‘I believe the last time we met in this office,’ he told her, ‘we were awarding you a mentoring prize, yes? And today we are here for something very different.’

Katie Casey held her breath as Father Hughes opened a folder and removed the dreaded yellow sheet – the incident report. Her first. My last. The almighty mahogany stamp sat like a loaded weapon on the desk.

‘At approximately ten forty-five p.m. last night, the school maintenance team discovered a fire on Academic Quad. A group of students, which included Ms Casey and Ms Heck, was repeatedly told to leave the quad, but did not comply. By the time I arrived, once again asking the students to evacuate for their own safety, Ms Heck had left, but Ms Casey, who was still present, indicated that she and Ms Heck had started the fire as a form of protest.

‘Shortly after curfew, fire alarms went off in St Theresa Hall. All dorm residents were evacuated. The fire department reported to the scene and investigated, discovering that a piece of … debris … from the earlier fire on Academic Quad had been carried by the strong winds eastward, settling in the shrubbery behind the dorm and generating enough smoke to activate the fire alarms before ultimately being extinguished by the heavy snowfall.’

I frowned. ‘Debris?’

Father Hughes reached under his chair, brought up a Ziploc bag, withdrew an object and set it carefully on the desk in front of us. It was a long, skinny, charred piece of purple fabric, with a metal clasp in the center.

‘Oh my God,’ I breathed. ‘My BRA STRAP set the dorm on fire?’

My brave little bra strap! It had sailed across campus on the wind and kept the fire of rebellion burning. Well, kind of.

‘Ms Casey,’ he said, ‘you have a long-standing record of responsibility and concern for the spiritual and physical well-being of your fellow students. Can you illuminate for me what happened last night?’

Katie Casey swallowed, and prepared herself to speak.

I prepared myself, too, because I knew exactly what she was going to say. The speech was ready. I’d coached her. I could practically mouth the words along with her.