Tempest (Royce/Winston)

Epilogue | Three

"Mr. Chresanto! Mr. Chresanto! I see my mommy!"

Chresanto watched as Lucas jumped up and down out of excitement. The five year old was too busy peering out of the window to notice Chresanto was looking at him. Lucas' eyes followed his mother who was quickly walking up to the entrance of the school. Once she entered the building and he couldn't see her anymore, Lucas ran to his cubby and grabbed his lunchbox then ran to the row of hooks on the wall and grabbed the only bookbag that was left.

"I can hear her shoes!" Lucas exclaimed as he stood right in front of the closed door.

Chresanto allowed a chuckle to leave his mouth, "I can hear them too, Lucas. Here, move back so she can get into the room, okay?"

Lucas took a few steps back just as the door to the classroom began to open. Ms. Williams smiled and knelt down as she let her little boy engulf her in a hug. She was breathless as she peppered kisses along the boy's hairline.

"Hey, baby" she greeted.

"Hi, mommy! It took you a long time to get here, everyone else left already".

"I know, mommy is sorry".

Ms. Williams stood up and nervously wiped the palms of her hands on her dress pants. She smiled sheepishly at Chresanto before opening her mouth, "Mr. August, I am so sorry. I know this is like the third time this month that I've been late to picking Lucas up but I've just been so busy with work... And at home isn't any better. I truly apologize, it won't happen again, I'll see if I can work something out with my boss or I can see if my mother can pick him up some days".

Chresanto smiled at the clearly frazzled mother, "it's fine, most days I have nowhere to be so staying after with Lucas for thirty minutes or so isn't a problem. Lucas is my little helper, he helps me set the classroom up for the next day and we talk about our day together. He's great company".

"I am" Lucas nodded in agreement.

Ms. Williams smiled, "thank you so much, Mr. August".

"It's really no trouble" he replied simply, he looked at Lucas and stuck out his fist, smiling when Lucas bumped his own fist against his larger one. "I'll see you tomorrow, bud".

"Okay, Mr. Chresanto!" Lucas said cheerfully, he grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her to the door. Ms. Williams mouthed one more 'thank you' before she left the room with her son.

Chresanto sighed and went back to picking up a few of the blocks that his young students failed to notice.

Chresanto went on to attending a college after graduating high school. He decided to major in elementary education because he knew that he always wanted to work with younger children.

During his college years, Chresanto kept in contact with Elijah, Rayan, Jacob, and even Winston. They were all attending different colleges, except for Elijah who decided not to attend one, but he still made sure to shoot them a text every once in a while to catch up. Chresanto completed his anger management courses before he went off to college, and could honestly say that they worked. He was no longer unnecessarily angry and whenever he did feel his anger levels rising, he knew exercises to help him stay calm and not blow things out of proportion.

Chresanto made a few good friends while he was at college. He did what most college students did and reached out and made new connections. He partied on occasion and worked during his studies. Chresanto found another boxing place to box at that was close to his college because he did quite enjoy boxing.

It was at the new boxing company that Chresanto met a girl who had taken interest in him. The two made good conversation but their developing friendship never became anything more. Chresanto was still adamant on focusing on himself.