The Daughter They Overlooked Was a Golden Wolf Chapter 01
I’ve been busting a late night radio show for the park for three years I’ve taken calls and myating, exported secrets, and even listened to people threaten to end their own lives
Tonight is the final night before college applications close, and it’s also my last time on a betence
graduation
M0pm, an anonymous caller connects to the live show.
ANA #9,11
“Hey, I helped my mom change my sister’s college applications tonight”
“I have two sisters, Growing up, the older one is always better than the younger one She gets better grades, she’s a stronger fighter, and she’s prettier, too, kven when park members pretee in, they to always praising her.”
“This year,
we’re graduating, and my younger sister’s prades are about two hundred points looet than hers. My older sister’s scores are good enough for the top schools. She’s back ally a shoo in”
“So I changed all the schools my older sister originally applied to and replaced them with several colleges she has no chance of getting into with her current scores,”
off her applications don’t match her qualifications, she’ll have no choice but to wait a year and
apply again.”
He sounds completely convinced he’s done nothing wrong,
“Her grades are so good anyway. If she applies again next year, she might even get into better
schools.”
He pauses, and there’s even a hint of pride in his voice
“We just want to let my sister win for once. That’s not asking too much, right?”
Igrip the microphone but say nothing
Then another male voice suddenly comes through the line
“Hello? I’m her sister’s mate. We’ve been dating, for three years, so honestly, I do feel a little bad
about this.”
His voice is familiar.
“Can you play one song, for me? She listens to your show every night.”
“If she hears it, maybe she’ll come find me tomorrow. We’ll still have time to figure out which
schools she should apply to.”
she doesn’t.”
He lets out a quiet laugh, “Well, then, never mind.”
I take a deen
and reach to cut the call, but the producer suddenly cues a piano piece,
hair, my blood turning cold.
ng Xavier plays,
My Alpha mate,
When we’re sixteen, I teach him how to play it, one note at a time. Back then, he can barely manage the simplest chords, and I spend the entire summer practicing with him.
Only the two of us have
ard this son
Xavier’s voj
through the phone.
ything wrong, did we?”
Smart. She’ll shine wherever she goes.”
le pauses.
“Besides, she didn’t check her applications before the deadline. If she wants someone to blame, she
can blame herself for being careless.”
At the same time, I open the laptop beside me.
On the screen is my state’s college application portal.
1
I log into my account and open the final confirmation page.
After a few seconds of loading, the list of colleges I originally submitted appears on the screen.
Brown. UCLA. UChicago.
The three top schools I applied to are gone.
In their place are Royal Fang University’s Warrior program, Princeton University’s Comparative
Literature program, and Columbia University’s Classics and Ancient Studies program.
I stare at the screen, my expression slowly turning cold.
Almost all of my high school coursework is focused on STEM. I have the highest score in AP Physics
C in the entire state, and my SAT score is nearly perfect.
For the past four years, I’ve been working toward a future in engineering and physics.
But now, the system shows completely different majors.
This isn’t a mistake.
Someone has tampered with my application.
It’s already 11:32 p.m., and there are less than thirty minutes left before the application portal
closes.
I immediately click “Edit Application.”
The next second, a notification pops up:
[You have reached the daily limit for application edits. Please try again tomorrow.]
My heart sinks.
I immediately open the appeals page and enter the emergency application correction process.
But the website only shows one cold message:
[Manual review hours: Monday–Friday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.]
And it’s 11:35 p.m.
I refuse to give up. I call the 24–hour emergency appeal hotline listed at the bottom of the page.
Busy signal.
I call again. Still busy.
On the third attempt, someone finally answers.
Before I can say a word, a mechanical voice comes through the line:
“Welcome to the emergency college application appeal line. There are currently 87 callers ahead of
you.”
At the same time, Xavier’s voice comes through my headphones again.
“Host, do me a favor. Play that piano piece one more time.”
“If she hears it, maybe she’ll come find me. We’ll still have time to figure out where she should
apply.”
I don’t answer.
The automated voice continues.
“72 callers remaining.”
“56 callers remaining.”
The producer holds up a whiteboard.
[Chloe, you have nineteen minutes left on air. Should we start the closing?]
I don’t look up. I just grip my phone tightly and listen to the automated announcement.
“31 callers remaining.”
Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds.
Time keeps slipping away, and my chances are getting smaller by the second.
“14 callers remaining.”
Almost there. I’m almost through.
I stare at the phone screen. As long as the call connects, I can still fix everything.
Landon is still talking in my headphones.
“Megan’s lived in Chloe’s shadow her whole life. She’s always been the one who loses.”
“And this year, she fell way behind Chloe again.”
“Tell me. What’s so wrong with giving Megan one chance to win?”
I press the mute button.
The studio falls completely silent.
The number of callers ahead of me keeps dropping.
“3 callers remaining.”
“2.”
“1.”
11:55 p.m.
Beep.
The call finally connects.
I grab the phone, “Hi, my name is Chloe Rosenthal. Someone changed my college applications.
without my permission. I need to correct them immediately…”
The person on the other end cuts me off.
“Ma’am, application changes and appeals cannot be processed over the phone.”
“Please bring a valid ID and your application documents to your regional college admissions
service center during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Tears immediately fill my eyes.
“But today is the deadline! The portal closes at midnight! There are only three minutes left. Please,
can’t you make an exception?”
“This affects the next four years of my life!”
The person on the other end sighs.
“I understand how upsetting this is, but remote application changes are outside our jurisdiction.”
“If you can’t make the correction before the deadline, you’ll have to wait until the portal reopens to
submit a new application.”
The call ends.
The producer walks over and practically shoves the whiteboard in front of my face.
[One minute left! Play the closing!]
At the same time, Xavier’s voice drifts through my headphones.
“She really didn’t hear it…”
“Well, forget it.”
A message appears on my computer screen:
[The college application portal is now closed for the 2026 admission cycle.]
I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling of the studio.
It’s gone.
Four years of hard work. Countless nights spent preparing my applications. The life I’ve planned for myself.
gone.
Then, suddenly, a familiar voice comes through my headphones, so familiar that my heart stops
“Chloe?”
