. We need to wrap one up for a flower girl."

That lady does not look too happy at all about the yelling. But she comes over anyway.

"Can I help you?" she asks. Then she points over to a sign that is hanging on the wall. I sound out the words. Please Watch Children in the Store, it says.

I am a child. Because I am seven years old. But I do not need to be watched. On account of me being a flower girl.

"That sign is not very nice," I tell that lady. "I am going to be a very beautiful flower girl in my cousin Genevieve's wedding." I do a curtsy so she can tell just how beautiful it will be. "And I would like you to wrap up this dress, please."

"That is a bride's dress," the lady says. She is getting a little bit of a mean voice. Kind of like the voice my neighbor Mr. Frisk uses when I am bothering him.

"No, it isn't," I say. "It is not just for brides. Flower girls can wear it, too." I am about to have a good tantrum right in this store. I can feel it already starting right up inside of me.

"Hailey," my mom says. Then she points over toward the door. "Look who it is! It's your cousin Angela!"

I turn around to look. And there is Cousin Angela. She is walking right into the store of Brides and More. She is with Aunt Denise. Aunt Denise is Angela's mom. And she is my mom's sister. It is all a very confusing family tree.

"What are those two doing here?" I ask. "Is Aunt Denise getting married, too?"

"No," my mom says. "Aunt Denise is already married to Uncle Adam. You know that."

"Then why are they coming to a bride shop, please? Are they going to take pictures of me in my princess dress?" That would be very fun. I will pose and pose and pose. And then I will put those pictures in beautiful frames all over the house. I will even autograph them with my nickname "Hails."

"Well," my mom says. She is getting a very nervous look on her face. It is the look she gets right when she is about to tell me something terrible. "Cousin Angela is going to be a flower girl, too. Isn't that wonderful?"

I get a very dark face on. That is not wonderful news. That is very bad and horrible news. And I am already at my limit for bad news.

That is because I am already dealing with some bad news about my magic sprite Maybelle. And that is that she might have to go back to living in her magic castle and leave the Twitch house for good.

Mr. Tuttle, who is in charge of the Department of Magic, said so. He said he will be coming back very soon to take Maybelle away.

This is making me very sad.

It is making Maybelle very sad, too. Even though she does not look so sad right now. Right now she is curled up in a shoe in this store having a nap.

"That is not such wonderful news about Cousin Angela," I tell my mom. "There is only supposed to be one flower girl." And that one flower girl should be me. But I do not say that last part.

"Hello, Aunt Denise and Cousin Angela!" my mom is saying.

Cousin Angela is wearing very dirty overalls. She is five. And she picks her nose. I have seen her do it lots and lots of times. "Hailey, say hello," my mom says.

"Hello."

"Now, girls, you are going to have to pick out the same dress," Aunt Denise says. I am worried about this for one minute. But then I remember that I am seven. And Cousin Angela is only five. So I am the boss of her for definite.

"Why don't I show you some flower girl dresses that we just got in," the saleslady says. She takes my mom and Aunt Denise over to some dresses. Some dresses that look like they were made for babies.

"Cousin Angela, wouldn't you like to wear this wonderful, beautiful, perfect dress?" I show her that wonderful bride dress that I picked right out. It is very sparkly. "It has jewels all on it," I say. "It is for princesses."

"No," Cousin Angela says. "That dress is ugly."

"It is not," I say. I am feeling very upset in my heart about all of this. That dress is very beautiful and very perfect, and I want it.

"Yes. It. Is," Angela says. Then she puts her finger right in her nose. That is very disgusting.

"That," I say, "is very disgusting. Nose picking is what disgusting babies do."

Angela makes her eyes look very small in her head. And then she stomps right down on my foot very hard.

"Ow!" I scream, jumping up and down like a maniac. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Wow," Maybelle says. She is waking up from her nap. On account of all the yelling, I think. "Cousin Angela is not very well behaved."

My mom and Aunt Denise are looking around to see what all this big fuss is about.

"Hailey," my mom says. "Why are you screaming like that?"

"I am screaming like that because Cousin Angela stomped right on my foot." I hop, hop, hop right over to her on one foot only. Even though that foot is not really even hurting anymore.

"No, I did not," Angela says. "Hailey is being a bad liar." And then that little five-year-old baby starts crying. Right in the store. That is called having a meltdown in public.

"Yes, you did," I say. I shake, shake, shake my finger right at her. "You stepped right on it and crushed my toes. And so now you need to have a punishment."

Aunt Denise picks Cousin Angela up into her arms. Cousin Angela is too old to be getting picked up, if you ask me. Then Aunt Denise says, "Girls, please. No fighting. Let's go look at the flower girl dresses that are over here."

"Come on, Hailey," my mom says. She walks to the back of the store. Aunt Denise follows her right away. And Cousin Angela sticks her tongue out at me! Right when no one can see.

"That girl is a brat," Maybelle says.

"Yes," I say, very sad. "She is. And me and her have got to be flower girl twins."

It is enough to make a girl very upset.

---

Excerpted from Hailey Twitch and the Wedding Glitch by Lauren Barnholdt
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.