Her fingers hit the bottom of the pocket and circled the lining.
Empty.
She circled again.
Still empty.
Leonora's expression finally cracked. She leaned forward, craning to see.
The female proctor turned the entire pocket inside out. Clean. Not even a loose thread.
"Nothing in this pocket either."
She glanced at the other proctor, who shook his head.
Every drop of color drained from Leonora's face.
"That's impossible!"
Her voice shot up to a shriek. "I put it there my— I *saw* it! Right there in her right pocket!"
"You put it there yourself?" I asked.
Leonora's mouth snapped shut. She looked like she might pass out.
"I misspoke."
"Ma'am, she definitely brought cheat notes. She must have moved them somewhere else!"
The proctor frowned, then told me to open my bag and dump everything out.
Pens, eraser, ruler, exam ID…
She went through each item, one by one. Nothing.
The entire room was dead silent.
"Ma'am!"
Leonora was frantic now. "She's hiding them somewhere else! Her pants pockets? Her shoes? Come on, actually search her!"
The proctor looked at her. The look wasn't the kind you give a concerned witness anymore. It was the kind you give a problem.
"Dora Sullivan, please cooperate. Take off your shoes."
I sat down and took my time with the laces, pulled both canvas shoes off, and turned them upside down on the desk.
Nothing.
I stood back up, peeled off my school jacket, gave it a shake, and held it open for her.
Nothing.
The proctor's face was getting harder by the second, but not at me. At Leonora.
"You."
She turned to face Leonora, her voice dropping cold.
"You claimed you saw Dora Sullivan carrying cheating materials with your own eyes. When exactly was that? Where did you see it?"
Leonora opened her mouth. Her eyes darted back and forth.
"It was… right before we entered the exam room. In the hallway. I saw her stuff something into her pocket—"
"There are cameras in the hallway."
I kept my voice level. "Pull the footage and we'll know, won't we?"
Leonora's breath caught.
She scrambled to explain. "Ma'am, maybe I was wrong! Let's just skip the footage—it'll eat into everyone's exam time, people still need to finish—"
I smiled. "You've already made the accusation. For the sake of exam integrity, you can't just wave it away with an 'oops, my mistake,' can you?"
I turned to the proctor.
"I'd like to request that the footage be reviewed. To clear my name and protect the fairness of this exam."
She nodded, picked up her walkie-talkie, and stepped outside.
A few minutes later, the door opened again. She walked back in with the head proctor behind her.
He was carrying a tablet. On the screen, hallway footage was already playing.
