Voyeur (Josh Balz Story)

Chapter 6

"So do you know how to do this?" Josh questioned when I get on his skateboard.

"Sort of." I murmur as I use my foot to push myself into motion.

"Do you want any help?" He asks sounding unsure.

"Um, alright."

Josh jogs for a second to catch up with me and shocks me a bit by grabbing my waist to steady me somewhat. His voice sounds odd as he asks, "Do you know how to stop?"

"Other than crashing or jumping off the board, no I don't."

He chuckles, "Okay, well that's a really important thing to learn first."

"I'm glad to see that Balz is getting over his fear of girls." Chris comments to Angelo as they roll by us.

Josh makes a face at their laughter and smirks at them saying, "You're just jealous." 

The other three boys expressions turn to variations of awe before making literally everyone else at the skate park stare at them as they cheered and clapped.

Josh was now laughing hysterically and shouting, "You guys are assholes!"

"You did it to yourself!" Angelo pointed out, wagging a finger at him. 

I decided to join in on the fun by teasingly asking, "Are you just going to hang onto me or are you actually going to teach me something?"

Now Ang, TJ, and Chris were nearly tripping over themselves from laughing so hard. 

Josh cleared his throat before saying, "Right, my bad."

When the sun began to set the guys decided it was time to head out. On the drive back I ended up being sandwiched between Chris and Josh in the back of Angelo's car. Every now and then Chris would snicker as he glanced over at Josh, clearly just to irritate him. After Josh and I got dropped off at his house I saw him visibly relax. 

"Are you alright?" I question, giving him a concerned look. 

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry my friends are such creeps." He tells me with a weak smile. 

I waved it off, "It was all in good fun."

He laughed, "I guess, so do you want me to walk you home?"

I shook my head no, "I should be fine. It's not that far from here and I don't want to make you walk back alone in almost total darkness."

I watched the torn expression Josh's face as he ran a hand through his fairly lengthy hair murmuring, "Alright, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Later Balz." I tease, using his last name like his bandmates did and I was glad to see his smile brighten at my words.

I waved goodbye before heading to my house, trying to beat the incoming darkness of the night. I could see my house in the distance when I turned down my street and that's also when red and blue lights began flashing behind me. 

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a deep voice spoke up, "Miss, where are you heading to?"

I peered over my shoulder to see the cop car was following me and the officer inside was obviously addressing me. So I politely tell him, "I'm on my way home sir."

"Where did you come from?" 

"Just down the street, I was hanging out with my friend Josh." I reply becoming more worried with every question he asked.

The cop nods thoughtfully, "Okay hun, just try not to be out by yourself when it's dark out. There have been some reports of someone lurking around in this neighborhood and we don't know exactly what they intend to do. So be careful."

A thought suddenly crossed my mind, was I being stopped because I was actually suspected of being the one he was searching for? Even though it seemed risky I asked, "Um, do you have any idea what the person looks like?"

"There's no real suspects at this time, but don't worry we're trying to catch them as quickly as possible."

"Okay, thank you..." I trailed off so I could momentarily read his nametag. "Officer Davis."

He shrugged slightly, "I'm just doing my job."

"Alright well, have a good evening." I tell him and begin to hurry home.

At some point I think this whole ordeal is scarier for me than for most other's. Not only is there a voyeur out and about, they might not even get caught because everyone seems so ready to blame me and be done with it. When I finally made it home and I sat down to eat dinner with my mom I remained in a state of silent anxiousness. I knew that I had to find a way to prove my innocence because I was almost certain that nearly no one else would. It then dawned on me, I was going to have to catch this person myself. I hurried to finish my food and told my mom that I had some studying to do before rushing to my room. 

I knew that I had to be careful about this or I would definitely make it appear as if I was to blame. As much as I dreaded the idea I knew that I needed to talk to Tiffany since she was the first one that called the police on the issue when this began, she just might know something. That has always been something that struck me as odd, she had been the first person to be peeped on, so how did it get turned into Josh and not her? How did the words get twisted around so much that I ended up being the culprit? And why did she feel the need to go along with it?

It wasn't like we didn't get along in the past, neither of us were mean to each other. Our families got on well and the holidays where packed with people and happiness. What made her change toward just me? It seemed so out of character from her that no one in our family believed me, not even my mom, that she persistently made fun of me and had it out for me. Maybe we could put this behind us if I can put the real peeping tom behind bars.