Truth or dare

Before entering the house, Howard glanced at the vehicle parked by the curb.

"Ma! Don't forget you have to pick us up at 11!" Howard shouted, his voice deeper and raspier different from his usual voice.

"I know! I don't have Alzheimer; I'm still young!" the woman responded from inside the car, her tone louder than Howard's, echoing through the air like thunder.

Andrew couldn't help but crack a small smile at the exchange between Howard and his mother; it reminded him of many comedic scenes from the TV show he had watched.

"Hi, Mrs. Wolowitz!" Andrew shouted with a smile on his face, enjoying the moment.

"Who's that boy?" Debbie asked, her tone still loud and gruff. "If you don't know him, Howie, don't let him in!"

"How could I not let him in when he's the owner of the house?!" Howard quickly replied, his exasperation barely contained. "Are you blind? Didn't you see him open the door for us?!"

"I'm just a concerned mother!" Debbie yelled back from the car, not losing an ounce of her authority. "And you should be nicer to your mother! You never know who might be a respectable citizen or a madman with an axe!"

Leonard, feeling a bit uncomfortable, simply smiled. Andrew turned to him, "Are they always like this?" he asked with an fun smile.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it," Leonard replied shyly, having heard that kind of conversation many times before.

Andrew nodded while Howard and his mother continued yelling at each other in their peculiar exchange. Finally, Howard said goodbye to his mother and entered the house alongside Leonard, guided by Andrew.

They reached the living room, and everyone turned to look at them, curious to know the identities of the new arrivals.

However, no one recognized Leonard or Howard. Strange looks spread across the faces of those present as they eyed the two unfamiliar boys.

"Who are they?" Reggie asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

"Howard and Leonard. We shared a class once, so it's hard to recognize them," Andrew explained as he introduced them. He knew both of them were shy and already frozen in place, making it unlikely they'd introduce themselves in front of more than fifteen people.

At the middle school Andrew attended, there were over 300 students in his grade, making it very difficult to know everyone your age since the school divided students into different classes.

The others nodded at Andrew's introduction of these two strangers and quickly lost interest, resuming their previous conversations.

Andrew invited Leonard and Howard to sit in a couple of chairs, but before he could talk to them further, he was pulled aside by his friends and other classmates.

'Damn, I want to talk to them,' Andrew thought as he was surrounded by the others, unable to even see Leonard or Howard anymore.

He didn't understand why they were his age when they should be over twenty by this point in time. Nor did he understand why they were here. Is this some kind of crossover? If it is, the timeline is seriously messed up.

Andrew internally shrugged and decided to accept it all easily. He had already gone through a similar existential crisis when he found out he was in a world where the characters from Modern Family were real.

While Andrew chatted with his friends about football, the girls whispered among themselves in a tight circle farther away from the boys.

As for Howard and Leonard, they were sitting alone, speaking in hushed tones. Howard was quietly telling Leonard about his plan to get a girlfriend tonight and start high school on a high note.

"Are you crazy?" Haley asked in a low voice, glancing at her friend Veronica. All the girls were gossiping in a small circle. Veronica had just announced that she was planning to ask Andrew out.

"Why? I'm pretty sure my chances of success are high," said Veronica with a hint of narcissism. She was one of the most popular girls, along with Haley.

"And what makes you say that?" Haley asked, her brow slightly furrowed.

"Why are you so against it? Are you jealous?" one of the girls teased with a giggle, looking at Haley, and the whole group began laughing softly.

"Are you in love with your cousin?"

"Are we in Alabama now?"

"Well, they're not blood-related."

The girls were notorious gossips and knew that Andrew was adopted. After all, his parents were a gay couple. Besides, Andrew wasn't embarrassed about his identity as an adopted child.

"That's not it!" Haley snapped angrily, and the laughter quickly stopped. They all knew better than to push her too far.

"I just don't want him to reject you in front of everyone. We all know he's a football fanatic who dreams of going pro. Why do you think he's never had a girlfriend?" Haley said, trying to sound as rational as possible.

The girls fell silent, lost in thought. Haley had a point. Everyone knew about Andrew's dream since he spoke about it openly. And being one of the most popular kids, anything he said tended to spread quickly.

Aspiring to go pro made him obsessed with training, leaving no room for a love life.

"I know all that," Veronica began, a slight confident smile on her face. "I'm going to join the cheerleading squad and support him as his girlfriend. Besides, my confidence comes from the fact that we talked every day over messages," she added proudly, holding up her phone to show a long chat she had with Andrew.

"Oh!" the group of girls exclaimed, surprised by the extensive chat history between Veronica and Andrew.

In the end, Veronica decided to confess her feelings during a game of truth or dare, where she and one of her friends planned to pull off a small act in front of everyone. She was confident, though she couldn't deny feeling a bit nervous.

As for Haley, she refused to participate. She crossed her arms and stayed silent for the rest of the gathering.

At one point, the group of teenagers formed a large circle and began playing truth or dare. Andrew made sure to include Leonard and Howard; otherwise, they would have been ignored and left out.

The game moved clockwise, with dares that were funny and truths that were awkward, designed to embarrass and make everyone laugh.

Eventually, it was Howard's turn, and the entire circle fell silent.

Usually, it was one of your friends who asked you "truth or dare" and came up with something fun, but Leonard was too shy to speak in front of everyone, and Howard didn't have any friends besides him. So, Andrew decided to step up.

"Truth or dare, Howard?" Andrew asked with a friendly smile.

Howard started thinking as fast as he could.

'Truth? No, no... I don't want him asking if it's true that I'm a virgin or something like that. There are too many ways for them to make fun of me,' Howard thought, feeling nervous about these kinds of social games.

Andrew didn't seem like a bad person, but you could never be too sure, and he'd already been the target of many of these "jokes" before.

"D-dare..." Howard stuttered in response. It was better to be humiliated physically than emotionally.

"Mm… let's see," Andrew said, thinking of a fun but not extreme dare—something that everyone, including Howard, could enjoy.

"I've got it! Do ten push-ups!" he added with a smile.

'This training maniac…' everyone thought, their faces showing mild exasperation.

Howard grimaced slightly. He was terrible at anything involving physical activity.

'He's just trying to make fun of my non-existent strength,' Howard thought, unsure of what to do. For starters, he didn't even know how to do a proper push-up.

Should he step into the center of the circle and try to do pathetic push-ups, failing miserably and giving everyone something to laugh at?

"Come on. I'll show you the proper push-up technique," Andrew said, walking toward the center of the circle. Howard followed him with newfound hope, encouraged by Andrew's positive attitude.

Andrew explained the technique perfectly. It was simple, and someone as intelligent as Howard understood it on the first try.

Howard placed his hands firmly on the ground at shoulder width and his feet together, forming a straight line from his head to his heels.

As he attempted his first push-up, he felt a sense of relief upon realizing his body was cooperating. He lowered himself and pushed back up carefully, noting that he understood the technique and could maintain proper form.

Andrew smiled faintly at this. He knew Howard hated sports, but he was still a teenager, and with his slim build, he should be able to lift his own weight.

Howard managed the second and third push-ups smoothly, though his breathing began to quicken. Everyone watched in silence.

The girls, however, didn't seem particularly interested in this dull dare, especially since they didn't even know Howard.

The boys from the football team watched Howard with more serious expressions, their eyes fixed on him as he pushed through his fifth push-up.

Howard's skinny arms started to tremble by the sixth push-up.

"Come on! You are almost there!" Andrew encouraged, kneeling down near Howard.

Howard exhaled deeply and pushed harder, managing to complete the seventh and eighth push-ups. His body was shaking, and his face had turned bright red.

The other boys from the team moved closer to the center of the circle and started cheering him on.

"Come on, Hofard! You've got this!" Archie cheered.

"It's Howard…" Howard mumbled with difficulty as he finished his ninth push-up.

"Haha, sorry about that…" Archie replied, scratching his head.

"If you've got time to talk, you've got time for push-ups!" Andrew interjected.

With the team's encouragement, Howard managed to finish his tenth push-up. Even Leonard had joined in, whispering words of encouragement, though barely audible.

Afterward, Howard collapsed to the floor. He hadn't expected that just ten stupid push-ups would leave him this exhausted. His arms felt like jelly.

"Great job!"

"You've got some strength in those arms!" Reggie said, patting Howard on the back. Howard smiled faintly. It didn't feel so bad to be cheered on by everyone.

"I think you did more than Steve!"

"Hey, that's not true!" Steve exclaimed indignantly. He might have been the weakest in the group, but he could easily do more than 10 push-ups.

Next, it was Leonard's turn. Andrew was the one to ask him, and Leonard chose dare. This time, the challenge was to do 15 bodyweight squats.

Just like with Howard, Andrew explained the proper technique, and while Leonard was doing them, everyone cheered him on during the last few reps to help him push past his limits.

He managed to do it and felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he succeeded.

The girls watched from the sidelines, unable to believe what they were seeing. What was so exciting about two nerdy guys doing a bit of exercise?

Finally, the moment Verónica had been waiting for arrived.

"Alright, Sarah. It's your turn. Ask me," Verónica said, giving her friend Sarah a knowing look.

"Truth or dare?" Sarah asked with a slight smile. Suddenly, all the girls were paying attention, much more than during the previous rounds.

"Truth," Verónica answered without hesitation.

"Is it true that you like Andrew?" Sarah asked, and the room fell into absolute silence.

"It's true," Verónica replied, trying to sound confident. She couldn't back out now.

The boys exchanged surprised glances at her response. Even the girls looked taken aback, not expecting Verónica to be so bold and stick to her word.

The silence in the room was almost tangible, with every pair of eyes now darting back and forth between Andrew and Verónica. The first kept a poker face, apparently processing what had just happened.

"Andrew," said Verónica, looking at him. She had deliberately chosen a spot in the circle to have him on her right.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go out with me?" Verónica asked, and all the girls erupted in excited squeals—except for Haley.

'This girl… she's got some nerve!' Andrew thought as every eye in the circle turned to him, eagerly awaiting his response.

Since when do girls confess in front of everyone? Doesn't she fear rejection and becoming the talk of the entire grade? Was her confidence that unshakable, or was this some kind of strategy to use social pressure?

Andrew doubted Verónica had thought it through so deeply; it was probably just her natural self-confidence and maybe their chat over the holidays. Andrew had only replied out of politeness and because he was always friendly and enthusiastic with everyone.

As she looked at him with a mix of anticipation and bravery, Andrew carefully considered his response.

The honest answer would be a firm no. But he also understood how fragile emotions could be during adolescence. Rejecting her in front of everyone would feel like a public humiliation, and that wasn't something he wanted to put her through.

'If I say yes now, I can always find a way to end things later, without causing a scene or hurting her as much,' he reasoned, making his decision.

"Sure, Verónica," Andrew replied, offering her a faint smile.

The girls around them burst into excited cheers. A wide smile spread across Verónica's face as she felt her heart about to explode.

"That's great…" Verónica murmured to herself, relieved. She had genuinely thought he was going to reject her.

It would have been so depressing and humiliating. In those brief seconds of waiting, her world had frozen; for the first time, she considered what would happen if she were rejected, and the thought had been horrifying.

By 10:30 PM, many parents had arrived to pick up their kids. Claire showed up right on time, and Haley left with an angry huff.

'Why is she mad?' Andrew wondered, confused, as he watched Haley climb into the car with Claire.

At 23:00 everyone left except Howard and Leonard.

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