But there was no such achievement, because the scale was rigged, because the very thing I was offering as proof of my worth was the thing they experienced as an attack.

I was trying to win a game whose rules guaranteed I would lose the harder I played.

It took someone fabricating a crime against me to show me, mercifully, the rules.

Chapter 4 — The Integrity Office

The cure began in February, when the university’s academic integrity office summoned me to a windowless conference room and told me I was accused of cheating.

Someone had submitted screenshots — to the office, anonymously — that appeared to show me buying exam answers from an online service.