It feels like the temperature suddenly went up ten degrees. I roll up my sleeves. “The hallway that my dorm room is in and the staircase by way of the courtyard.” I only hope that my leading with the thing that’s true means he won’t get a clear read that I’m lying.

“Blackwood and I questioned the guard who saw you,” he says, and my palms start to sweat. “And unfortunately for you, that night, the guard patrolled the girls’ dormitory from a different direction than he usually does.” He adds this in a way that makes me think he’s closing in on his one-two punch.

I make a conscious effort to stay still and not let him see me squirm.

Conner is silent, drawing out the time, knowing that I’m hanging on his every word. “The guard usually enters the dormitory area from the west end of the hallway. But that night he used the staircase and hallway at the east end.” Conner smiles. “The same staircase that you supposedly took to return to your room. If you did in fact take that staircase and hallway, you would have been right in front of him. Unless you expect me to believe that you were in that staircase with him, yet so quiet and so invisible that he didn’t hear or see you?”

My pulse races, but I stay silent. I know by now that not talking when you get caught is way better than covering a lie with another lie.

“Well?” he says.

“I don’t know,” I say, and I feel a bead of sweat form above my upper lip.

“You don’t know or you’re lying?” he says with a smugness that’s infuriating.

My mind is racing. “It seems strange that a guard who takes the same route every single night suddenly decides to change his routine,” I say to throw the focus off me. But now that I’ve said it, it does seem odd.

With that, the smugness in Conner’s expression disappears, like I just disrupted his favorite game. His eyes narrow slightly. “That doesn’t change the fact that he was in that staircase and you could not have been.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to explain it to you. I’m just as confused as you are. Maybe you should question the guard further. Perhaps he’s not telling you something.”

We stare at each other for a few more seconds, and I know in my gut that while I may have won this round, the fight is only beginning. Conner is out for blood, and right now he thinks I’m guilty. Not that I entirely blame him, with all the lies I’ve told.