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Even the distant sound of the late bell failed to put Arden on the move. He would have to face Mark eventually; but what could he possibly tell him? If the wolf was as brainwashed as Chris said he was, would he even believe a word of Arden's story?

"Oh, thank God! There you are!" Sam ran over and wrapped his arms around Arden. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, he- we just talked." He told Sam everything. The otter listened, tears slowly welling up in his eyes.

By the time Arden finished his story, both boys were in tears.

"What am I gonna do?" Arden slumped down against a row of lockers, pawing tears from his eyes.

"You have the facts now." Sam sat down next to him. "Why not tell him?"

"I'm just afraid he won't believe me." Was Chris just getting to him, or did he really believe this?

"He loves you, Arden. Of course he'll believe you." Maybe Sam was right.

He sighed. "I'll tell him."

They embraced once more before getting up and walking to class.

Arden contemplated skipping, but decided that it would only make Mark ask more questions.

He walked into class and sat down quietly. Eggurd gave him a look, but didn't say anything.

"Where have you been?" Mark whispered.

"I had a few errands to run; nothing special." Arden smiled, hoping that he looked sincere enough; although, he really didn't think he did. His eyes were still red, too.

Mark bought it, apparently, because he nodded and went back to his work.

Arden kept wanting to tell him everything; several times, he even turned to him. Each time, he would look into the wolf's blue eyes and stay silent. Mark would smile at him and he would smile back; that was all.

In the end, he decided to just concentrate on the assignment Eggurd had given them - or try to.

Pretending to focus on the work, gave Arden ample time rehearse what he would say to Mark.

'Chris lied to you.'

'Chris wants to keep us apart.'

'Chris was responsible for Danny's attack.'

The bell rang, putting his thoughts on hold.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Mark waved to him.

"Or sooner," Arden mumbled to himself.

He waited for Sam to get out of class and they both headed to the parking lot.

Sam shot him silent glances the whole way home. Whenever Arden looked in his direction, the otter would stare blankly ahead, pretending to be very engrossed in watching the road.

Arden knew what the unasked question was and finally answered it. "I'll tell him tonight, Sam."

Sam looked away and sighed. "Arden, you don't have t-"

"I do have to." Arden cut him off. "I can't keep this from him."

Sam didn't answer; he just smiled weakly and nodded.

He dropped Sam off, promising to pick him up for practice, and headed home.

"Are you okay, dear?"

His sadness must have been more noticeable than he thought.

"I'm fine," Arden said in, what he what he hoped, was an offhanded way.

Not waiting for a reply, he ran upstairs quickly and shut the bedroom door.

He lay in bed and waited until Mark's practice was over. Time, as is usually the case in such situations, flew by. Arden looked at the clock, hoping to think of some excuse to put off the phone call; short of him being afraid, he couldn't think of one. He opened the phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Hello?"

Mark's voice made him freeze up. What little resolve he had began to trickle away.

"Mark, can we meet after my swim practice?" He forced the words out as quickly as he could. "I just wanted to... tell you something." He was going to say 'ask you something' instead to make things seem more harmless, but decided to just go with the truth.

"Sure." Mark hesitated. "I'll be at the track. Coach assigned us running drills and I didn't have time after practice."

"Okay." Arden would have preferred to talk in a more secluded place, but he didn't press.

Rather than talk with Mark some more, he bade the wolf goodbye and hung up quickly.

He let another thirty minutes go by before calling Sam. "Ready to go?"

"Actually, I was going to offer to drive." He didn't need to see Sam to know that the otter was grinning broadly.

"You got a car?" It didn't matter that he was in a lousy mood; Sam's happiness was enough for them both.

"Yup! I guess my dad is good at surprises after all. Just wait 'til you see it!"

"Well, come on over, then."

Sam hung up without even saying goodbye; he was clearly excited.

The car pulled up several minutes later. It was slick and sporty, just the way Sam liked it.

He saw Arden open the front door and revved the engine. "Like it? Turbo-charged V6."

"Nice!" Arden opened the passenger door and got in. "Let's see how it drives."

Sam didn't need a second bidding; he pulled out into the street and hit the gas.

The engine roared to life and they took off down the street.

"Not bad." Arden wasn't really as infatuated with fast cars as Sam was, but he could certainly appreciate one when he saw it.

Sam sped most of the way, as evidenced by the fact that they got to school twice as fast as they usually did. Arden kept glancing in the rearview mirror, expecting to see the lights of a police car; but their luck held and the two made it to school without incident.

As they walked to the pool complex, Arden scanned the parking lot for signs of Mark's car.

He couldn't decide whether he wanted it to be there or not. If it was there, he would be able to go to the track right away and get the conversation over with quickly; if it wasn't, he would have some more time to think of what he was going to say. Both scenarios appealed and repulsed him equally.

Fortunately, it wasn't up to him. Mark's car was nowhere to be seen and Arden walked into the building without a backwards glance.

Practice was a nightmare; Arden messed up drills, swam extra laps, and completely ignored Barken's reprimands. He was so absorbed in rehearsing his upcoming conversation that Barken had to pull him out of the pool. "What's the matter with you today, Halinen?!" The otter yelled right into Arden's ear.

"I'm sorry, sir... I was just thinking." Arden stared off into space again.

"You are not here to think, Halinen. You're here to swim!" Even Barken's musical voice wasn't enough to snap him out. "Fine." He looked Arden up and down before continuing. "I wasn't going to do this, but it looks like I have to. I'm promoting you to captain."

"What?" Arden snapped around to face Barken.

"You heard me!" The coach folded his arms, clearly satisfied at finally having Arden's rapt attention. "You were always the fastest one here. I didn't think you needed the motivation; well, now I see I was wrong. Back to practice, Captain!"

Not knowing how to respond, Arden dove silently into the pool and resumed practice. He did his best to put the wolf out of his mind and focus on the present. When practice finally ended, he felt more drained than ever.

"Congrats, man!" Sam patted him on the back as they entered the locker room.

"Uh, thanks." Arden knew that Sam was right in congratulating him; but for whatever reason he didn't share his excitement.

He took his time getting dressed and walked outside slowly.

"My car's over this way," Sam reminded him when he started to head in the opposite direction.

"Oh, I'm meeting Mark at the track. He's got some running drills or something."

"Want me to wait for you?"

"Nah, go on ahead." Arden waved him off. "Thanks for offering, though."

"Call me afterwards, okay?" There was that worried look again.

"I will, Sam. Don't worry." He gave Sam one more look and headed for the track.

Bright halogen lights illuminated the whole scene like daylight, so it didn't take Arden long to find his wolf.

Mark was just finishing up a lap; he panted heavily and didn't notice Arden until the otter approached him. "How was practice?" He jogged over to the otter.

"I got promoted to team captain." The words sounded just as hollow and meaningless to him as they did when when Barken spoke them.

"That's amazing!" Mark pulled him into a tight hug.

Arden inhaled the wolf's rich musk, wishing for the umpteenth time that he could just stop time and live in that one single moment forever.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" The moment passed as quickly as it had come.

He stepped back from the wolf. "Mark, I know who was behind the attack on Danny."

"It was Andy and his friends." Mark gave him a confused look. "We already knew that."

"It was Chris."

The wolf's eyes widened.

"Chris was the one who set the whole thing up."

"Oh, my God," Mark mumbled. "He was right."

"Who?" Arden already knew the answer.

"Chris. He said that you would try something like this."

"And you believed him?" Arden yelled, deeply regretting his decision not to fight the coyote.

"I didn't. But now I see he was right."

Arden stood glued to the spot; Chris really had brainwashed Mark.

The wolf just stared at him in disbelief. "He said he came to talk to you about how tough my position was. How coming out would lead to me getting kicked off the team and not being able to play in college. He said you threw a tantrum and told him that you would do whatever it takes to get me to come out." He took a step back. "I defended you."

"Mark, I-"

"I know you hate that I'm so closeted." Mark cut him off. "But I'll come out eventually. It's just really tough."

"Tough?" Arden put his paws on Mark's shoulders. "Mark, you've been lied to. Chris made it all up; the coach isn't a homophobe and he certainly has no influence on you playing in college. How long is it going to take before you realize that things aren't as bad as they seem?"

"Months? Years?" It was Mark's turn to yell. "I don't know, Arden! When you came out, it was all sunshine and roses. Me; I lost my mother, almost lost my father and now, I might lose my chance at a career!"

"But you can't lie to yourself forever! Aren't you tired of constantly sneaking around? Of always hiding your feelings? I know I am!"

"Well, if you're so tired, maybe you should find yourself someone else!"

The last sentence reverberated in Arden's head like an echo. At first, he couldn't even process what the wolf had said; he just stood there, staring into those beautiful blue eyes. The realization was so swift it robbed him of breath. It felt like a punch to the gut; he couldn't speak, he couldn't cry... so he ran.

He turned around and ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going; he didn't care. Streetlights, cars, people, everything became a blur as he sprinted blindly down the street. He didn't feel pain or fatigue; he just kept on running. Finally, his body caught up with him. The exhaustion was too much to bear. The last of his strength drained out, taking the veil of denial with it. He fell to his knees and let the tears flow.