WOLFE, cora e.

[cora wolfe]

You know how people sometimes say they'd jump in front of a bus for someone, but they mean it facetiously? I literally fucking mean I would jump in front of a bus for my sister if it was barreling through a major New York intersection. Full on take one for the team, get decked, end it all - and I am so serious. She is the best thing to happen to this world and I try to spend every day making sure the world knows it. She's kind, she's empathetic, she's so smart and just a joy to everyone she comes in contact with. She's at Johns Hopkins studying to be a pediatric surgeon for God's sake. I knew from early on she'd be such a pride point for my mom and dad, and have done everything in my power to make sure she gets what she needs. Support, a Doordash order, a 12 minute cry session from stress between her rounds. A wedding mediator! That's me! She met Adam when she was at Yale (again, of course), and I remind him every time I can that he is dead if he treats her poorly. Thankfully he takes it very seriously - his proposal was so sweet and sentimental to her, and I know he's in awe all the time too that he gets to be around her. I know she won't be a Wolfe for much longer (tbc on this - can't confirm if she wants to change her name or not just yet), but her legacy is way more important and I gave up trying to better mine a long time ago.

Million Dollar Question, isn't it? When I was in school there was this wonderful, gossip-fueling app called YikYak. Terrible name choice, but alas. You could post anonymous tidbits and watch the entire student body immediately hone in on it like a shark in the water, defending friends or coming for enemies. It was this lovely app where this innocuous question was posted - then immediately voted upon: "Did Cora Wolfe seriously cheat on Nate Peterson? I heard from a friend she went straight from the last home game to dinner at the Four Seasons with someone who was definitely NOT Nate or his family, made out with them in the hotel bar, and then went up to their room for the night. We all know about their fight at Bird Dog but they were all lovey-dovey right before the game - like, unless they broke up immediately following, she's definitely fucking someone on the side. So stupid - he's the hottest guy on campus by a long shot." A resounding 82% said Yes, with various members of the student body weighing in that why yes, they were also at the Four Seasons that night and could confirm the story. How fucking delusional of me to be so public about it! And you know what I did? I let him believe it. Why, might you ask? Why would I do that to myself? Tarnish my reputation, give him the sympathy and stoke his anger way past the limit I'd ever experienced it at? Because he needed it. You see, Nate had this funny complex that he just wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough for me...then suddenly he wasn't good at soccer, or a good teammate, or good enough to go to Europe. And it was this wild, slippery slope from the cocky guy I met my freshman year who smirked like he could bed the entire school. Right now he could probably bed the entire world, and I'd like to think my fucked up decision contributed to this. Anyways - our relationship was good. Complicated, with its faults - he hated losing, that's about as best as I can say it, and I was addicted to him in ways I couldn't comprehend - but it was good. Until he started chipping at himself, and it was the most unfair thing he could have done in the world. Near the end he offhandedly mentioned that he might not go play in Europe after all, unsure who'd even be looking at him, when I knew there were agents literally begging to sign him so they could be the alternate name on the contracts. His dad had showed me one of the e-mails with so much pride, I thought he was insane when he brought that up. It dawned on me one night, literally waking from a dream, that I was probably a root cause of this doubt. He'd been shell shocked by my family and our excesses, always polite but out of his depths, and I think he thought I needed to be with someone that could measure up to those things. Which...I didn't. But alas. He'd started to think he wasn't good enough for me...and it all spiraled from there. So - suddenly, I wasn't good enough for him. I don't want to go into the details of that nasty conversation we had, but I felt very cold and hollow and yet satisfied when it was over. The conversation, not the relationship, to be clear. I was honestly sad that it was over, but knew that he'd take the fury that stormed and make something of it. And man, oh man, did he. I tried my best to sever the ties I had, to keep my eyes and ears away to let him pursue what he'd always wanted to. But every once in a while, with the blockbuster trades, his name would grace my screen in an EPSN alert and I'd do nothing but smile. Even the recent one - bringing us a little closer together again. A terrifying, but curious prospect. So what's your vote, in the end of this? Did I cheat, to set him free? Did I lie, to let him go? Or did I just plant the silly rumor myself? You can cast your vote, if you see fit. The app's still up.

jill . katelyn byrd . resident