Four lessons later and Ryder was progressing well. Kitty would never admit it out loud but she thought he was a very naturally talented rider. He had just about got the hang of rising trot and Kitty had moved him onto an English saddle. He was still riding Captain as they seemed to click and Captain looked after him so they felt no need to change it.

Ryder was mucking out Ginger's stall for Kitty when she stomped into the barn. She shot a look at Ryder before making her way over.

"I was doing you a favour. I'm not even supposed to be working with the horses." Ryder tried to defend himself before Kitty even opened her mouth as he automatically assumed she was going to start yelling.

"Oh relax Lynn. I'm not going to eat you. We're going trail riding now. Right now. Chop chop." Kitty snapped.

"Er… your tone says otherwise… plus I'm meant to be working. Your dad is paying me after all."

"Never mind about him, I can deal with him. Get your ass onto Captain in the next ten minutes or I'll make sure you spend the rest of your time here walking around that god damn arena."

"I'm going… I'm going." Ryder muttered as he walked off to find Captain. He had no idea what had gotten into Kitty but she was certainly angry about something. He was excited about finally getting to ride out on the trails though. It would be so much more interesting than just riding around the arena with Kitty barking instructions and criticisms at him every few minutes. She was a good teacher though, not that he'd ever tell her that or admit it to anyone. She pushed him and that got results. He was really enjoying riding and being outdoors. He hadn't told his friends what he'd been doing because he knew that they'd just mock him and he didn't see the point in telling them. Plus he didn't want them to know he'd been spending all this time with Kitty. He wasn't embarrassed but he knew that they'd just use it as an excuse to ambush her at school, she'd already given them enough ammunition with various rants. He respected Kitty so much for standing up for what she believed in and not caving in to the intimidation that the jocks liked to give up. It was so refreshing for him to have a girl who would talk back to him instead of ones who were throwing themselves at him. He had actual conversations with Kitty about anything and everything.

Ryder had now tacked up Captain and was leading him out of his stall when he caught sight of Kitty arguing with her father. He led Captain up to the edge of the barn and waited for their conversation to finish.

"meant to be working… what are you doing?" He could only hear brief snatches of their conversation but he assumed it was about him and this trail ride Kitty had forced him into. He looked up to see Kitty's father gesturing towards him. He decided to speak up.

"Sorry Mr Wilde, Kitty said you wouldn't mind if I went trail riding with her today. I'm happy to work after hours to get all my jobs done if I go out riding."

Kitty's dad reflected on what Ryder had said for a few minutes, "Oh alright. But you need to have all your jobs done before you leave." Ryder simply nodded as Kitty beamed at her dad in response. She climbed onto Ginger before turning and waiting for Ryder to get on Captain. They walked out of the ranch and towards the forest that backed onto their land. They were silent for a while as the horses walked contently along the paths. Ryder was trying to take in where they were going but he was simply enjoying the change of scenery.

"Why were you so desperate for me to come trail riding?" Ryder finally decided to try and break the silence.

"Are you complaining?"

"No… but stop trying to change the subject or downright avoid it. You dragged me out here, now you can't get away from me." He heard her sigh as she realized he was right, she really couldn't get away from him here. Not unless she ditched him but it was his first time on the trails and she didn't even want to think about how angry her dad would be.

"Well…" Kitty started before going quiet once again.

"Awhh come on Kitty, you can trust me. I won't tell anyone anything. It's just us out here."

"Well it's to do with your friends so I don't know whether I should be telling you"

"I can handle hearing it. I know that most of them are proper dicks anyway."

"Then why do you hang out with them? Well… okay. It's just I got in an argument with them at school earlier."

"I don't know… I suppose I was friends with most of them before they became dicks so our friendships were kind of there first. That's nothing new… what did they say this time?"

"Oh the usual… I'm a bitch, I'm ugly and I have no friends." Ryder swore he could see tears welling up in her eyes as she told him. He'd never seen her like this. He'd never seen the aftermath of his friends' attacks on her. He guessed that she bottled it until she was alone but it was shocking for him to see her so affected by their comments after she brushed them off so easily at school. He promised himself that he'd be yelling at them tomorrow morning, or kicking their asses for making a girl cry. Of course he couldn't tell them which girl or how they'd upset her as they would claim that as some sick victory. He'd just have to pick an argument about something else instead.

Kitty herself was surprised when tears started to form in her eyes, although it had been a long time coming. She usually held it together but telling Ryder and saying the words out loud made it seem more real and she began to lose it. "Well… should I take your silence as agreement then?" Her voice cracked, making it even more obvious that she was upset although she was pretty sure he'd noticed already.

"Absolutely not. They're blind and stupid if they genuinely think you're ugly, because you're not. They're just trying to get to you, please don't let them win. I'm sure you have loads of friends here, so just ignore them."

"No… that's the thing. I got to thinking and they're absolutely right. I have no friends. I haven't really made any real friends since I got here. I just go to school, sit by myself and then come home and talk to my horses. I only really talk to you and we're hardly friends. We argue and bicker all the time… it's the fact that they're right about the friends which got me most upset I think."

"I'd say we're friends. Yeah we fight and argue but that keeps it interesting. They were right about one thing…" He could see Kitty's face had fallen and he kept her in suspense before continuing, "You are a total bitch… in the very best way." He added with a grin.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while but this chapter took me slightly longer to write due to lack of inspiration. I finished the next chapter first (because it's much more exciting) and then I had to come back and finish this one. Sooo that means an update shouldn't be too far away if it's already written! There's also a school chapter coming up for those that have asked for one.