Casey sat comfortably on the limb of a tree studying the students about her. There were so many of them, and it was quite loud. She had come outside to read, but she once got there she found she had not the heart or the attention span to read. Still it was nice to be outside in the fresh air with a fresh layer of snow settled on the ground. She smiled contentedly, twisting a piece of copper hair around her finger as she saw small flurries of snow began to fall. Oh how she loved winter

Kaden sat under the tree Casey was sitting in but on the oppisite side. He heard her moving about and looked up brushing some hair out of his face, he put the picture of his daughter Trinity back in his coat pocket and said. " Hi there.."

Casey shoved her book in her bag and rearranged herself on the branch so she was leaning against the tree. The sound of voice startled her, but the fact that the voice came from a guy startled her even more. She looked down to find someone on the ground leaning against the same tree. She blushed slightly, but it was obvious against her pale complexion. "H-Hi" she stammered

Kaden smiled and said. " I'm Kaden, you are?" he smiled a bit more when she blushed.

Casey looked down at her hands which were twisting about eachother in her lap. "I'm Casey" she managed to say, her voice quiet and had a hint of nervousness to it. She was not accustomed to having conversations with guys

Kaden could sense her nervousness and just said. " pleasure meeting you Casey."

Casey nodded, "Pleased to meet you too" she said, nervously rubbing a scar that her father had given her on the arm over the summer.

Kaden felt sort of concerned. " Hey are you okay?"

Casey nodded, "Yea I'm fine. . . Why?" no one had ever cared if i was okay or not beforecshe thought bitterly

" I dunno you just seem upset or something.." he said shrugging.

Casey blinked and stared at her hands. For a second she wanted to let it all out, to tell him absolutely everything and be done with the secret that had gnawed at her heart for so long. But she held her tongue. "I'm fine really" she told him.

Kaden nodded. " Well okay but if you want to talk I'm all ears..."

At that point Casey almost opened her mouth and spilled about everything but a moments hesitation made her rethink the idea. If she told someone then maybe something would happen to her father, and she could bear the thought, that would also place her as an orphan.. no she couldn't tell. For a moment she forgot she was afraid of Kaden and said with a bit of a smile, "I'll keep that in mind"

" Okay!" he smiled to her then looked up at the sky.

Casey smiled briefly as she glanced up at the sky. She felt a small bruise on her arm that she had received over the christmas break, it was healing but it still hurt. She climbed down the tree to be next to Kaden. "So... uh..." she paused trying to think of where to take this conversation

Kaden looked over at her. " so uh what?" he asked smiling.

Casey shrugged, "I dunno... i was kind of hoping you'd come up with that" she said a little bolder than before.

Kaden laughed slightly and looked at her with a smile. " What year are you in?" he asked, he didn't want to say anything wrong because this girl seemed nice and he didn't want to scare her off.

"Fifth... What about you?" She responded her voice going back to that of a small, nervous girl

" Same...what house?" he asked noticing her nervousness coming back.

"Hufflepuff... And you?" Casey asked, her eyes boring into the ground before her

" Slytherin..." he said looking where she was looking.

Casey glanced at Kaden out of the corner of her eyes before turning her gaze back to the ground before her. Once again they were out of questions to ask. "Sooo... what were you doing down here?"

" Sitting...and looking at a picture of my..." he paused for a second and cleared his throat. " daughter..."

Casey sat for a second in complete surprise, but then she thought that if he had been looking at a picture of his daughther then maybe he loved her and didn't hurt her and so maybe he would hurt Casey. "What's her name?" she asked her eyes turning to him for the first time.

Kaden smiled, he usually didn't like telling people that, they would get all weird and it freaked him out. They always thought he was irresponsible ( (wow I butchered that one lol)) " Trinity...want to see her?" he asked happily and taking out the picture before she answered. It was a moving picture of them, Trinity was just learning how to walk and Kaden was standing holding her hands as she walked across the small room of his house.

Casey smiled slightly and nodded. As he pulled out the picture she leaned closer to get a better look. "Aw she's cute!" She said forgetting her fear and nervousness a bit. "How old is she?"

" Thanks!" he said before adding. " she is two and a half.." he smiled.

Casey smiled her eyes lingering on the picture for a second before her gaze turned back to the ground. The smiled hadn't diminished her nervousness was coming back, how she hated being so scared and nervous all the time. "Who takes care of her while you're here?" she asked curiously, maybe not the best of questions to ask.

" Her mother..." he said looking away from the picture. " I had an apartment...and I'd live there with Trin....but her mother took her away from me...I haven't seen her since..."

Casey looked up at him "Oh... Do you visit her over breaks or anything?" Casey wondered for a split second if Kaden had ever laid a hand on his daughter but quickly pushed that thought out of her mind. But thoughts of her own father swirled in her head and she reached for her shoulder where she knew she had received a nasty bruise.

" No..the only reason I don't get to see her is because her mother hates me...i left her after I got her pregnent...I was young..." he looked at her. " you have to believe me I'm not like that I've changed..." he sighed and looked at her shoulder. " what's wrong?"

Casey looked up at him, "It happens... I probably would've done the same thing had I been in your shoes." She told him. Glancing at her shoulder and then back up to Kaden she said, "Oh.. nothing ... just a small bruise that's all."

he was about to ask her what from but he didn't, she could probably know he was going to ask by the look on his face.

Casey saw his questioning face and racked her brain for a suitable lie, but a bruise on a shoulder didn't come about easily. "I.. um...' and for a second she panicked, what if Kaden found out, what if he could tell she was lying?? "I fell down the stairs over break and hit my shoulder against the railing"

Kaden knew she was lying but he wasn't the kind of person to push someone. " oh okay...."

Casey looked down at her lap, the panic subsiding a bit. She could tell Kaden didnt quite believe her, and she didn't really blame him either. The lie hadn't really even been all that plausible. She sighed softly angry at herself, and her father, and for every lie she's ever had to tell. "I'm just clumsy..." she tried to explain rather pointlessly.

" okay if you say so..." he sighed and looked up at the sky.

Casey sighed, she hated lying to him. He hadn't lied about his daughter so why did she have to lie about this. Was it because she was scared of what her father would do? Or maybe what would happen to him. She followed Kaden's gaze up to the sky. "You don't believe me..." she said softly

" No not at all.." he smiled slightly still looking up at the sky.