Epilogue

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VOTE AND COMMENT❤️❤️❤️❤️

Cameron POV

The high pitch sound of my alarm makes me groan. I turn it off immediately and force myself to get up out of my bed. I check my phone to see a bunch of email notifications and a text from my acquaintance from work, and Tyler of course. I answer Tyler's first.

Tyler❤️: Goodmorning ugly

Me: Goodmorning, where are you?

Tyler❤️: I just landed in New York. I'm coming by later. Don't have to get to the studio till three days.

Me: Bring food.🙏🏻

Tyler❤️: no

Me: :(

Tyler❤️: burgers good? five guys burgers.

Me: yesssssssss! i love you 😍

Tyler❤️: fatass. get ready for work, your new students are waiting on you.

Me: ugh don't remind me

Tyler❤️: Did u even wake Aj and Leah up yet?

Me: shoot I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me about that😂

I close my phone and sigh, not even caring about responding to my coworkers text. Now I gotta deal with these kids of mine. I drag myself over to Taleah's room. I flick on the light and tap her lightly.

"Baby wake up. Time for school, come on. Don't make me have to say it twice." She groans and rolls over.

"Five more minutes."

"No, lets go. Up up up. Come on. Can't be late on your first day." I say. And like she always has, she gives me a hard time.

"Leah, lets go. Now." I pull her covers off of her and she sighs and sits up.

"Get in the shower. I gotta be at work so hurry up." I kiss her forehead, like I do every morning, and then go and wake Anthony jr. up. Now, I need to prepare myself for this. It's usually hard to wake AJ up every morning he has to go to school, simply because he never wants to.

I go into his room. "AJ, baby, wake up."

He opens his eyes and stares at me.

"Come on, you gotta get up. I don't have time to argue with you about it."

"Can you get out?" He says and turns his head away from me.

"Can you wake up?" I ask him.

"Can you get out?"

"Aj, I'm not dealing with your nonsense. Not today, alright? Just get up and get in the shower. Now."

Aj gets up and stares me down. He's much taller than me and he thinks that intimidates me but it doesn't. Trust me, it doesn't.

"Come down here now."

He lowers his head and I kiss his forehead, like I do every morning no matter how much he curses me out or pisses me off. I love both of my babies with all my heart so I kiss them everyday.

"Papa, imma be out late tonight."

I twist my face. "And how late is late?"

"Probably past midnight." He says and starts to walk away.

"No. Heck no. There's nothing in the streets for a fifteen year old past midnight. Plus Uncle Tyler is coming today."

"Aight, so I'll be back a little before then," he shrugs as if it's nothing. I have to breath to calm myself down.

"You're not going at all, your coming straight home. And that's final. Get in the shower now," I walk out of his room and get myself in the shower. Luckily we each have a separate bathroom so I never have to hear them fight over space. It's hard to find an apartment with a whole lot of space in a Brooklyn that's affordable, but Tyler helps me out a whole lot even though I don't want him to. I didn't want to move states or even boroughs because I need to be close to the Metropolitan Detention Center. I haven't seen my parents in years though. They came up here one time when the kids were 8, but that's about it. Plus, my dad mostly stayed in a hotel. My mom was the one to sleep over at my apartment and spend time with Aj and Leah. She had my brother Kyle stay with us too. Today, Kyle looks kind of how I did when I was fifteen, but he's the more masculine, taller version. My mother tells me that my father doesn't baby him as much as he did me. He treats him like 'normal boy'. Me and my father don't have the relationship like we used to anymore ever since that whole thing happened. It hurts, but I moved on with my life and so has he.

I quickly get out the shower and throw on black fitted jeans, a white long sleeve t-shirt and black sneakers that Tyler bought me, I think they're Jordan's, I don't know. I don't know about those things. I'm a high school teacher, but there's no strict dress code for the teachers. As long as we're covered up. I fix my face a little bit with chap stick and moisturizing cream. I tuck my shirt into my jeans and then rush to the kitchen. I make some eggs and bacon and toast for Aj and Leah. I try to make them breakfast every morning because I'll feel bad if I don't. Then the thought of them being hungry will be on my mind all day.

Leah is the first one done. "You look cute sweetie." I say. She's got on a cute little tight fitted dress. She looks so beautiful in it. She's developing to have the same body type as me. She tells me boys bother her and girls hate her for it, so I have to watch her extra hard just in case somebody wants to hurt her.

"Thanks papa."

I give her her plate of breakfast and she starts digging in. About two minutes later, Aj comes out. "You look handsome honey. Eat up," I hand him a plate of food.

"Thanks."

They both finish up while I just quickly eat a banana and orange juice while heading out the door. I drive as quickly as I can to their school. They go to the same high school as I did, even though I didn't want them to because of all that happened there. But they both had put that high school down as their first choice without me knowing when they were in eight grade. I don't know why they would do that. All the kids talk about over there is how their father shot somebody in the head over me about seventeen years ago. Now Aj and Leah want to fight anybody that brings it up. Countless times I've had to go to the school because they got into some kind of fist fight with some kid over them constantly bringing that up.

"Gimme kiss," I say as I pull up to the school. Leah gives me a kiss but Aj just gets out the car without me even getting a chance to say goodbye. "See you guys later. I love you."

I watch them and make sure they get into the school and then speed drive to work. I have enough time to get there on time, but I like to prepare. I get to the high school twenty minutes early by the grace of God. I teach English, even though I really like math. But they already have enough math teachers here.

When I get to the classroom I'll be teaching in, I organize my papers and lesson plan before the students come in. Students always come late though, so as bad as it sounds, it gives me time to relax. This is my fourth year teaching and I like it. The kids are a hand full, but I wouldn't rather work on any other field.

About twenty five minutes later, the students start rolling in, making noise. I'm teaching Seniors this year. I've only taught freshman and juniors, but this year they assigned me the Seniors because the other English teacher retired. This is my first year working at this high school, so it's all new faces.

When the classroom looks full enough I stand up from the desk. I walk in front of the desk and just look at them–waiting for them to be quiet. It takes one kid to notice and say "shhh" for everyone to be quiet.

"Good morning you guys. Look at all these beautiful faces," I smile truthfully. They are all beautiful.

"Well, I'm Mr. Cameron, your English teacher. Cameron is my first name. Traditionally, teachers use their last names, but I like to use my first name for personal reasons. So, Mr.Cameron or Mr. C is fine if you prefer that. Doesn't matter to me."

I look around at all of them and smile.

"Anyone have any questions about what we're gonna learn this year? Oh and please say your name before you ask the question."

One kid raises their hand. I call on her. "My names Keyonna. My question is are you gay?"

"What do you think?"

"I think so."

"Well, there you go. Anymore questions?"

Another hand raises. I have a feeling these kids are about to interrogate me.
"My name is Treyvonte. Aren't you the one gay dude that got pregnant a while back by that nigga Anthony that's in jail for murder or something? It was all in the news because you was the first real man to be pregnant? That story was crazy as hell."

Yep. That whole thing follows me wherever I go. I can never escape it. I sigh, "The simple answer to your question is yes. Yes I am," I smile uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry Mr. Cameron, but your ass is mad fat. You're my body goals, for real." Says some girl out loud.

"I don't think that's an appropriate thing to tell a teacher, but I guess I should say thank you nonetheless."

"Do you have a boyfriend or husband?" Keyonna asks. The room gets silent and they all stare at me for an answer.

I blush and smile awkwardly, "I think that's enough about my personal life. Let's talk about you guys. We're gonna go around and tell me your name and one thing about you."

I point at one kid and listen to them as they start. I learned some pretty interesting things about them. One of them has lupus, one of them is a drug dealer- I don't know why they told me that-, One of them has thirteen full siblings. They're all different in their own way.

"Alright, good job you guys. I–"

"Hold up, Hold up, aren't you like super close friends with Tyler?" One student asks and they all gasp and sit up in their chairs, staring at me now. Oh god, these kids love Tyler.

I nod, "Yes, I am."

They all start to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's he like in person?"

"What's Tyler like in person? Um, he's got his own personality. He's just Tyler." I shrug not quite knowing how to describe someone so unique, "Is that a good enough answer for you?"

They nod.

"Okay so–" I only get interrupted again.

"Aren't your kids Taleah and Anthony?" Treyvonte asks. I smile and nod at the thought of them. "Yo, swing your daughters number, I'm tryna talk to her. She be ignoring a niggas DM's."

"Facts her ass is mad juicy yo, and she pretty as fuck."

"Nah, Mr. Cameron, your son? Swing me his number. That tall sexy ass thing. He a little young but he don't look it. I don't think that dizick gon' be young either." A girl says and they nod in agreement.

"Hey, I don't want to hear you guys talk about my kids like that. Please, that's one thing I won't tolerate. That's not appropriate. Amongst yourselves, I can't control you. But pretty please, not to me." I say, frowning a little bit.

"Sorry." They all say and I nod.

"Thank you. Now let's move away from all of that completely. This year we're gonna do..."

I continue to talk about what we're gonna do in the year and when I finish, I allow them to have the time at the end of the period to do whatever they want. Of course, they try to interrogate me some more, but I'm tired of answering questions about my life. And I gotta deal with at least seven more senior classes, asking me about the same things. I'm about to write "no personal questions" on the board. But that looks like I'm a stuck up teacher. Sigh.

***

Like I had predicted, the day was filled with me getting asked all types of questions. I even got questions about if it hurt to give birth because they assumed I had done it through my backside. Ridiculous. I did end up having to write "Do not ask me any overly personal questions, please." on the board.

When the day is finally over I let out a huge sigh that I felt like I was holding in for the longest. At least we got past the introduction phase. Tomorrow I could just jump right into the work I have for them.

Right as I'm gathering my things, a coworker of mine walks in. "Hey Cameron, I texted you. Didn't you receive it?" He asks.

"Oh yeah, I saw it this morning but didn't get the chance to answer. Why, what did it say?" I ask, not even slightly interested in what it said. All while I was preparing for the school year during August, this guy has been on my tail. His name is Giovanni, and he's a really sweet person, but he always catches me at the wrong time.

"I just wanted to know if you want to head out for some coffee? It's on me." He smiles.

"Awe, thank you but I'm gonna have to decline. I gotta go run a few errands, plus I don't drink coffee," I gather up the rest of my things into my bag. Giovanni pouts.

"Damn, that sucks. Well alright. In that case, I'll see you tomorrow." He says as I start to walk towards the door.

"See you tomorrow, get home safe."

"I will try my best," he chuckles. I walk out of the classroom and get in my car as quickly as I can. I just wanna get home and lay down. I have to pick up a few groceries though. Hopefully I won't have to cook tonight if Tyler remembers to bring my food.

About an hour and a half later I finish running errands and find myself sprawled out on the couch watching cartoons. Taleah came home about an hour ago, but Aj has yet to come home. He doesn't listen to anything I say. I'm just hoping he comes home before 8:00pm, because if he doesn't I'm going to have a panic attack.

The door suddenly opens and in comes Tyler. He sets a few bags down and drops his body down on me enclosing me in a tight hug. I sit up and hug him properly, secretly looking past him for Five Guys bags.

"You don't even miss me for real, you're looking for food fatass. Here," he pulls away from the hug and gives me a bag filled with burgers. I smile happily and clap my hands. "Yayyy!"

Taleah comes out the back. "Hey Uncle Tyler, I didn't know you were coming by." She says.

"You know I come by whenever I can. Come give me a hug pretty girl," He hugs her, "Where's Aj?"

"Man, I don't know. He disappeared like fourth period." She says and shakes her head. This catches my attention.

"What do you mean he disappeared fourth period?" I say. Taleah shrugs.

"I don't know, from fourth period onwards I ain't seen him all day. We usually meet up around that time but he was nowhere to be found."

I stare into open space and sigh. This always happens. Aj listens to nothing I say, he just does what he wants o do on his own accord. He worries me, a lot. I don't know what I can do to stop him from acting this way. I give him everything he could possibly want or need, he has no business being out late at night. But, just for my sanity, I'm going to take into consideration that it's only 6:30, and that he could be coming home soon.

"Did you call him?," Tyler asks while taking out his cellphone. I nod, but Aj didn't pick up. Tyler tries to call him but he doesn't answer. I can tell that Tyler and Taleah start trying to occupy me by changing the conversation and putting on movies so that I don't worry about Aj too much. I know sometimes I over react, but Aj has the means to stay out later than he's supposed to. And I'm not talking about 10:00pm late. I'm talking about maybe 2 or 3 in the morning.

"What you need to do is start beating his ass, Aj needs a good slap or two in the face or he's gonna get worse," Tyler says "and I ain't gonna do it because I adore these kids too much."

I shake my head. At this point, it's 11:45 pm and Aj hasn't come home yet. I'm sitting on the edge of the couch, anxious and worried about him and where he's at. It's not even the coming home late that's the only problem. Aj disrespects and curses me out all the time, he doesn't listen to a thing I say, he doesn't care about school at all, he doesn't talk to me about anything. It's a lot to deal with, especially when I love him so much that I can't despise him. Of course I can't, he and Leah are too special to me to stay mad at them for long.

The front door opens and Aj walks in with the scent of weed on him. His eyes are bloodshot red. I stare at him and he stares back.

"What?" He says.

"Didn't I say to come straight home?"

He shrugs, "I had to handle something real quick."

"Nigga you smell like mad sour, what were you handling?," Taleah says and laughs. I shoot her a look and she mumbles a 'sorry'.

"Hey uncle Tyler," Aj says, completely disregarding the last conversation. I decide to just dismiss it because it's gonna go nowhere. I've had this talk with Aj a million times at this point and he does the same thing.

"Don't 'hey uncle Tyler' me. You walk up in here smelling like weed, disrespecting Cameron. You think he deserves to get treated like that after all he been through to raise you nigga?" Tyler frowns.

Aj just looks out into open space. There's a better chance of him listening if Tyler talks to him. If it's me trying, he'll just walk away or he'll stay and it'll go in one ear and out the other.

"Come sit down over here." Tyler says to Aj. Aj sits next to Tyler. Tyler asks Aj questions like where he was actually at and why'd he skip school. Aj did in fact skip school 4th period and he did it to go smoke weed with his friends, just for the hell of it. And to go 'handle beef' with somebody.

While Tyler is talking to Aj, the home phone rings- yes I still have one of those. It's a private number, but I pick it up anyway. I get up and go to the kitchen to speak. I clear my throat.

"Um, Hello?"

"Hello."

The deep voice on the other end makes my heart skip a few beats. The sound of his voice makes my breath catch in my throat. Like always, my eyes start tearing up and I have to grab a few tissues to keep them from falling.

"I got ten minutes to talk baby, talk to me."

I let out a shaky breath, "hi."

"Why you crying for sweetheart?"

"I miss you so much."

I haven't seen Anthony in five years. Yeah- you heard that right. The last time we saw him was five years ago. The reason being that Anthony got into some trouble at the jail. People know about him having a husband– we married about six years ago, while he was incarcerated- and the men there that feen for you know, pleasure, always think he'd be down to fool around with them. One of them was foolish enough to touch Anthony's man part and Anthony went ballistic. He cracked the mans head open against a wall, and almost killed him with his bare hands. As a punishment, they took away visiting rights for Anthony, so now we can't see him anymore. All I have now is old pictures when I want to remember his face.

"I miss you too baby, you don't even know. All I do is think about you all day. That's the best thing for me to do here is think about you."

I smile and blush, wiping at my eyes.

"Not a day goes by where I don't think about you Ant." I say truthfully.

"What you be thinking about?"

"When we were  together and happy."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhm."

It's quiet for a little while, "How's my kids?" He asks.

"They're good. You wanna talk to them?"

"Of course."

I call Aj and Leah from the living room. They look at me weirdly when I hand them the phone. It's on speaker so that they're able to talk to him together.

"Hello?" Taleah says first.

"My babygirl, hi sweetheart."

Taleah gasps and her eyes widen, "Daddy!!"

Aj quickly grabs the phone from her, "Daddy?"

"My boy, how are you baby?"

The smile on both of their faces warms my heart.

"I miss you guys so much. You guys sound all grown up and shit, shit is messing me up."

"We miss you too," they say in unison.

"I hope y'all doing good in school."

Taleah laughs, "School just started."

"Really?

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