They Called Me a Simp. The School Heartthrob Is My Brother Chapter 03

They Called Me a Simp. The School Heartthrob Is My Brother Chapter 03

In the photo, Eden held Nate’s jersey like she was cradling an urn.

She walked over, her voice soft,

“Tomorrow at homecoming, I’ll return these to Nate myself.”

“And I’ll make sure he knows exactly how disgusting you are.”

I glanced at the transparent bag in her arms,

“You should seal that tight.”

“Why?”

“The jersey stinks.”

Her smile faltered. Then the smell hit her.

Three days of trapped odor escaped the bag.

Eden turned green and threw up into the nearest trash can.

I stood beside her and patted her back, “Don’t mention it.”

“You went through all that trouble to get it.”

—

The next morning was homecoming.

The moment I stepped into school, I was met with stares.

Pity. Disgust.

Some people clutched their backpacks when they saw me, like I wasn’t just stealing underwear—

I was stealing backpacks too.

I soon found out why.

Eden had posted the photo of me holding men’s underwear on the forum.

Along with pictures of me leaving the Sterling house at dawn, wearing Nate’s jacket.

I entered his bedroom at night.

She’d arranged them in a perfect nine-grid layout.

Caption:

[From breakfast deliveries to midnight bedroom visits—how far can a simp go?]

The comments were brutal.

Someone suggested Nate check his room for cameras.

Someone else suspected I was collecting his hair.

One person said I was probably cloning him.

I read through them, impressed.

If this school had that much imagination, why were so many people failing English?

The photos were real.

But the first one was me leaving my own house.

The second jacket was one Nate had outgrown and given to me.

The third was my mom sending me in to wake him up—

he’d set seventeen alarms and slept through every single one.

The underwear photo?

I’d taken it from my own balcony.

Nate had washed his white shirt with red socks.

He turned it into a neon pink disaster.

I’d posted it on Instagram with the caption:

[The Sterling heir can’t do laundry. Suggest factory reset.]

Eden had cropped out the caption, cropped out the rest of the laundry.

She left only me and the underwear.

She’d make a great news editor.

—

I went to Mrs. Smith’s office to request the post be removed.

She was organizing the homecoming program and didn’t look up,

“We’ll deal with it after the event.”

“It’s already all over school.”

“Eden is hosting tonight. She’s also receiving an award for outstanding students.”

“If you confront her now, it’ll affect her performance.”

I looked down at the comments calling me names.

Her performance mattered.

My reputation didn’t.

I reached for my confiscated phone.

She closed the drawer, “It’s not time yet.”

“Zoe, if you kept your distance from male classmates, people wouldn’t misunderstand.”

I was speechless.

Apparently my biggest mistake was not staying two meters away from my own brother.

When I walked out, Eden was already waiting at the door.

She was holding a stack of flyers. My face was printed on them.

Below it, in bold red letters:

[Boycott the School Heartthrob’s Crazy Fan — Shameless Simp]