Casey Stephens

**Casey Stephens**, is the main character of *The First Year, The Second Year, The Third Year*, and *The Fourth and Final Year*. The entirety of the series is told through her point of view.

Throughout the books, Casey is a student at Eden State University but graduates at the end of the series in the book *The Fourth and Final Year* with a degree in Media Production and Photography.

## Personality

Casey would be perceived as the 'mum' of the gang, despite being from another country, Casey fits in incredibly well to her college life. She is incredibly helpful and protective when it comes to her friends and is constantly shown throughout the series helping them out in times of need. She is also extremely hardworking as shown when she works at her job at The Kingsley, despite not being the best when it comes to decision making in hard situations, Casey still manages to pull through and is well-liked throughout her friends and love interests.

## Series

### The First Year

Casey begins her first year with excitement as a brand new Eden State Student where she pursues a bachelor of Art and Photography. When it is revealed that her parents don't have any money to proceed with her tuition at Eden State University, Casey enlists working for Mia King as a bartender and waitress at The Kingsley, a bar that gives students a chance to work for their tuition. Despite absolutely hating the idea of working for Mia King, Casey finds comfort in her newfound friend Caleb King who is revealed as Mia King's son.

Casey begins to fall for heartthrob football player Hayden, unfortunately, it is revealed to Casey that Hayden isn't ready for a relationship and yet the two can't deny that they have chemistry. When it is revealed that Hayden is in a relationship with Charlotte Cosby the Kappa Phi Sorority president, Casey is heartbroken and despite having sex with Hayden at a party, Hayden persists he can't be with Casey for reasons unknown.

Casey finds solace in one day getting invited to a photoshoot as a model when Johnathan Harvey owner for Looks Good Inc. Finds her picture on one of the posters Caleb took to fundraise for The Kingsley. Casey invites her best friend Faye Washington along for the ride of the photo shoot where they are taken photos of for the summer line, Johnathan continues to invite Faye and Casey on a summer camp where they will be able to travel and have their photos taken. Casey doesn't accept this at first as she continues to deal with the struggles of her personal life as well as working at The Kingsley when she finds it hard to find her signature drink.

One night at Faye's birthday party at a nightclub it is revealed that Faye is a lesbian when she drunkenly kisses Casey, despite not feeling the same way Casey helps Faye come out of the closet which Faye is forever thankful for. At the annual University Ball, Casey is asked by Caleb where they attend and she realizes that she still has feelings for Hayden when seeing him with Charlotte. After bouncing around for a while Hayden decides to break it off with Charlotte and tell Casey he wants to be with her, and at the championship final game she gladly accepts.

After receiving an award for employee of the year Casey becomes more confident in herself and finally is able to create her signature drink the "Casadia." When her freshmen year is finished Casey finishes the year happy with her new boyfriend and her best friends who have grown so much around her.

### The Second Year

When Sophomore Year approaches, Casey becomes excited about the new possibilities of the new year. When walking late at night to The Kingsley for work Casey is harassed by some boys wanting to take advantage of her. When crying out for help Casey is saved by a boy who is later to be revealed as Izzy, one of the newest workers at The Kingsley. Casey begins to slowly become attracted at the first introduction but shuts it off and shows annoyance instead as she is still in a relationship with Hayden. It is later revealed that Izzy is Faye's brother who came up to Boston to support and be near his sister.

The year slowly begins to take a turn when Oliver King makes his return in fighting up against Faye for student council president. This angers Casey and her friends when they all begin to be harassed by Oliver King, as well as this it is also revealed that Cedric King wants to buy off The Kingsley from Mia King and take it for himself. Throughout her time fighting to save The Kingsley, Casey, and Hayden's relationship begins to crumble when he makes a pitch to try and be team Captain for the Stallions Casey begins to worry he will fall into old habits when she catches him having private conversations with Charlotte during practice.

While rising into popularity to gain votes for student council president Faye begins to put together a band and to Casey's surprise, Hayden auditions to be a part of it. While Casey is proud of Hayden for making it into The Untitled, Casey begins to worry even more as this means that she and Hayden won't be able to spend as much time together anymore. When Casey is offered a photography job for the day for The Kingsley, her and Izzy's bond seems to grow as they begin to get to know each other on a deeper level Casey admits that she did take him for granted at first and was worried that he was just some bad boy who would continuously flirt without her consent. After learning about Izzy's past with violence, Casey forms a newfound respect for him and feels an unwanted attraction towards him which complicates her feelings about Hayden.

On the night of Ava's art show Casey and Faye meet Indigo and Valarie who Ava has become quite close to, they don't exactly see eye-to-eye as the two girls exclude Casey and Faye from conversations and begin to take Ava away from them which leaves them to get a bad feeling about Ava's newfound friends. Indigo and Valarie even go as far as to insult Faye and say that her dreams of becoming a student council president will crash and burn when Faye runs away from her responsibilities to become a rockstar. This angers Casey as she has been seeing how hard Faye has been working to get her title as student council president after the two argue with Indigo and Valarie, Faye and Ava's relationship is strained when Ava refuses to jump on Casey and Faye's side.

When Casey's birthday arrives, Casey is shocked when Hayden barely acknowledges her in the morning and has to run off to practice. After seeing all of her housemates, Izzy and Caleb included congratulate her birthday and Hayden appears to be non-existent. When Faye calls Hayden to organize going out that night for Casey's birthday Hayden is in horror of his realization he forgot his own girlfriend's birthday party. Casey hits her breaking point and decides to ditch her friends which leads her to a random bar where she bumps into Izzy, Casey, and Izzy decide to hang out that night and play some pool. After flirtatious and awkward grabs at the pool table, Izzy tells Casey that he hopes he isn't the only one who feels something for her, but Casey denies feeling anything despite Izzy kissing her and her not pulling away because she still wants to make things work with Hayden.

On the night of Ava's art show things come into heat when Casey experiences Faye and Ava arguing over Ava's loyalty to her housemates, Ava begins to pull away from Faye, Casey, and the rest of the group and mentions that they should leave. As this isn't the only argument of the night, Hayden continues to apologize to Casey about forgetting her birthday to which Casey asks him where his own loyalty lies and is still triggered by last year's events. Hayden brushes it off and keeps telling Casey that he chose her over Charlotte and everything else, but he also tells her not to make him choose between her and his dreams of being the band and team captain.

One night, Lucas suggests a karaoke night for the housemates in an attempt to try and relieve some tension as Faye and Ava aren't speaking and Hayden and Casey are still arguing. Unfortunately, it begins to kick off after the first song and Casey spots a text from Charlotte on Hayden's phone as she begins to question if Hayden is cheating on Casey. With all the drama, all of the housemates disband from the bar night Lucas comes to Casey and asks where it all went wrong to which Casey responds she has no idea.

The next morning, Casey wakes up to a post on the University's social blog which outs Faye and leaves her enraged. She storms off to The Kingsley and slaps Oliver King and continues to call him names. After Caleb and Izzy stop her Casey realizes that she is defenseless against Oliver's comebacks which enlists her to contact Charlotte who she heard Oliver broke up with. Casey begins to beg Charlotte to help her get rid of Oliver once and for all as she, out of everybody would know his weakest points. Charlotte feels indifferent as she and Casey as never exactly seen eye-to-eye, however, Casey tells her that this is strictly between them and she knows they have an equal amount of hate for Oliver.

A couple of weeks after waiting for Charlotte to accept her offer, Casey shows up to a shift where it is revealed that Mia King is away for a couple of weeks leaving Cedric King in charge of the staff and the place. Casey, Caleb, and Izzy are all angered when Cedric begins to makeover the place and give them all pointless jobs as Casey and Izzy are assigned to clean out the downstairs basement which Casey has had awkward experiences with that place before. While Casey and Izzy are cleaning out the basement Casey asks Izzy how he is dealing with Faye's sexuality to which he is supportive but feels bad she wasn't able to tell him what she had been dealing with last year. While cleaning the downstairs basement Izzy is injured and Casey comes to his aid, as he makes a joke when she is putting ice on his wound that they should really stop meeting like this, an emotional Casey kisses him. The kiss turns into a make-out as Izzy lifts her up into his arms. In the midst of their make-out, Casey feels herself collide back with the wall and begins to have images flashed of Hayden and her doing the exact same thing which stops them from going any further. Casey tells Izzy there are things she needs to work out and this has all been too much, as she rushes upstairs she sees Cedric King hunting through Mia King's office to which she yells at him and tells him this is not his bar and it will never be his bar. When he responds that he will one day be owning this bar Casey feels conflicted as she now has to deal with both the King boys, father and son.

A few days later Casey comes back from a class to find Charlotte at her front door as she accepts Casey's proposal to take down Oliver King. When inviting her inside it's revealed to Casey that Charlotte told Oliver she is a lesbian and the result of the conversation was Oliver threatening Charlotte with a sex tape he had taken when they were having sex last year. Charlotte tells Casey how she left the sorority and felt alone and dethroned when Kappa Phi instantly replaced her title as head sorority sister and that the sorority had changed drastically with secrets and organizations that were out of Charlotte's control. Casey reassures Charlotte that they will take down Oliver and help the sorority out as this is the first moment that she and Charlotte have that is civil and almost friendly.

After saying goodbye to Charlotte, Casey finds two adults standing outside her door who are revealed to be Izzy and Faye's parents who heard the news of Faye being outed. After an intense dinner, Casey makes a stand and tells Amanda and Fred Washington how amazing both their children are and how they should be proud of everything they have achieved this year, especially Faye. After Casey leaves to her room Faye comes to her and thanks her for always being there and defending her honor, Casey tells Faye that there is nothing she wouldn't do to see Faye happy despite probably never getting invited to the next Washington family dinner.

A week later Hayden's final football game is announced, however, Charlotte messages Casey to come to meet her outside the fraternity house where Oliver King stays and help her sneak in as everyone will be at the final game of the season. Despite Casey feeling bad for missing Hayden's final game, she sneaks away from her friends and goes to meet Charlotte, there, the pair sneak into the fraternity house and go through Oliver's room and laptop. They find a whole bunch of sealed files one of them including the sex tape as well as contracts for an unknown organization between the fraternity and the sorority, after putting everything onto a hard drive Casey and Charlotte have a heart-to-heart where Charlotte apologizes to Casey on how awful she was to her last year. Casey reassures Charlotte that it's fine and she knows what it's like to be confused with emotions and where they're headed out. When leaving the fraternity house and heading back towards campus they bump into Hayden who is with everyone else, Hayden pulls Casey aside and is heartbroken that Casey didn't show up for his final game. She brushes him off and tells him that sometimes people don't show up for the important things when they have better things to focus on.

Towards the end of the year, the gang is in for lock-in night to finish their final projects for the year. Casey enlists the help of Caleb who is helping her out with a project for her photography class. Caleb informs Casey that he is worried for the future of The Kingsley as his mother has constantly been away which has left Cedric King to take over and even go to the board of trustees to apply for ownership of The Kingsley. Caleb worries that he might actually win as he has evidence that Mia King has been terrible at keeping The Kingsley afloat, Casey promises Caleb that she will fight for The Kingsley and it's his home just as much as it is hers. Casey feels under a lot of stress when she sees Ava and Faye avoiding each other and having small arguments as well as Hayden passive aggressive tone towards her. She heads outside and calls Izzy for some comfort while explaining to him that he has been the only person she can call to make her feel better, it leads her to finally admit her feelings for him. Izzy reveals that he met Hayden and while he seems like an awesome guy, Izzy informs Casey that he can't put himself in a situation where there is someone else involved and as much as his feelings have grown for Casey he needs to step back so she can sort her shit out with Hayden as well as her life.

A couple of nights later, Charlotte and Casey enlisted Nathan to decode the files and he has been able to decode all the files except one. There on one of the files is a list of contracts that both the sorority and fraternity have all signed to be a part of an organization where they implement hazing into their band of brothers and sisters. Casey and Charlotte realize that one of the dates listed is that exact night to which they run off and try to either stop it or get proof, when heading further away from campus Charlotte and Casey witness the brutal attack of hazing that is being instructed by Oliver and surprisingly Indigo and Valarie where they watch them torment their fellow sorority sisters as a familiar face reveals itself to be Amy, Hayden's sister. Casey and Charlotte are horrified by this and take photos as proof, they rush back to Casey's house and show Ava and the rest of the housemates proof of this to which Ava immediately cuts Indigo and Valarie off and makes amends with Faye.

On the last week of the year, Hayden surprises Casey with a romantic dinner on the rooftop of their house to make up for all the drama they have been through. Despite Casey's complicated feelings for Izzy, Casey, and Hayden share a beautiful night and end it by having sex. When waking up an hour later to a notification on Hayden's phone, it's revealed to be security camera footage of Casey and Izzy's make-out session a few months back. Heartbroken and hurt Hayden breaks up with Casey and tells her he never wants to speak to her again which leads their relationship to end.

Student council elections finally arrive the next day as Faye is up against Oliver and with the help of Charlotte and Casey's evidence, Oliver is disqualified as he, Indigo, and Valarie are all arrested and taken off campus for their illegal activities with hazing. Faye wins the election as everyone celebrates and Charlotte is finally accepted into the gang as their friend, even as far as Casey saying she wishes they had been friends from the start. After the night out of celebrating, Nathan informs Casey that there is actually one more folder he decoded that she would want to see. When looking through the folder it's revealed that Cedric King owes a lot of money to the government and has been a part of a fraud act with a previous bar he tried to take over, with this information Casey takes it straight to Mia King which results in Cedric also being arrested and his appeal for ownership of The Kingsley being denied.

As the last night at the end of the year approaches, a celebration is held at The Kingsley with everyone. Casey comes to Hayden and apologizes for everything, Hayden responds by saying it's partly on him as he did neglect Casey throughout the year but it's no excuse for her to cheat and he is still hurt. He begins to imply that maybe their times just didn't match up as they agree to be friends after a long break away from each other, and all he wants is for her to be happy and if that's with Izzy then he can accept it. When Casey heads into Mia King's office, Casey witnesses Mia King coughing up blood, horrified she attempts to call for a hospital but Mia King stops her and reveals that she has cancer and that's why she has been taking so many holidays to find treatment but nothing has worked. She tells Casey that she has a year left, maybe less and for Casey not to tell Caleb as it will destroy him. Casey hesitantly accepts this but is heartbroken to hear the news as she keeps her mouth shut when heading back out to celebrate the night with her friends.

In the midst of the night, Casey reveals to Izzy that she and Hayden broke up, Izzy tells her that he does have strong feelings for her and that if she wants him he is right there waiting for her. When attempting to say she needs some time the two share a long and passionate kiss which reveals that it is the start of their relationship.

While leaving for Looks Good Inc camp with Faye a month later, Casey is held back in the bathroom vomiting as a pregnancy test is on the bathroom sink revealing to be positive which closes out the book with a question in the air for Casey.

## Relationships

### Hayden Romero

Hayden is her first love interest while attending Eden State University, they originally meet in the University's quad. Unfortunately, the two get off to a rocky start when on the road to their official relationship when Hayden tells Casey that he isn't ready for a relationship and then betrays her trust when he dates Charlotte Cosby. Throughout *The First Year*, Hayden and Casey's relationship is strained until Chapter 18 of the book when Hayden dumps Charlotte and proceeds to pursue Casey instead.

They then hold a 1 year relationship until the second installment of the series *The Second Year*. Hayden becomes invested in the university's Football team and begins to neglect Casey leading her to fall for Izzy Washington. After many throat-scratching arguments and broken hearts Hayden and Casey decide to call it quits in Chapter 19, they continue to remain close friends and even at one point hinting that Hayden may still have feelings for Casey in *The Third Year*. When it is revealed that Casey was pregnant but then got rid of the child Hayden finds out he was possibly the father, but continues to still support Casey in her decision to end the pregnancy.

Hayden reveals to Casey that she is the first girl he has ever truly fallen in love with and wishes that in another world they would find themselves happy together. Despite not being in a relationship, Casey and Hayden still maintain an unbeatable friendship where they are constantly there for each other in times of need.

### Izzy Washington

"*I can't stop thinking about you, I know I shouldn't but I do... All the fucking time.*"
— Casey to Izzy in The Second Year, Chapter 17.
Casey didn't expect to fall for someone like Izzy, after saving her from an attack on her way to work Casey begins to have an unwanted attraction to Izzy's mysterious bad boy-type of persona. Despite being in a relationship with Hayden, Casey proceeds with her feelings for Izzy as they begin to fall deeper and deeper for each other and even sleep together while Casey is still in a relationship. After Hayden and Casey break up, Casey begins to pursue a relationship with Izzy in Chapter 21 of *The Second Year*, no longer being able to contain her feelings for him. While they do have a healthy relationship, it is revealed in *The Third Year* that Casey was pregnant but decided to get rid of it out of fear that she would spend the rest of her university years pregnant or as a mother. As well as this Casey also doesn't know who fathered her unborn baby, when Izzy finds this out he is devastated by the news and distances himself from Casey for a while.

After encouragement from his sister Faye, he finally reconciles with Casey and tells her that he always wanted to be a father one day, but understands that today was not that day. They proceed to have a close and passionate romantic, when Alex King enters the picture in *The Fourth and Final Year*, Izzy becomes suspicious of his encounters with Casey. Despite the warnings, Casey continues to pursue this odd affiliation with Alex only for her to get hurt and broken about it. In spite of every Izzy and Casey's relationship blossoms and towards the end of the series Izzy proposes to Casey after graduation to which she gladly accepts.

### Caleb King

Casey is first introduced to Caleb when she works at The Kingsley which is owned by Caleb's mother, they at first have a flirtatious friendship but Caleb proceeds to say he isn't interested in anything with Casey romantically and it's all banter to which Casey is happy with. Casey would call Caleb one of her closest friends, even so much as to be there for him when his mother passes away which devastates him entirely. Casey helps Caleb take over the Kingsley as its owner in spite of Cedric and Oliver King's advances, Casey couldn't be more honored to have a person like Caleb in her life.

### Faye Washington

Casey and Faye were quick to become friends when they were housemates at the East Pegasus Wing in Eden State University. Their friendship formed over being there for each other and even as to so much call each other funny nicknames. In The *First Year*, it is revealed that Faye is a lesbian when she drunkenly kisses Casey at a nightclub, despite not feeling the same way Casey helps Faye come out of the closet with courage and is so proud of her when she continues to shine the way for the LGBTQ community.

Casey and Faye continue to be best friends throughout the years, Faye becomes very supportive of Casey's relationship with her brother despite everything else being against them. In *The Third Year*, in a flashback, after moving in together for the year it is revealed that Faye was with Casey when she decided to end her pregnancy despite not being able to tell her brother anything about it. Faye becomes increasingly protective of Casey throughout the third year just as Casey does when Faye enters a relationship with Charlotte Cosby.

### Charlotte Cosby

Casey and Charlotte's friendship is an increasingly stressful one at the beginning when Charlotte despises Casey and proceeds to date Hayden knowing Casey's feelings for him. Charlotte hates everything about Casey and proceeds to spout off nasty comments when she is around, however, when Oliver King begins to threaten the friend group Charlotte steps up to help them out. When it is revealed that Charlotte was harassed by Oliver for being Bisexual in Chapter 16 of *The Second Year*, Casey quickly comes to her defense and helps her out, and from then on Charlotte and Casey slowly begin to become friends.

In The *Fourth and Final Year* when the group begins to receive threats from an unknown Casey and Charlotte begin to investigate without telling any of the others out of fear they could get hurt as well. When they plan a trap Casey is devastated to learn that Charlotte is shot in the process. Casey becomes broken and continues to believe Charlotte's death was all her fault because she got her involved when graduating from Eden State University in Faye's speech when mentions the words *first impressions aren't always long-lasting* Casey thinks of Charlotte.

### Mia King

Though at first glance Casey never believed that she would show kindness to someone like Mia King, she is the drunk boss that Casey wished she never had. But over the time of her working at The Kingsley Casey becomes more fond of Mia King and understands her reasoning for teaching Casey a lesson. She continues to be grateful for how Mia King made her stronger and more hardworking. Mia King even gives her an 'Employee Of The Year award in *The First Year* to show how proud she is of Casey.

Things begin to go downhill when Mia tells Casey that she has been diagnosed with cancer and that she doesn't have very long, In The Third Year Casey's admiration for Mia continues to grow with her guidance of Casey. She becomes increasingly sad knowing that Mia is dying but continues to try and do right by Mia. In Chapter 13 Casey's devastation comes to a blow when she is the one to find Mia King has passed away, she mourns her throughout the rest of the series but also continues to be so proud she ever met someone like Mia King.

## Trivia

* Casey, being the main character is the only one who was featured on all of the covers of The Years Series.
* Casey has 2 brothers Dex and Riley who aren't shown in the books but are mentioned throughout.
* Casey grew up in Sydney, Australia where her parents owned a surf shop.
* Casey majors in Photography and in *The Fourth and Final Year* she graduates with a Bachelor of Media Production
* She is the main character of The Years series, everything in the books is told from her POV.
* After working at The Kingsley for 3 years, Casey actually had finished paying off her school and housing but chose to stay working at The Kingsley as she found it to be like a home to her
* In *The Fourth and Final Year*, Casey signs co-ownership of The Kingsley as was requested in Mia King's will.
* Her signature drink at The Kingsley is Casedia which ingredients include: Gin, Tonic, Garnished cranberries, and Grapefruit juice
* Casey, like Faye, has a contract with Looks Good Inc, where she takes regular internships in her break to help out with the company which was revealed in Chapter 20 of *The First Year.*
* Despite being the main character, Casey's parents are only shown and introduced in *The Third Year,* Chapter 15.
* Casey is on a work visa which is revealed in *The Third Year* when she is unable to ordain Ava and Nathan's wedding.
* Casey's parents make their first and last appearance in *The Fourth and Final Year* at Casey's graduation along with her 2 brothers.
* In *The Third Year* Chapter 3, it is revealed that Casey decided to get an abortion for her baby.
* In *The Third Year*, it is revealed that Casey and Faye moved in together in a 2 bedroom apartment on campus, however in Mia King's will she had given her old college home to Casey and her friends to celebrate their final year under the same roof.
* Casey is the first out of the group to receive a threat from the anonymous at The Kingsley telling her to watch her back