Across the pond

The dinner party from hell

Sam walked over to Jessi's locker, where Jay was leaning and watching something, presumably Gordie's Journey on his phone while Nick and Matthew stand around on their phones too

"AHH this show is driving me nuts, first he goes around telling everyone he's a bisexual, and now suddenly he's a non-binary pansexual!?" Jay said without looking up from his phone, Sam was about to say something when Andrew slipped an the invitation to their dinner party over Jays phone "what the fuck is this??"

"And one for you" Andrew passed out invitations to all of them

"An evening of camaraderie and conversation presented by Andrew Glouberman and Dr Elliott Birch.. designed by Samuel Birch??" Jessi read the invitation and small print out loud

Nick looked at Andrew "Wait, hold on a second, your throwing a party with my dad?" He looked at Sam "and you designed it?" Sam shrugged

"At your house, yes it's a dinner party, we will serve food but also we will be nourished by conversation" Andrew explained

"Matthew this sounds truly terrible, we have to go!" Jessi looked at Sam "no offence.."

"Guys! Do not go to this weird thing at my house" Nick complained before looking down at his phone "ok fine.. I try to swing by my own house after school" he said before walking off, staring at his phone

Sam stood with Jessi and Matthew, where Jay had been before he stormed off too "I just designed the seating plan and the table design... And the music" he explained, looking at his shoes

"What's the menu choices?" Jessi asked "I can't see any on the menu"

"Well, we have small picky bits what Judds caterers will bring around-" Sam answered

Jessi and Matthew raised their eyebrows a little "picky bits?" Jessi repeated slowly

"What the fuck is that?" Matthew asked

"Um, it's like crackers and mini sausages.." Sam chewed the inside of his cheek, embarrassed "you know, finger food"

"You fucked that up" Teto whispered in his ear

"Must be a british thing" Benji shrugged, eating slices of ham off of his stomach

                       ***

The living room was full of people and sounds, but no one was talking, their faces bathed in the blue light emanating from their phones. Sam was sat next to Jessi and Matthew quietly, he didn't really know what to say and starting a conversation always seemed awkward to him. A strange looking man with crazy square hair and an unkept mustache walked in to the room him his grey suit holding trays of small food "okay who's ready for aperteezers?" He asked loudly

"Coach Steve?" Andrew walked over to him "what are you doing here?"

"Oh I'm Coach part time caterer Steve now.. they're giving me a new job every episode" The man answered before getting chattered at my a raccoon in a matching suit "I know i know but they started talking to me!"
Samuel had been confused about these raccoons but Judd said he had trained them to attack Nick, witch made Sam top questioning.

Sam looked at Jessi "well he's.. interesting"

"Coach Steve? Yeah, he was the gym teacher at our school but he got fired when we destroyed the gym" she explained.

At this point Sam had learnt not to be surprised by the crazy stuff that happens in this town, he simply nodded his head and checked the time on his phone, before being interrupted by Elliot tapping a glass with a knife

"Uh, eyes up here everyone, you may have wondered why we brought you here tonight" Mr Birch smiled

"You see Dr Birch and I wanna guide you back to a time where you weren't slavishly devoted to your machines" Andrew carried on