One time in my first year of college, my roommate covered for me by telling everyone that I wrestled a bear.
Obviously not true, but it broke the tension of the moment with a joke, and since one of the major pastimes of the first couple of months there was going down to the dumpsters to watch the bears, it distracted everybody and got them talking about a new subject.
These days I normally just tell people the truth, but I've been away from it for a while, so it's gotten easier. I've never been the type of person who could get away with crazy/joking answers, unfortunately. It's just not my personality. Thankfully, that was
totally my roommate's personality, so no one even blinked when someone asked about my scars and she covered for me.