Kitty sighed as she reached for the books in her locker. It was the start of another week at her new school and she was having trouble adjusting to life in Montana. Her family had moved here a few weeks ago from Arizona to set up a new ranch after they sold their old one. She was missing her friends back home and she found it hard to make new ones. In fact, she'd barely made one since she started at William McKinley High School. It was an unwelcome change from her old school. People "slushied" other people here. She hadn't known what everyone had meant by that until a frozen drink got thrown in the face of a girl who was merely walking down the hall in front of her. She definitely didn't want that to happen to her and she decided to try her best to not be noticed by anybody. There was a definite metaphorical food chain at McKinley. It started with the football team, The McKinley Titans, accompanied at the top by the cheerleading squad, The Cheerios before working it's way down through the hockey team and other sports team, to the Glee Club, The New Directions. Kitty had no intention of joining, not if it meant taking a frozen drink to the face several times a week. She had found all the books she needed, so she shut her locker, turned without looking where she was going, and she walked straight into the chest of someone. "Hey, watch where you're walking." A male voice barked at her. Kitty looked up to see a tall, muscular boy standing in front of her wearing a McKinley Titan's letterman jacket. "Oh, I'm sorry. I must be blind, how did I not see your ego walking towards me?" Kitty regretted the tone instantly, she didn't mean to be horrible or short with people but it just happened. "Excuse me. That's not how you talk to Ryder fucking Lynn." The boy's friend butted in. "Aww poor Ryder. He can't even defend himself, has to have his henchman do it for him. Brave little boy. I mean it takes a lot of guts to walk around in a fucking letterman jacket like it's a god damn uniform that will protect you from anything." She shot at a look at Ryder but he was just standing quietly watching the scene unfolding in front of him. He wasn't used to people standing up to him or disagreeing with what he had to say. He had no idea who this girl was but there she was, arguing back. She was miles shorter than him, with wavy blonde hair. "Hey, c'mon Alex. Just leave it, alright?" Ryder finally spoke before stepping around Kitty and continuing down the corridor. He heard her mutter "Jerk" under her breath as he did so.He rolled his eyes in a knowing look to Alex before walking off to his next class.

The day dragged by for Kitty, who was desperate to get home. The one redeeming thing about moving to Montana for Kitty, was Ginger, who got to come with them. Ginger was Kitty's horse. She was a tall, leggy chestnut mare who had a rather fiery attitude, not dissimilar to Kitty's own personality. There was an old saying that went, "Like horse, like owner" and Kitty had a plaque of that exact quote somewhere in her room. The bell eventually rang out at the end of the day, and Kitty hastily left the classroom and headed for the exit. However she suddenly found her path blocked by three jocks wearing football jerseys. She recognized one of them as 'Alex' from earlier. She could tell this wasn't going to end well for her. "Well, well, well. Look who it is boys. Miss Mouthy. It's time to teach her a lesson about how things run around here." They pulled some slushies out from behind their backs, which is when Ryder appeared at the end of the corridor. "Guys! What the fuck are you doing?" He ran towards the group of people that was gathering to watch the spectacle in front of them. "We're teaching the little bitch a lesson." Ryder tried to argue with them "I thought I told you to drop it! Are you not capable of forgetting something? Funny as you forgot the last time you slept with my girlfriend. I've learnt to let it go, now just let this go." Kitty stared at Ryder as he finished his rant at Alex. However Alex took no notice and raised his hand to throw the slushie. Kitty shut her eyes and braced herself for the cold to hit her but it never came. She opened her eyes tentatively to see that Ryder had stepped in front of her and taken the slushie, albeit to his chest rather than face due to the height difference between them. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Alex shouted as the crowd began to talk and mutter to each other. "I told you not to do this. Let it go." Alex stormed off before Ryder turned to face Kitty. "Aren't you at least going to say thank you?" He muttered after a brief silence. Kitty answered coldly "For what? He's your douchebag of a friend, not mine. I did nothing wrong. If you think I'm too weak to take a cold drink to the face, then you need to think again." Kitty stepped round a stunned Ryder before slipping through the crowd and out of the exit, heading for home.

xxxxxxx

Kitty had been mulling over the day's events in her head whilst she rode Ginger round the trails. She regretted what she had said to Ryder, after all it was extremely nice of him to take a slushie for her, especially after what she had said in the first place and the fact he didn't even know her name. She trotted back into the yard and noticed the two yard girls standing in a corner giggling to each other. They were so obsessed with gossip and material goods, god knows why they were working on a ranch. She put Ginger in her stable, untacked her and was leaving the tack room when she heard the two girls enter the barn. "Oh hey Kitty. Guess what? Your parents have hired a new farm hand to help out with all the manual tasks around here. He's sooo good looking! Say thank you to your parents for the eye candy! Oh awkward, here he is now…" Kitty rolled her eyes before turning to meet the new boy. Her jaw dropped when she came face to face with Ryder Lynn.

A/N: Hey lovely readers! I hope you enjoyed reading this opening chapter! :D I sort of ran out of inspiration for my other story but I hope to update it soon-ish. I've been trying to write this for a while and it's finally here. Any reviews are appreciated + loved! Mwah 3