Voyeur (Josh Balz Story)

Chapter 4

Monday morning's have never been something on the top of my list of favorites, so the fact I was running late to school wasn't really a surprise to me. What was a surprise was being pulled out of Chemistry class only minutes after I had arrived by the assistant principal Mr. Kelson. 

"Ms. Matthews, I need you to come with me."

I glanced over at my teacher and she nodded, silently allowing me to leave. I grabbed my book and backpack before getting up to follow Mr. Kelson, trying to ignore the dead silence that had fallen over the classroom. I didn't spare a single peek at my classmates as the door was shut behind me on our exit. 

"So what do you need Mr. Kelson?" I asked as we made our way down the empty hall.

"I believe that this is best suited to be discussed in my office Carina." He tells me with a strange edge to his voice.

I then began to worry that I was somehow in trouble and I started racking my brain for what I could have done. By the time we reached his office I was a ball of nerves and I had to fight the urge to chew at my lips out of habit. Mr. Kelson sat down behind his desk, straightening out his tie before clearing his throat and picking up the phone on his desk to tap in some numbers.

"Mrs. Robinson? Ms. Matthews is in my office now if you would like to join us."

Why did the counselor need to be involved as well? I felt my heartbeat speed up, what is going on and what did it have to do with me? Not even a minute later the dark headed woman stepped into the room and gave me her plastic style of smiling, making me have remind myself to not roll my eyes.

She took a seat in the chair next to me, folding her hands in her lap saying, "So Ms. Carina there have been some issues going on outside of school that have been brought to our attention."

When she didn't continue I decided to speak up, "And they are?"

Mr. Kelson was the one to answer my question, "The police have been getting complaints about a peeping Tom from parents of this school's students. We understand that there haven been rumors that you may have partaken in such activities in the past."

I could only stare at him in total disbelief before stuttering out, "A-Are you saying that people think I'm the one doing this because of a three year old rumor? You can't be serious."

"We all have to look into each possibility, considering what we're dealing with." Mrs. Robinson adds on.   

"Shouldn't you all have something more to go off of other than a rumor?"

"Carina we aren't saying that you are a true suspect, but we do know that you've had a hard time dealing with other students over the voyeuring rumor. We just wanted you to be aware of what is going on and that if anyone gives you problems to please come to any of the staff. We'll take of it."

I nodded even though I wanted to scoff and shake my head at the man. Did they seriously believe they could put an end to my harassment so easily? It was almost laughable. The only sure way that this would stop would be after graduation or having to be moved to another school.

Despite my thoughts I responded with, "Thank you both, things have actually been fairly calm nowadays, but I'll let you know if anything changes."

Thankfully after that I was allowed to return to class and the halls were empty even though I knew the bell for second period would ring at any second now. Even though I knew that this all should worry me more than it is I knew that the cops would eventually catch whoever it was, the only thing that bothered me was the possibility of my classmates bothering me as bad as they used to. A moment later the bell shrieked and then the hallway was flooded with students. 

A shout quickly caught my attention, "Peeping Cary is at it again!"

Several laughs sounded around me, but I just kept walking. So my worries of them knowing were well put and even though it was true I knew I couldn't let anyone see that it bothered me in the least bit. I had done this too many times to even count, but that doesn't mean that it's still not irritating as hell. Sadly this kept up through out the day and by my last class I was about to tare my hair out and I continuously glanced at the clock, waiting for the day to end. I just wanted to go home and blast some music to forget this place. 

"Alright everyone, seeing as we have ten more minutes of class time left, get with your partners and discuss today's chapter. If your partner is absent, then write about your opinion of what we have read." Mrs. Watson, tells us all before taking a seat behind her desk and closing her copy of The Great Gatsby.

A moment later I am met with Josh's familiar face and he seemed to be in a good mood as he asked, "Hey Carina, how has your day been?"

I smiled at him softly shrugging, "It's was alright."

"That's good to hear, so about this chapter..." He begins and holds up his book. "What did you think or were you bored out of your mind considering you've read it already?"

My smile brightened up a bit, "This story never gets old for me honestly, so what did you think of it then? Since it's your first time reading it."

He grinned, "It's starting to grow on me."

Our conversation flowed easily after that and I had to admit that it was the best I had felt all day. It surprised me that I was actually bummed out when the release bell went off and we had to leave, but I was even more shocked when Josh didn't stop talking to me after we stepped out into the hall. The only thing that made him stop was a shorter boy calling after him.

"Balz! Dude, where are you going? Chris and Ryan want us to meet us in like ten minutes! Please don't tell me you're bailing." When he finally reached us I realized it was TJ Bell, another one of the school's skaters. When he saw me he looked slightly confused, but the words that came out of his mouth weren't the ones I was expecting. "She can come along too if she wants."

I figured Josh would say no to the idea one way or another, but instead he asked, "Do you want to come to our band's practice?"

He was in a band? On top of that he was inviting me to come watch him play? There was no way that I was saying no to that. "Yeah, okay. I'll go."

He smiled brightly while gesturing for me to follow them and my heart fluttered in it's usual fashion at the sight. I quickly tagged along with the two boys before we got into a car with a dark headed guy in a Slipknot shirt. 

"So Carina, that's TJ in case you didn't know." Josh tells me as he takes a seat beside me in the back and TJ waved at me with a nod. "And our driver here is Angelo, he's also in the band."

"Nice to meet you Carina!" He greets me with a smile through the rear view mirror.

"Same here." I say with a chuckle. "So what's your band's name?"

"Chris and Frank have been arguing between When Breathing Stops and Motionless in White." TJ tells me while turning around in his seat so he could be heard better.

"The second one sounds cool." I remark.

"That's what we said!" They all cry and I can't help laughing at that.

After that Angelo cranked up the radio and Eighteen Visions started playing. The three of them seemed pleased that I knew the band and soon we were all screaming along. I couldn't help the thought that crossed my mind, but for a moment I felt like I actually had some friends again.