Brown Eyed Boy

Caring is Sharing? (Jessie POV)

About twenty minutes after I had started helping Cassie learn how to go from one bar to another, I looked over to the swing set and found Jared, Nick and a few others I recognized from school. They all stood around Carlos talking and the look of anger on Carlos' face told me that it wasn't anything he was too happy about. Jared smirked and then laughed as he started to walk past Carlos but stopped when Carlos grabbed his arm and angrily said something to him. Jared shrugged him off with equal anger and pushed him back, making me gasp in shock. Cassie looked down at me while hanging from the bars and said “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly, straining a smile at her. The last thing I wanted her to do was look over at the swings and see her brother get in a fight. “I just got nervous that you missed a bar for a second. But you're doing great.”

“Really?” she smiled at me and I hated how quick that smile could disappear if she even looked over for a second to see if Carlos was watching her. “My hands are hot.”

“That's because you're swinging from one bar to another,” I said. “But it won't last forever.”

“Okay,” she said as she obliviously continued to the next bar. I looked over again and saw that Emmett had appeared from nowhere and was standing between Carlos and Jared. I couldn't see Jared's face but Carlos' had more anger than I thought he could ever possibly have. Emmett was saying something to Jared, trying to keep calm but I could see the anger build on his face too. Carlos turned away from Jared for a second to look over in our direction and when his eyes met mine he seemed to freeze. The anger in his brown eyes sent a chill down my spine and I knew that my face must have showed the fear I was feeling. Then as if he realized for the first time that he had come to a park with me and his sister, the anger seemed to slowly drain from his face and he turned back to Jared to say something before walking away. Jared looked ready to pounce on him the second his back was turned but Emmett pushed him back and then Nick stood between them. They exchanged some words before Emmett followed Carlos away from the swings. Stopping him just out of my earshot, he said something to Carlos and Carlos nodded. They both sent occasional glances in my direction and I knew that whatever had almost happened was because of me. I looked back at the swings to see Jared and the others beginning to leave and Jared turned at that moment, meeting my gaze. His eyes were the coldest thing I had ever seen and they seemed to transfer the coldness to me as he smiled evilly at me.

“Jessie?” Cassie's voice brought me back and I quickly pulled my eyes away from Jared to look back at her.

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“Can you help me down?” she asked. I realized that she had made it to the end of the bars and once again, there was no ladder to get down. She was expected to jump down but was too small and the height must have scared her.

“Sure,” I said, giving her a small smile. Helping her down she smiled up at me and said, “How did I do?”

“You did perfect,” I answered her. Her eyes seemed to brighten with pride and for the first time I realized that they reminded me of Carlos' eyes.

“You guys ready to go?” His voice preceded him as I looked over and saw him hold on to the end of the monkey bars. His face seemed a clear slate compared to the anger I had just seen on it; there was no anger but there was no other emotion either.

“Ice cream!” Cassie said eagerly. Carlos looked down at her and smiled a strained smile, not far from the one I had just given her minutes ago.

“I did say I would get you ice cream,” he answered her.

“Yay!” she exclaimed. “And Carlos, guess what?”

“What?” he asked her.

“Jessie said I climbed the bars perfect!” she said happily. “And I made it all the way to the other side! Wanna see?”