A/N: And I'm back with another one-shot... This one revolving around Carlos and his helmet :)
Disclaimer: Well, I don't own Big Time Rush today either and the cover photo isn't mine (no copyright infringement intended)...
Have fun reading :D
You could almost smell the heat on this great, Minnesotan summer day. The sky was more blue than ever, the town more lazy than ever, and in a yard four soon to be 6th graders were more bored than ever!
Kendall was lying on his back watching the skies above. He sighed and pointed at his own face, following the finger with his eyes until it touched his nose.
"You really shouldn't do that Kendall!" James said, "your eyes will get stuck and that will totally ruin your chances with the girls!"
Kendall turned his head and just looked at his friend, a crooked smile gracing his features.
"James, that's stupid!" the smartest of the group exclaimed, eying James with furrowed brows, "of course his eyes won't get stuck. That can't happen!"
"Oh, and how do you know that Hortense? Read it in a book!" James sneered. He didn't like it when Logan implied him being less intelligent.
Logan cringed at the use of his real first name and was just about to shoot something back, when Kendall sat up and clapped his hands.
"Okay guys, what do you wanna do? I'm boooored!"
"Nerf gun war?" the fourth boy suggested, while dangling from a thick branch in the tree upside down.
"Come on Carlos" Logan said dryly, "we just finished the third war ten minutes ago!"
The smart boy buried his nose in the book again, immediately losing himself in the contents of the biology book.
Carlos stuck his tongue out at his friend.
"Well you come up with something then!"
Logan just huffed, keeping his eyes on the book.
"You could help me rate the girls for my girls-cute-enough-for-James-list" the pretty boy said smugly, throwing his friends a dazzling smile.
The other three groaned with displeasure. With a thump Carlos jumped to the ground and peeked over Logan's shoulder to figure out how a book could be this interesting.
"Girls are icky!" Carlos said, scrunching up his nose, "they chase us and try to kiss us!"
"Let's go biking" Kendall suggested, raising his eyebrows in an asking gesture.
Logan discarded his book and looked at his friend.
"Where do you wanna go?"
"How about we race? From my house, down the "Hell-hill" and end at the candy store? Winner gets fruit smackers from the rest of us..."
Carlos was already jumping on the spot, eager to get on his bike.
"Yeah!" James said, "that sounds cool..."
"Okay, let's go!" Logan agreed.
All the boys got up and went to their bikes, and James, Kendall and Logan all put on their helmets. Logan threw Carlos' unprotected head a stern look.
"You can't ride your bike without your helmet... why don't you put it on?"
The Latino groaned.
"Lo-gan" he whined, "you're not my mom! And besides my helmet is girly and stupid!" He swatted at the red helmet hanging on the handlebars with an annoyed look in the brown eyes.
"But you could get really hurt..." Logan tried, feeling slightly embarrassed by being compared to Mrs. Garcia.
"But I won't, MOM!" Carlos mocked and succeeded at staring Logan into silence.
James and Kendall sent each other a quick glance. When Carlos was involved, that usually meant physical pain followed. But the boy always managed to bounce right back up somehow, so one race without a helmet wouldn't hurt. Right! And Logan worried way too much anyway!
"I'm totally gonna win this" the little Latino grinned loudly, eyes twinkling with excitement.
"We'll see about that!" Kendall said and got on his bike.
x-x
The four boys were lined up in front of Kendall's house, all of them checking out the competition with narrowed eyes.
"Ready" James hissed.
"Set" Logan added.
"GO!" all four boys roared and shot out from the driveway.
Carlos drove as if he had been fired from a cannon. He nearly flew down the street, his upper body leaned over the bike to gain even more speed. The Latino smiled to himself. When it was fruit smackers on the line, he just HAD to win!
Carlos snuck a peek over his shoulder just before he reached the "Hell-hill". James and Logan were still several feet behind him, but Kendall was right on his tail.
Carlos swore to himself and zoomed down the steep hill so fast his eyes started to water. He glanced over his shoulder again, and felt his heart race as he spotted Kendall right behind him.
"CARLOS!" Kendall screamed, eyes wide.
Too late Carlos turned his head. He didn't have time to react, before his bike hit the curb and sent both the bike and Carlos flying through the air. The boy howled loudly before smashing head first into a huge bush. The bike landed a few feet away on the sidewalk, seemingly without major damage.
x-x
Kendall's bike skitted to a halt and the blonde jumped off it and rushed to his friend.
"Carlos!" Kendall cried out "Carlos, are you okay?!"
"Aarhoww!" the smaller boy moaned from inside the bush, "help me Kendall!"
Kendall licked his lips, trying to figure out a way to get Carlos out of the bush without hurting him even more. Thorns penetrated his shorts and shirt and Kendall was afraid to pull him backwards.
James and Logan quickly got off their bikes when they reached the bottom of the hill, and while James went to Kendall and Carlos, Logan crossed the street to the Garcia home.
The raven haired boy ran up the driveway and slammed the door open.
"Mrs. Garcia" he yelled, "Mrs. Garcia Carlos is hurt!"
Sylvia appeared from the kitchen, drying her hands in a dish towel.
"What happened this time?" she asked, feeling her heart pound in her chest.
"He flew off his bike..."
Sylvia's eyes widened and she ran back to the kitchen. A moment later she returned with an abnormally large first-aid kit. She followed Logan out the door, and gasped as she spotted her son's legs protruding from the great, thorny bush in Mr. Bennett's front yard.
x-x
It took some wriggling, but eventually Carlos was freed from the bush, and his mom checked him for injuries. Other than scrapes, bruises and some thorns here and there Carlos had a rather long cut on his forehead, but luckily he had avoided a concussion. While his mom searched for a Turtles Band-Aid, Logan yanked out the thorns, making Carlos squirm in pain.
"OWW, LOGAN!" he cried, when Logan managed to pull out a long, mean-looking thorn stuck in the side of his head.
Sylvia cleaned the cut and pressed the Turtles Band-Aid on Carlos' forehead. She kissed him on the nose and then grabbed him around the shoulders, giving him a small shake.
"What on earth were you thinking Carlos" she scolded, "racing down the hill without your helmet! You're in so much trouble young man!"
Carlos hung his head.
"Sorry, Mami..."
"Sorry doesn't cut it this time. You're grounded for a week!"
"No, mo-om!" Carlos whined, turning on his puppy dog eyes.
"Two weeks!" Sylvia said firmly, making Carlos' jaw drop, "And I don't ever want to hear about you not wearing your helmet again!"
He closed his mouth into an exaggerated pout, and followed his mom back to the house with his head bowed down.
"See you later Carlos..." Kendall said and waved a hand at his subdued friend.
James put Carlos' bike in front of the Garcia home before running to his own bike to catch up with Kendall and Logan who were driving slowly towards the candy shop.
"Well, Carlos got grounded so that's gotta be the same as being disqualified and that means I would have won!" Kendall said smugly with a huge smile on his face.
Logan shook his head at his smiling friend. No one was as competitive as Kendall!
x-x
Carlos had finally been released to the world again after being grounded for two weeks, and the cut on his forehead had somewhat healed and was now a red line reaching from right above an eyebrow to the hairline.
"You guys have no idea how bored I've been for two weeks! I litterly thought I was gonna die!" The Latino said dramatically and wiggled his eyebrows.
"It's called literally" Logan said matter-of-factly, "and I really don't think you mean literally, Carlos, unless you actually thought you would die!"
Carlos scowled at his friend and decided to tackle him to the ground to bring him down from his high horse. Just a tad!
James eyed his two fighting friends, debating with himself whether to join or not. He decided against it and instead whipped out his lucky comb and ran it through his smooth locks.
"I'm kinda bored now guys, any ideas on what to do?" Carlos huffed as he got off Logan and pulled him with him from the ground.
Kendall was once again eying his own finger, following it on its way to the tip of his nose.
"Don't know" he shrugged and blinked a few times to focus his eyes on his friends.
"Rematch on the bike-race?" James suggested.
"Nah" Carlos discarded the idea with a slight pout, "my bike has a flat tire..."
"Fishing?" Logan asked, thinking of the new fishing pole his dad had bought for him.
"No, let's go to the skatepark!" James exclaimed with a smile, "I really wanna try out some new flatland tricks I've seen in a video with Rodney Mullen..."
"Yeah, let's go!" Carlos said, sounding overly excited, "come on..."
x-x
Carlos and Kendall were zooming up and down the ramps, while James was practicing his Boneless and Nose Manuals with Logan as an on-looker. The smart boy was a natural on a skateboard and kept correcting James' wrongs.
"Hey, anybody wanna see me grind the long rail?" Carlos suddenly yelled at James and Logan, and they both whipped around to look at their friend.
"Carlos!" Logan scolded as his eyes fell on the little Latino, "you have to wear your helmet or you'll get in trouble again!"
"Still not my mom, Hortense!" Carlos sneered, not wanting to put on his girly helmet.
It would make him look like an idiot in the middle of all the older boys skating either without helmets or with black helmets with different skull-stickers on them. Carlos actually had a cool sticker in his pocket that his mom had bought for him to put on his helmet, but he didn't want to waste the Jackass skull-and-crutches sticker on his stupid red helmet!
"I really think trying to grind that rail without a helmet would be a bad idea Carlos!" Logan tried, biting his bottom lip.
"Logan's right Carlos..." James added, surprising his smaller friend.
Since when had James been known to be sensible?!
Carlos scoffed, feeling like his friends patronized him. He jumped his board and skated towards the top of the long rail, feeling adrenaline course through him. He could totally do this! His friends called out for him, Logan once more yelling about wearing a helmet, but as Carlos got close by, he jumped the rail to grind it. A shrill voice startled both him and his friends, and James shrank back a bit as he saw Carlos' mom stomp towards them. She looked absolutely furious.
"Carloooos!" she yelled angrily.
"Mami?!" Carlos squealed as he zoomed down the rails.
"Oh dude, he's gonna be in so much trouble!" Kendall stated, and both James and Logan nodded.
"I told him to wear the helmet!" Logan mumbled, earning himself a slap in the head from James.
Carlos almost made it to the bottom before he somehow lost his balance and stumbled to the ground. He managed to break the fall with his hands and felt his pulse race. He brushed at his palms when his mother reached him, and Carlos could easily see the worry and anger in her eyes.
"Are you hurt, Mijo?" she asked and looked her son over for injuries.
Carlos shook his head and swallowed his spit. He would be in so much trouble for this!
When Sylvia felt certain that her son was in fact okay, she could feel the worry subsiding and the anger take over. She grabbed Carlos by an arm and started pulling him with her towards the car.
"This time you've done it young man!" she yelled, "Just two weeks ago I told you I didn't EVER want to catch you without your helmet again, and then you go and directly disobey me!"
"But Mami..." the boy started, wincing from the hard grip on his upper arm, "I-I..."
Sylvia opened the car and gently pushed her son in. Then she got in the driver's seat and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Kendall, James and Logan to wonder how long Carlos would be grounded this time.
x-x
Carlos was lying on his bed, his mouth turned into a slight pout and his butt warm and sore from the punishment his mom had administered when they got home.
She had been truly furious, tugging her son to the house by the wrist, yelling at him all the while.
"You have a perfectly functioning helmet Carlos, you have been told countless times to wear it, and even after being grounded you still go and disobey Papi and me! This is NOT okay! You could have been severely hurt today! I need to make you understand that you WILL wear your helmet!"
Carlos rolled his eyes, just as his mom glared at him.
"And lose that attitude right now mister, don't roll your eyes at me!"
"The helmet is girly and stupid and I'm not wearing it!" Carlos declared, freeing himself from his mother's grip and stomping his foot for emphasis.
Sylvia shook her head at her son and narrowed her eyes. She knew he could be very stubborn, and when Carlos held his ground, crossing his arms while sending his mom a challenging look, she had had enough.
"That's it!" she hissed, and grabbed Carlos by the arm again.
At first he tried pulling free, but when he realized what was going to happen he ceased struggling, knowing it would only make matters worse.
x-x
Sylvia pulled her son over her lap and placed a hand on the small of his back.
"Do you understand why I'm doing this Carlos?" she asked.
Carlos didn't answer at first, but when a warning smack caught him by surprise, he nodded his head.
"Yes" he said almost inaudibly and swallowed his spit.
Sylvia started off rather gently, but quickly put more force behind the smacks, making Carlos wince and wriggle. She held him in place and fastened the pace.
"Ow" the boy cried out, "ow, mom please stop!"
"I won't stop until you won't even think about biking, skating or doing your crazy stunts without your helmet, do you understand me, young man?"
Carlos pouted, but didn't answer. He was sure that his mom would soon start feeling bad about hitting him, and that he just needed to stay tough for a bit longer.
Wearing that girly helmet wouldn't exactly make him cool, and Carlos didn't want to promise he would wear it.
The smacks kept getting harder, the swats falling faster and it didn't seem likely that his mom would stop anytime soon.
"The helmet is stupid!" Carlos exclaimed angrily in between swats, and gasped as the next smack hit an already sore spot.
"Not wearing a helmet is what is stupid, Carlos, and I'm very disappointed in you!"
Sylvia was surprised that her son kept opposing her and once again added more force to the spanking.
"Aaah, ow!" the boy cried and started flailing his legs a bit.
After a few more smacks his hands flew behind his back to try and block his mom, and Sylvia knew he had to be hurting rather badly.
She pinned his hands down and landed six very hard and fast smacks on his backside, that made him jerk forward and let out a series of choked moans.
Carlos felt tears burning behind his eyes, but he angrily blinked them away, and exhaled deeply as his mom finally let him up. She grabbed his chin, forcing their eyes to meet.
"I don't get why you are so stubborn about this Carlos! As I said I'm very disappointed in you, and I want you up in your room til Papi gets home. Then we'll see how he thinks we should deal with this!"
x-x
And so Carlos was lying on the bed, sore and in a bad mood. He knew that his dad would be just as angry as his mom, and he could only hope that Antonio thought that one spanking was enough!
Carlos twirled his favorite Turtle, Michelangelo, in his hands and sighed deeply. Why couldn't his mom understand that being almost 12 and having to wear a red helmet – with a tiny kitten sticker on the back – just wasn't cool?!
Carlos heard his father's motorcycle pulling into the driveway and he got off the bed to look out the open window. Antonio was pulling off his helmet, and Carlos couldn't help but think that his dad wore a helmet even though that one wasn't too cool either!
Sylvia greeted her husband with a kiss in the yard, and Carlos felt his stomach churn as he heard his mom telling what had happened. He quickly stepped away from the window and laid down on the bed again.
Ten minutes later he heard a small knock on his door and his dad entered the room. He had a stern look on his face but didn't actually seem too angry, and Carlos immediately relaxed a bit. Another spanking seemed rather unlikely.
"Hi Mijo" Antonio said and plopped down on the bed next to his young son, "Mami told me what happened. Are you feeling okay?"
Carlos shrugged and felt his cheeks heat up.
"You have to wear your helmet, Carlos, do you understand me? I won't tolerate anymore disobedience from you, are we clear?"
"But dad..." Carlos whined, shrinking back a bit as he saw his father's stern look change to one of anger.
"Do I really need to spank you as well!" Antonio growled in a tired voice and furrowed his brow.
"NO!" Carlos quickly yelped and shook his head, "but dad, my helmet is just so... uncool!"
Antonio was just about to lecture his son about the dangers of not wearing a helmet, when he looked deep into Carlos' chocolate brown eyes and within a split second grasped what this was really about. Carlos didn't refuse the helmet to disobey, but simply because he was reaching an age where appearance started to matter. Antonio thought of Carlos' red, kitten-helmet and cringed. How come he didn't realize this two weeks ago! He went to the door and looked at his son.
"Just wait a minute Carlos, I'll be right back okay..."
Carlos merely nodded, confused with his dad's sudden change in mood.
When Antonio entered Carlos' room again, he placed something black and shiny on the bed. Carlos' eyes grew wide.
"My hockey helmet" he said incredulously.
"Your hockey helmet, Mijo" Antonio smiled, "why don't you just wear this one? It's black and pretty cool"
"Why didn't I think of this sooner" Carlos whined, "I wouldn't have been grounded and mom wouldn't have s-spanked me today!"
His cheeks blushed slightly. Carlos absolutely hated that word! His dad's face lit up in a crooked smile.
"Well, you have it now, and if you promise you'll always wear it, you're off the hook for now!"
"You mean, I'm not grounded?"
"That's exactly what I mean, Mijo. Now scoot!"
Carlos jumped off the bed, wincing slightly as his butt hit the hard bed frame.
"Thanks Papi!" the boy yelled while he nearly flew down the stairs to grab his skateboard.
x-x
Carlos hurried to the skatepark, and waved eagerly as he spotted his friends still there.
"Hey Los" Kendall greeted with his brows raised high, "we thought you'd be grounded or something..."
"Yeah, I kinda was, but then my dad said I should just wear my hockey helmet, and he let me off the hook!"
"Cool!" James smiled.
They went to the rails, and all three boys watched as Logan did a perfect grind ending it with a grab trick as he hopped off the rails. He turned his board around and skated back up the hill to join his friends again. Carlos went to a table and pulled off his helmet and placed it on the wooden surface.
"Come on, Carlos" Logan huffed, arms crossed, "you just got out of being grounded and then you just take off your helmet again. Your mom's gonna kill you!"
"I'm gonna put it back on, Logan!" the Latino hissed with an eye roll.
He pulled something from his pocket and straightened the skull-and-crutches sticker. Carlos pulled the sticker off the paper and carefully stuck it on his helmet on the right front side.
"Cool, a Jackass sticker!" Kendall exclaimed, admiring Carlos' shiny black helmet.
"Yeah" the smaller boy smiled, "my mom thought it fit me perfectly for some reason. I'm not sure she really knows what Jackass is though, then she would never have bought it for me..."
He smiled deviously at Kendall and slapped the hockey helmet on his head. Carlos clapped the shiny helmet a few times and jumped his board.
"Okay guys, let's skate..."
And that concludes the tale of how our Carlos started wearing Helmet :) Hope you liked it! Feedback is like sun on a rainy day, so reviews are more than welcome :D
- Rikke