The day had passed quickly, teaching Abaccus different calls and such. Jasper had helped immensely over the past week and we had come to tolerate each other much more. When I put my mind to it, I could see why he would perhaps make good company. He had let go of me being the typical rich little daddy's girl and I had let go of him having such a big chip on his shoulder. At the end of the day, we were still children and the world didn't yet have to define who we could and couldn't have as friends…if we could consider ourselves that. He still laughed whenever I fell over and never offered me a hand up. He had argued that it build character to pick yourself up, I just found it rude.

I had learned a lot about him in the past seven days, more so than I had expected to. He was the apprentice of Edward, and missed him as much as I did. Apparently, he was a childhood friend of Jasper's older brother, Emmett, who had gone away to the army some time ago.

He, too, had lost his mother, but his father had remarried to a beautiful and kind lady whilst Jasper was still young. Her name was Esme and Jasper respected her dearly for taking on two much older children than most women did, apparently she could not have her own. It was sad, but Jasper was content knowing she was happy to take on a different family that needed a wife and a mother. He said she did brilliantly.

In turn, I had told Jasper about myself. He knew about my mother, as he had asked what I meant by 'used to say' when I had mentioned what she had said about people's thoughts and actions. I could tell that he came to respect my mother, as I painted her in a very true and loving light. Being a stable boy, apparently he had escaped the praise of the maids, who had all known her personally.

He had asked me what caused me to go and find Abaccus when I wasn't even sure he was alive. I had answered that I knew he was alive; it was just a case of finding him. He seemed pleased with the answer and asked about the meaning behind Abaccus possibly not being able to stay on the Swan Estate. I explained my father's conditions for my new friend; he had to be able to be ridden upon my father's return in the coming fall.

"How long do you think that will be?" I asked him. Of course, I could read a book on it, but Jasper seemed to know even more than any I had read about how horses really worked and their mindset.

"Not 'till he's full size, but exercise will start to become important for 'im when that happens, so yer' best bet is to get him saddled about five months." He told me.

"He's two months now." I informed him, watching Abaccus play with a butterfly. I giggled. "It's apparent, I know." I noted.

"I think that's just his personality." Jasper said.

"Do you think?" I asked.

"Think what?"

"That he has a personality."

"Definitely. All horses are their own person." He shrugged. "One o' the workin' horses yer' 'av here, Hercules, he's a devil for the ladies." He chuckled. "Bad temper, as well." He shook his head. "Yer' Daddy's prized show horse is a cheekly lil thing." He shook his head.

"Nanook?" I asked.

"Yeah." He answered. "Damn fine horse." He said, respect evident in his voice.

"Do you have a horse?" I asked him. It seemed like a perfectly logical thing to ask, considering his trade was horses.

"My family does." He said. "But not my own."

"Would you like one?" I questioned. It seemed strange that the family would share a single horse, if the son and father tended to them daily.

"You offerin'?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and he seemed to think for a moment. "Yes and no." He eventually answered.

I waited for him to explain what he meant by that. We were sat under the tree of Abaccus's pen, and had been for a while, for it was too hot to be out training horses.

"It's nice seeing different ones every day, but still the same, if you know what I mean? That and it would be hard to see one grow old and have to let it go. This way, I can move to other jobs and can kind of assume they all went to a field to enjoy their last days together." He shrugged. "Should stop hangin' around with ya', yer' makin' me go soft." He chuckled, getting up from the grass. This time, he extended me his hand.

"That's not soft, that's a sign of someone who respects what he works with. It's a nice thought." I told him, taking his hand to help me get up.

"Perhaps, Miss Swan, but I'd better get back to the stables that yer' Daddy's paying me to maintain." He smirked before letting go of my hand and heading off to the end of the pen.

As I watched him go, I felt Abaccus nuzzling my pocket, looking for the apples that had long since been eaten by him. I chuckled and gave him the attention he wanted, giving no more thought to training for the day.

"Bella, this is the third dress this month that you've ruined!" Mrs Cove hissed angrily, tugging my ear.

"I'm sorry!" I squealed. It felt as though she was going to rip my ear off.

"Sorry isn't good enough. Your father pays good money for these dresses and you treat them like they're nothing! You take everything for granted." She growled, throwing me into my room. "That horse can wait until you learn to behave like a lady!"

"Where have ya' been? Not gotten bored with the idea of your own horse already, have yer'? Jasper said, crossing his arms as I approached, raising his eyebrow at me.

"It's Mrs Cove!" I huffed angrily. "She locked me in my room for three days because of the last dress!" I grumbled. "And she put me in a yellow one today, knowing it'll get dirty so she can put me in there for longer tonight!" I huffed, kicking the dirt with my shoe.

Abaccus came to the gate, seemingly excited to see me and I sighed, walking over to him.

"I could've told yer' wearin' a dress was a bad idea from the start." Jasper shrugged, but I could see he empathised with me. We have spoken before about how I didn't choose what I wear, when he had first questioned my strange clothes for horse training.

I knew that Jasper probably thought my silly, at first, complaining of my privileged life, but I actually found myself envying his freedom. Jasper took for granted what he could do with his life, and I believe he thought I did the same. It was always the way; you wanted what you couldn't have and by the time you appreciated what you did, it was too late.

"She wants me to be a lady, and I can be when the time calls for it…but a lady can also be useful." I huffed angrily.

Jasper pricked up at my statement and I saw him screw up his face slightly in thought. The last time he had done that, he had come up with the idea to get Abaccus to run a lap of the pen on command.

"What are you thinking?" I asked him, curious.

"Wait here." He said, taking off at full pelt towards the house.

"Jasper! Where are you going?" I called after him.

"You'll see! Have a chat with Abaccus while you're waiting!" He shouted back.

I huffed, as confused as I had been before and turned to the horse next to me.

"I never will understand that boy." I told him. He whinnied back in comforting understanding and I chuckled.

Nearly an hour later, after resigning myself to sit on the fence, I spotted something in the distance. Putting my hand above my eyes to block out the sun, I noticed a running figure that could only really be Jasper. Sighing with relief, I dropped down from the fence and started walking towards him.

"Please tell me yer' dress is still clean." He huffed, out of breath as he came to a walk towards me. He was sweating, and looked very flushed.

"It is…but I don't understand…" I said, tilting my head like he often did when he didn't understand something. It was a habit I had learned from him.

Without warning, he thrust a pile of something at me and I barely caught it, nearly falling over. He chuckled, but steadied me as he arrived by catching my elbow. Furrowing my brow, I looked through what he had given me. There was a light brown shirt, which was probably white at some point and a pair of dark brown trousers that looked like they had seen better days, and fitted somebody with the legs of a giraffe.

I held them in my hands and looked at him sceptically. Why had he given me men's clothes?

"You said that the She-Devil loses her shit when you get yer' dresses dirty…now you won't. Just change into these when you're here." He offered as a solution, shrugging as though it were the simplest idea in the world. In a way, it was.

At first, I was shocked that he expected me to wear men's clothes…it simply wasn't done, at least, I had never heard of it. But then, I thought about the fact that this boy had just run for an hour, taken something of his own – he who had so little – and given it to me, the girl who had everything, just so that I could have just that little bit more.

I smiled to myself at the thought and placed them on the fence. Jasper certainly wasn't expecting it, but I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

"Thank you." I murmured into his shoulder. Even though he was only a little older than me, he was still over a head taller than me and I almost had to hang off of his frame to reach his ear.

He was shocked for a moment before placing his arms around me. He didn't say anything, but in that moment I knew that he recognised my gratefulness and we shared a moment that I had never had the likes of before. As a twelve year-old girl, I felt giddy at the thought of what this boy had done for me, and how far we had come from arguing only a fortnight ago.

Having forgotten myself, I blushed as I realised the inappropriateness of our embrace. We were children, but we were stupid.

Letting go, we headed to the pen where Abaccus was waiting for us and I chuckled. It would be strange to wear men's clothing, but it would certainly help with the messier stuff…like cleaning out the stables. It wasn't fair to expect Jasper to do it all the time on his own.

As Jasper hopped the fence, I took it very carefully in order to keep my dress pristine. Managing that okay, glad for the practice I had had, I went into Abaccus's stable and shut the door in order to get changed. Thankfully, the dress I was wearing wasn't too difficult to remove on my own and I was changed within ten minutes. I kept my underwear and corset on, for I would never be able to do that back up again on my own.

Stepping out, Jasper laughed heartily at my appearance and I rolled my eyes. It felt strange to feel such loose clothing around my shoulders and legs, but the lack of layers really did help with being able to move properly…though the corset was still annoying.

The shirt was a little too big, but I had tied it up at the front to make sure it didn't fall down. The trousers had been the same, but the belt worked wonders if I pulled them high enough and the belt tight enough with the shirt tucked in. Thankfully, my father had indulged me in riding boots before he left and I could tuck the baggy ends of the trousers into them so that I wouldn't trip. It wasn't the fashion statement of the century, but it would do for the job at hand.

"Oh, shut up." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, I've just never seen a rich girl like you in boys clothes." He chuckled, still petting Abaccus.

"See a lot of girls in boys clothes, do you?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow at him.

"Quite a lot, actually. Us poor-folk find it easier to do our work in the same kind of clothes. Even some of the rich women riders wear trousers now…obviously prettier pairs." He said, nodding to the questionable stain on the leg of the ones I was wearing. I grimaced, but couldn't help a chuckle. I felt a little better that I wasn't the first female cross-dresser ever.

The day was a lot easier in Jasper's clothes, and I had a lot of fun being able to roll on the floor when Abaccus knocked me over for the apples in my pockets. Although Jasper couldn't stay very long, as usual, I continued to have fun until the sun started to set.

I would miss Jasper when the time came that he had to go back to work, but the time that he did spare to help me was something I would appreciate for years to come. My father, and Mrs Cove, always reminded me of how much power and influence I would have when I was the Lady of the House and I would find a way to repay Jasper for everything he was doing for me now.

Perhaps, I could get him promoted like Edward, so that he could be with him. He could see the world then…he always talked about how he wanted to go to Germany and father would be going in the following summer. If it were possible, I would make it happen.