Sam, October 2020
Claremont High looked like it had been frozen in time, nothing had changed since I went to school here, over 20 years ago, the entire school looked like it was in dire need of renovations and a new paint job but, as Lucas explained, money was tight after budget cuts to the education sector. What little funding the school did receive, from the state, went towards the academic subjects, leaving sports and arts programs to fall away due to lack of funding.
Playing for the Claremont Bears was such a huge part of my life when I was at school, I couldn't imagine where I would have ended up without the opportunity to play football at school. It was an outlet for myself and many others. Playing for Claremont taught me valuable skills that I used throughout my career which is a huge part of why I wanted to coach a new team of Claremont Bears, to pass on what I learnt.
Being back here is so surreal, I'm no longer a student, I can't be threatened with detention for speaking out of turn, I can walk into the teachers lounge, make myself a cup of tea, grab a muffin and not be told off for entering a restricted area. This is where my own teachers came, just to escape us, back then I never really thought of them as actual people, with lives of their own but now I'm one of them.
Lucas gave me a complete tour of the school before the students arrived, the same uncomfortable chairs fill every classroom, behind the same plastic desks which probably still have wads of chewing gum stuck to the underside from 1999. The only upgrades in each room were that the fans had been removed and replaced with an air conditioner plus no more dusty blackboards and chalk, now each room had a whiteboard. The wooden picnic tables where we used to eat lunch, were brand new my first year here but now looked weathered and rotting.
There's so many memories that flood my mind, just being back here and all of them involve Veronica. From the first day that I sat behind her in assembly, hearing her laugh, smelling her perfume, falling in love with her while I watched her fall for Lucas, desperately wanting her to notice me, holding her hand during the morning assembly on the first day of year 12 and feeling like I'd won the lottery when I kissed her. Our history together is deeply embedded into these walls, if I hadn't transferred to Claremont we would never have met and if she hadn't travelled back to '99 then she would never have been mine.
"Nervous?" Lucas asks me as he unlocks large, metal door for the assembly hall. In less than an hour this room will be filled with students and teachers and I'll be standing in front of them all, introducing myself as the new coach.
"Would you judge me if I admit I'm terrified?" Throughout my career I fronted many press conferences, played for crowded stadiums, graced the cover of every trashy tabloid that has existed so being in the spotlight was nothing new to me, that wasn't what was causing my heart to race a mile a minute.
"I'd judge you if you told me you weren't." He laughs, placing a hand on the back of my shoulder. "This will probably be one of the most nerve racking days of your entire life."
"No pressure though." I chuckle lightly as I look around the room. The gold plaques that line the walls are filled with names from past students. I find the one for 1999 and smile to myself as I read the names. "School captains for 1999, Katherine Stolls and Lucas Stephenson."
"My name doesn't deserve to be up there because I bailed on the position, 6 months into it." He says, coming to stand beside me to marvel at the plaque. I wish I knew then what I know now, why he stepped down from being school captain. I should have been there for him, not fighting against him. Lucas needed me more than ever back then and I abandoned the friendship because I thought he was trying to steal Veronica from me. This is one of my biggest regrets in my life, turning my back on my friend.
