Moments later, Mr. McDonald entered the room to find Casey sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, Hun." He greeted happily. "How are you?"

"Fine," she replied carelessly. "How was work?"

"Good," Mr. McDonald couldn't really find any better word than that. "Did you go by the school?"

"Yeah," He became a little frustrated that Casey wouldn't go into detail. She always went into detail.

"What could've changed?" he wondered. Then he remembered the reason why Casey was with him in the first place. Max.

"How'd it go?" he inquired.

"Alright. It seems like a nice school." Casey's dad was thankful for a bit of talking from her, it made things seem more…normal. However, he knew that things would never be normal for Casey again.

Without thinking, Mr. McDonald asked, "So why did he do it?" Casey knew exactly what he was talking about, but was shocked that he brought it up. She'd moved to New York to forget about Max, she thought she could hide from him here.

"Didn't Mom tell you?"

"Not exactly. She just said he was gone and that was that." Casey smirked despite herself. Her mom really did know how to keep her mouth shut.

"We'd gotten into a fight, broken up, he threatened to for three months straight, so I figured he wouldn't do it. So then one day I get a call saying that he had."

"That's it?" Mr. McDonald refused to believe that this could really be all there was to the story.

"Yeah."

"So what was the fight about?" He really wanted to be patient, waiting for Casey's reply, but Nora had told him that Casey and Max had been together for such a long time. It seemed odd that one fight could ruin that.

"Derek." He stared at his daughter for a moment, watching her eyes as they stared at the TV. Unfeeling. "So what are we doing tonight?" She finally turned her face from the screen, her eyes becoming lighter.

"Going out to dinner with some friends of mine," he told her. "Is that alright. I mean, if you want it to be jus the two of us-"

"No, Dad, it's fine." Casey assured him, getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

"We'll probably be leaving in about half an hour so-"

"Alright." Mr. McDonald let out a sigh. Raising a kid would be harder than he'd expected. "Do you need a shower?"

"Are we going somewhere where I'm expected to have one?" she questioned. Mr. McDonald shook his head. "Then I think I'm alright."

"Well, I definitely need a shower," he remarked, making his way towards the bathroom. "Be ready to go in 30 minutes."

"Alright," Casey replied, a tint of annoyance within her voice. Soon her father faded behind the door and Casey was left in the silence once again.

"Why would Dad randomly start asking about Max?" she asked herself, beginning to pace the room. "It's not like he was there through the whole ordeal." Ordeal. That's the word Casey chose to use with Max's suicide. Ordeal. It really hadn't simply been what Casey offered up to her father. How could it be so simple? What guy in his right mind would go three months without so much as a cut and then suddenly kill himself?

The email began calling to Casey again. She didn't want to think about it, but her father had aroused the subject within her.

"It's all because of stupid Derek," Casey muttered, making her way towards her room. Opening her closet, she looked for something more decent to wear. Her clothes had the smell of airports, having decided not to change before heading out into New York, and she was ready for something less "I'm new to the city, please help me." After a good twenty minutes she finally decided that jeans and a hoodie was best. Then she was confined to sitting on her bed for the next ten minutes, her laptop beckoning her.

"No," she persuaded herself, going into the living room. "I'm not ready yet."