It was easier than he thought it would be to leave and head home after school, instead of heading to swim practice like he usually would on a Wednesday.

He had tried to muster up the courage all day to face Coach Brown and be honest with him, but he just couldn't do it. The possible consequences were running through his head, of Coach kicking him from the team or worse, him reporting Gordon of being in possession of the drugs as revenge for not taking them.

The best idea he had was to just not go to practice at all.

The consequences of that might be worse later, but at least he could put off his problems for a little longer.

"Hey, Al! Wait up!" Gordon called as he caught sight of his brother as he left the building and headed towards where the bus home was.

Alan turned around with a look of confusion on his face when he heard Gordon's voice. When his gaze settled on his brother hurrying to catch up with him, the crease on his brow just seemed to deepen.

"Don't you have practice today?" He eventually said when Gordon reached his side. He stopped walking and faced Gordon.

"It's cancelled today," Gordon shrugged, like he had no idea why that would happen, like he wasn't making it up himself. The lie fell easily from his lips, and he hated himself for how much he was starting to keep from his family.

It wasn't like he had never lied to them before, but usually it was in regards to a prank or to tell his Grandma that it definitely wasn't him who stole from the cookie jar. It had never been to this extent, and it was just getting worse.

The only thing that stopped him from spewing up the truth was telling himself that it would all be worth it in the end.

Alan asked him why practice was cancelled, but Gordon just shrugged again and said that Coach didn't say. He gave his brothers the same response when he got home as they also wanted to know why he was home early today.

He had been hoping to make use of the time to work out some more, but his Grandma decided that since he was home so early, he could instead help her clean the house. Gordon groaned, but helped nonetheless, as none of them could say no to her.

By the time that dinner came around, he ached so much from all the scrubbing and mopping and vacuuming that it was like he had done a work out anyway.

The next day he was back onto his own training. He yet again told his family he was meeting up with friends after school, when in actual fact he was at the school pool. He had a quick survey to find out if Coach Brown was still around, and when he caught no sight of him, he happily got changed into his swim trunks and headed straight into the water.

Lap after lap was swum. His body protested more than it had at the beginning of the week, but he pushed through it. He wouldn't prevail if he didn't work himself to his hardest.

He was happy with his progress. He was sure that there was a noticeable difference in him now. So much so that when Friday rolled around, he was determined to finally face Coach and show him his work.

It still took a lot of courage for him to not turn and flee from school at the end of the day, with another excuse under his belt to tell his family. He forced himself to head in the direction of the sports section of the school, and wouldn't allow himself to back out, despite his nerves.

He couldn't decide whether he was relieved or annoyed to find a sign taped to the door when he approached the pool.

Pool closed. Swimming practice cancelled.

Gordon had never been one to be happy to see those words. Any other time he would have been extremely upset to be missing out on practice. But it seemed that fate was on his side for once, as he could put off his problems for a little while longer.

"Gordon?"

Gordon spun around at the familiar voice who called his name, now outside the school. He smiled at his little brother who was making his way over to him, a confused look on his face.

"Practice is cancelled again," Gordon provided before he could ask, sensing Alan's question.

However, Alan's face quickly clouded over, and Gordon was stunned by the sudden change.

"You're lying."

Gordon's smile fell.

"W-what?" He could barely speak.

"You lied before and you're lying now," Alan continued, not faltering. "Yesterday you said you were hanging out with friends, but I saw your friends leaving school. Without you. You lied, so you're probably lying now. Where were you yesterday?"

Gordon's mouth suddenly felt very dry. It was like all his secrets were suddenly being spilled out in front of him and he could do nothing but watch. How did Alan find out?

But he hadn't found out. He knew nothing about what was happening, just that Gordon wasn't where he said he'd be yesterday. Alan didn't know Gordon was at the pool, he didn't know why Gordon was at the pool. He could easily steer Alan away from any suspicion.

"Al, I'm not lying." The smile reappeared on Gordon's face, as real as he could muster. "Look."

Fortunately, at that very moment, a few of Gordon's teammates were making their way out the doors and joined the students milling about the front of the school. Gordon turned his brother around with a hand on his shoulder and pointed him in the direction of them.

Alan knew who was on his team, so he recognised them easily. If Gordon really was lying about swim practice not being on, there was no way he could rope the rest of his team into his tales too.

"See, practice really isn't on today," Gordon said as Alan turned back around to face him. He tried to ignore the pang he felt when he saw the look of guilt on Alan's face. "Besides, when I said I was seeing my friends yesterday, I meant my friends on the team. Not my other school friends."

He waited with baited breath until Alan finally spoke. When he did, he seemed to deflate. Gordon let out his breath, but his moment of relief was brief as just a second later, Alan was standing up straighter with what looked like defiance in his eyes.

"Well, I'll just go ask them, then."

Alan spun in his spot and headed towards where Gordon's teammates were still standing. Gordon panicked, trying to think of something to deter him. There was just one thing that came to mind.

"Fine, but you'll miss the bus!" He called over his shoulder as he turned and headed towards the waiting bus. He tried to sound unconcerned at his brother's actions, but internally he was freaking out.

Alan was predictable, though, and a quick glance his way showed Gordon that his brother was more worried about being left alone at school than to try and call Gordon out on his lies. He was hurrying to catch up to Gordon, and although Gordon laughed at his little brother's actions, really he was just trying not to freak out at the close call.

That weekend went by much like the one before. He spent both Saturday and Sunday at the local pool. This time, he told his family just where he was going. He didn't feel like he needed to lie, as he had missed out on swimming practice that week, so he just said he was making up for the lost training.

Also like the previous weekend, Gordon worked as hard as he could. He pushed himself to his limits, and at the end of each day he was tired, but proud of his work.

However, by the time the week rolled around again, Gordon was absolutely exhausted. His intensive training for the past several days had finally caught up to him. Not only that, he had barely been sleeping anyway, kept awake all night wondering if this was all worth it.

He could barely keep his eyes open during his classes, and he was told off by more than one teacher to pay attention to the lesson. At one point, he was close to hiding in the library just to take a nap behind the books.

He decided to forgo his after school training that day. There was no way he was going to be able to push himself up and down the pool without near drowning himself in the process. Also, he had soon realised that with all his spare time being used for swimming, he hadn't had any time to do his homework, so he needed to catch up with that.

Gordon couldn't be happier when the final bell rang and it was finally time to go home. That day had been the longest he could remember, and he had been sure it was never going to end. But it eventually did, and he dragged his tired feet out of his final class and out of school.

When he reached the bus, he chose a seat by a window so he could rest his head against the glass. A few minutes later, Alan appeared and sat on the seat next to him, as they usually sat together.

Most of the time, their journeys home were filled with chatter that ranged from just about any topic to pass the time. However, Gordon was not up to talking that day. He just wanted to close his eyes and wait until he was home. Alan tried to make conversation, but he soon picked up on Gordon's quietness and he too sat there silently for the rest of the journey.

Gordon could feel his brother's eyes on him, but he couldn't find the energy to care. He hoped Alan wouldn't ask any questions, because he didn't think he had any more excuses in him.

He didn't realise he'd fallen asleep until he felt Alan poking at his arm. Gordon was about to tell him to leave him alone, but when he blinked his eyes open, he realised they were at their stop. He swore they had only just left the school.

Alan did nothing to hide the worry in his eyes, but it was worry Gordon could do without. He grabbed his bag and pushed past Alan to get off the bus, as his little brother was just standing there, staring.

He hurried the rest of the way home, Alan on his heels and not asking the many questions Gordon knew he wanted to say. The short walk up the long drive woke him up a bit, though he wasn't aware of how tired he had actually been feeling. Sure, he could do with a nap, but it was near impossible to get some rest on a bus full of high school students. It was a wonder he had gotten any sleep at all.

When they reached the house, Gordon went straight to his room. He needed to avoid Alan and his inevitable pestering, as well as his family if Alan spilled to them about his impromptu nap. He busied himself with homework, and if anyone came knocking at his door, he at least had an excuse to not be able to talk to them right now.

It wasn't until Gordon had all his assignments laid out in front of him that he realised just how behind he had gotten. Several deadlines were in just a few days, a couple of them essays that would each take him several hours to complete. There was no way he was going to get this all done tonight, and with his intensive training schedule he had set himself, there wasn't really any other time he could afford spending on homework catch-up.

Not that a few English essays and Math homework were going to be very important in the long run, when he had finally made it to the Olympics. But if he started failing his classes, then his dad was sure to take him off the swim team himself and force him to concentrate more on school than his swimming. Then this really would all be for nothing.

So he would power on, to make all this worth it. He chose the easiest assignment out of the bunch, and got to work.

Not even an hour later, he was asleep with a pen still in his hand and a half written essay beneath his head on the desk.