The Simp List
When Isabelle heard, she sweetly agreed, Scarlett's right. A man needs dignity. Days later, she flaunted a new relationship with the department's richest guy.
One of her top suitors snapped, blaming me. He kidnapped and locked me in a storage closet, hissing, "You ruined my chance with her. Now die."
I woke to find myself back in time, watching Isabelle announce to the class: "I'm starting a list—a fair ranking of all my suitors!"
1
The classroom erupted.
Some guys looked excited, others scoffed, but most were just morbidly curious.
Isabelle lifted her chin, basking in the attention. "I'm not some shallow girl who only cares about money," she declared. "I value a genuine heart. I'll post about everything you guys do for me on my socials, completely fair and square. Everyone can see it, rate it, call out the fakers!"
That just whipped the room into a bigger frenzy.
In my last life, I’d heard those words and sneered, "What a classic mean girl hiding behind a sweet-and-innocent act."
Later, when guys were tripping over themselves to get a higher spot on her list, I’d mocked them too. "Have some self-respect. Any guy who'd throw their dignity on the floor for a girl to stomp on isn't exactly a catch."
What I didn't know then was that the list was never about those guys. It was all a calculated performance to catch the eye of one person: Jason, the undisputed king of our department, heir to a tech fortune.
Jason was constantly surrounded by beautiful women. Isabelle knew she needed a gimmick to stand out.
So she turned the dating game into a public spectacle, a testament to her own irresistible charm.
This time, I just lowered my gaze, shut my mouth, and pretended to read my textbook.
But Isabelle’s voice cut through the noise. "Scarlett! How about you be on my judging panel?"
Half the class turned to stare at me.
I suppressed a surge of rage and calmly turned a page, ignoring her.
"Come on," Isabelle pressed, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "You're the best judge of character I know. My future happiness depends on you!"
The memory of the storage closet flashed in my mind. This time, I just wanted to stay as far away from her as possible.
"Thanks, but I'll pass."
Someone in the crowd jeered, "Don't be so modest, Scarlett! The queen herself said you're perfect for the job."
"Yeah, you're roommates! You'd have the most objective opinion."
I finally closed my book, putting on a look of awkward embarrassment. "I really can't."
"I'm... not a good judge of men." I took a deep breath. "Because... I like women."
2
Within a few hours, two pieces of gossip were tearing through campus.
The first was Isabelle's "Simp List," which had just gone live on her Instagram.
The second was my very public coming out.
Of course, my news was just a minor ripple. The real tidal wave was the list. The students had officially christened it the first "Simp List" in school history.
To my surprise, way more guys participated this time than in my last life.
"I can't believe how many friend requests I'm getting!" Isabelle shrieked from her bed in our dorm room.
Our other roommate, Maya, watched her with a toxic mix of envy and admiration.
I tried to focus on my homework, but I couldn't help but feel a grim sense of foreboding. Isabelle was so wrapped up in her own drama that she was completely oblivious to the silent fury building among the other girls on campus—girls whose crushes were now publicly debasing themselves for a spot on her list.
Isabelle lounged on her bed like a queen on her throne. The tablet in her hands, the plush rug by her bed, the expensive skincare products on her desk… all gifts from her new legion of admirers.
"I thought you said you weren't materialistic," Maya muttered, her voice sour.
Isabelle immediately tapped out a new post.
[IsabelleSterling]: Apparently, accepting a few small gifts means I'm a gold digger now? lol. Am I just spoiled, or are some people just not used to being shown affection?
The picture was a cartoon bear with a single tear rolling down its cheek.
A moment later, Maya's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and her face flushed. She snatched up her phone and hurried out of the room. She returned a few minutes later, her eyes red and puffy.
"What's wrong?" our fourth roommate, Zoe, asked.
Maya just bit her lip, pulled her bed curtain shut, and a moment later, we could hear the sound of muffled sobs.
Isabelle, meanwhile, was cooing into her phone. "Oh, I'm not mad at all! Is that your genuine heart you're offering? Because I've got a lot of genuine hearts to choose from right now… Really? Yours is more sincere?..."
My pen froze for a second, but I kept my head down.
It wasn't until later that evening that Isabelle addressed the room. "Hey, the guys are taking us out for karaoke tonight! Everyone should come!"
"The guys," of course, meant the simps.
Maya didn't answer.
I wrinkled my nose. "I think I'll pass. Too much testosterone in one room for me."
No matter how much she wheedled, I refused.
Finally, she gave me a long, speculative look, a sly smile playing on her lips. "You know, Scarlett, I never would have guessed you were into girls. Are you sure you're not just… jealous?"
I looked up, genuinely confused. "Jealous of what?"
Isabelle ticked the points off on her fingers. "One, that I have so many guys after me? Or two, maybe the guy you like is on my list, so you couldn't handle it and just decided to swear off men altogether?"
I gave her an epic eye-roll. "Please. I'm not into guys. And besides," I added, my voice dripping with disdain, "I'm attracted to brains."
Isabelle’s face flushed, then paled.
When she left for karaoke, she didn't ask me or Maya again.
3
Later that night, Maya’s voice came from behind her curtain. "Scarlett, have you seen Isabelle's latest post?"
I shook my head and pulled out my phone. "What now?"
Her new post was a candid shot of me, sitting at my desk, engrossed in a book.
The caption read:
[IsabelleSterling]: My super-smart roomie says she's only attracted to guys with brains… Ugh, does that mean she thinks I'm shallow?
The comment section was already flooded with her defenders.
isnt she a lesbian? why is she suddenly interested in guys?
if she was so smart she'd be at an ivy league school, not here lol
Don't listen to her Izzy, you're perfect!
I was shaking with rage.
"You need to be more careful what you say around her," Maya whispered from her bed. "She's… not a good person."
It took several deep breaths to calm my racing heart. I was too agitated to study, so I just climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling, my mind racing.
Why did you provoke her? Haven't you learned your lesson? Just stay away!
From that night on, I made a conscious effort to avoid Isabelle. I gave one-word answers to her questions. If I had to speak, I chose my words with surgical precision. I started a countdown in my journal. 47 days. 47 days until she and Jason made their relationship official. Then, I would finally be free.
While I was walking on eggshells, Isabelle’s life was getting better every day. She was true to her word, publicly ranking the guys' efforts. Every day, she'd post a nine-photo grid on her Instagram, showcasing the top contenders.
Thanks to them, life in our dorm room got a major upgrade. Three gourmet breakfasts, three artisanal bubble teas, three fresh fruit platters, all delivered daily like clockwork. One of the guys even bought all three of us access to a hyped-up new video game after Isabelle casually mentioned wanting to play it.
"You guys are lucky you're my roommates," she'd say with magnanimous flair. "I don't mind sharing the perks."
I refused everything. I was either on my period, had a stomachache, or was suddenly allergic. As for the game, I was too busy studying to even think about it.
The memories of my last life were burned into my soul. I wanted nothing to do with Isabelle Sterling ever again.
4
The countdown was at 33 days when it happened.
Jason, the rich kid, was hanging out in the hallway with a few of his friends. I tried to walk past them without being noticed.
One of the guys pointed at me. "Hey, aren't you in the same class as that girl with the Simp List? What's-her-name?"
Jason glanced over, a bored expression on his face. "Tsk. That's Scarlett. Top three in their class." He raised his voice. "Scarlett."
I didn't answer, just gave a curt nod and quickened my pace. I could feel their eyes on my back, could hear them whispering and laughing.
I finally made it to the classroom and let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. But when I turned, I saw Isabelle staring at me from across the room, her eyes dark and unreadable.
A cold knot formed in my stomach.
I shot her a questioning look, but she just gave me a tight, humorless smile before turning away.
For the next two nights, I barely slept, waking up from nightmares in a cold sweat.
"You keep having nightmares," Maya said, her face etched with concern. "You're mumbling in your sleep, something about 'it's not my fault.' Is everything okay?"
I didn't answer, just stared at a new water bottle on Isabelle's desk.
Maya followed my gaze and grimaced. "I don't know what her deal is. Normally she only accepts designer brands, but today she came back with that cheap thing."
An icy dread washed over me.
I knew who gave her that water bottle.
5
In my last life, the pool of guys competing for Isabelle's attention wasn't that big. It was mostly the same five or six guys.
One of them, however, was in a league of his own. He claimed to be truly in love with her and showered her with attention every single day.
He was also the one I despised the most.
His name was Leo.
He had the highest entrance exam score in our entire department. He was tall and handsome, but he came from a poor family. I’d heard his dad was disabled and his mom was chronically ill. They were barely scraping by.
Yet he was utterly infatuated with Isabelle. To get a good ranking on her list, he worked himself to the bone at part-time jobs just to buy her gifts.
In my last life, I had nothing but contempt for him. He was supposed to be his family's only hope, and here he was, wasting his time and energy on a rich girl's cruel game.
"He's pathetic," I'd said dismissively when my classmates were gossiping about him.
Later, after Isabelle and Jason got together, no one hated me more than Leo. He was the one who came up with the idea to kidnap me. He was convinced that my comments had turned Isabelle against him, that I was the reason she'd chosen Jason.
That water bottle was the first gift Leo had ever given her.
But this life was different. Leo's name had never once appeared on Isabelle's list.
Why was she suddenly paying attention to him?
I was still puzzling over it when Isabelle walked in, a bright, false smile on her face.
"Scarlett, you have to come to the cafeteria with me today," she said. "I have a surprise for you."
I was about to refuse, but then I saw the malicious glint in her eyes.
Better to face the devil you know, I thought. It was just the cafeteria. What could she possibly be planning?
Seeing that I'd agreed, she practically bounced with excitement, pulling out her phone and starting to record.
"Just filming a little day-in-the-life vlog," she explained as she led me to the second floor of the cafeteria.
I immediately saw him. Sitting alone at a four-person table by the window.
Isabelle dragged me over, her voice practically vibrating with suppressed glee.
"Surprise! I searched the entire campus to find the perfect guy for you! Someone with a brain to match yours! Come on, Scarlett! How do you know you only like girls if you've never even tried being with a guy?"
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