seventeen
chapter three making impressions
I lay in bed awake. The clock read 6:45am. I would never really be awake at this time but my mind was in over drive. It's like when it gets dark and no one else is around this is the time your head catches up to you while you're body has beent ravelling in super speed, and hits you with all your emotions at once. I lay there thinking about my parents. It had been over two weeks now since they past, and I thought I was handling it well, but it was like the mourning period was delayed. The first night at the Miller's I was a little too over whelmed and excited to even thing about them, but now i'd been ehre nearly a week my stomach felt heavy every night missing them dearly. I miss my Mom's cooking and positive attitude in the morning before I went to school. I miss my Dad's interest in my football and passion in my life. I missed those little things, Dad's laugh, Mom's smile. Our house in Perth. I turned over, head in pillow, cringing at the thought of them dying. I thought they were invincable. I'd never felt so alone before. Until drinfting off again.
xxx
"Come on Jesse. The coach will kill me if we're late" Cal burst into the pool house while I searched the bathroom for a towel and spare underwear for after training. I checked the clock that read 4:55pm. We had five minutes to get to traning. As I rushed to get things together I thought about routine. My new life. School started in exactly one week, so from next Monday it would be training Monday, Wednesday, Friday, games Sunday and school during the week. The idea excited me a little as I was about to enter my last year of school and do my TEE, or did they call it VCE in Victoria?
"Right there dude" I almost flew down the 3-steps from the bathroom. My smaller puma sports bag over my shoulder filled with boots, shorts and my towel. I was excited about getting a training jumper and other club equipment like the polo shirts and other stuff. Cal told me about the club, which was basically the team from his College. Wesley College. His polo shirt had a Gatecrasher like Lion on the chest, similar to the Cotton On shirts they sold in the shopping centres. I felt athletic in my puma runners, blak sports puma pants and a white collard shirt, collar up as usual.
We jogged around the side of the house, throwing our bags in the tray of his classy black Silverado. Infusion blared from the speakers before Cal flew out of the driveway and headed down towards Wesley College. It was only a twenty minute walk but after pre-season training sessions walking was the last thing you felt like doing. Plus we were a little late.
Cal turned into the College street, we bypassed the classes to the back where the football oval was. As we drove past I looked into the beautiful old school type College. The buildings were three stories high and built of nice brick. It looked brand new with an old school look. The arch ways big, many sporting facilities surrounded the huge buildings. A large tennis court with about 6 courts, and large lighting. Cal pulled into the sports centre parking, where other cars all with P platers were parked. Another couple of guys just pulled up, it was Marshy and another guy who got out.
"Hey Jesse. How'd you pull up Saturday night?" It had been two days since Chelsea's party. I spent the night sleeping in Cal's car while we spent the night in his girlfriends bed. I remember thinking a lot about Elissa that night.
"Hey Marshy. Oh you know, grabbed a coffee and some shut eye and I got over it okay. Corona's can be evil though". Marshy gave me the nod of approval and gave me a half high five, half hand shake.
"Hey Cal you know who I've been talking about for months..."
"Sarah Smith? No!" Marshy had a huge grin on his face. "You didn't"
"Oh yeah!" They all laughed, I gave a small effort as Cal congradulated him with the hand shake. We grabbed our bags from the bag of the tray and headed into the sports centre. Everything looked so new, this school must be worth a fortune a semester. Not that I would know, my parents will went straight to Jack and Claire to cover these expenses until I was old enough to take care fo it myself. It didn't bother me as I really trusted them.
When we walked into the centre, we walked past the reception desk, where we could see windows into the indoor pool where the swim team seemed to be training. Then a gym and basketball court followed. At the end the stairs went down into the football oval change rooms. The guys were laughing and sharing sex tails from Saturday night as we walked into the rooms. I recognized a lot of the guys from the party, as they all put on their training jumpers and boots. The coach walked over and put his hand out to me as the other guys made ways to their lockers.
"Hey Jesse is it?" I nodded.
"Yeah."
"Great to have you aboard. I'm Coach Walters, I've heard some pretty good things about your game. The guys are pretty excited to have you here at Wesley College." I was ewmbarrassed again, as he handed me over a training jumper. I smiled and looked on the back. It read number seven, which I was happy and a little suprised to see as the low numbers were usually for key players. "We lost a few 12 graders last year, our Captain wore number seven, and I don't think anyone wanted to try and fill his gap. But I think you can handle it?" I took it gracefully but didn't know how to react. The coach looked about 30 years old, he had the stereotypical 3 day stuble facial hair, Wesley College polo shirt and training pants. He smiled and directed me to the number seven locker.
When I opened it I saw a fresh new polo jumper, jacket and hat all in navy blue, with white writing "Wesley College" written accross with the lyon emblem. It was a great feeling to be apart of a club with such a deep tradition and rich culture. Everything looked expensive and modern while maintaining a long history. The club rooms on the other side had pictures and flags of the many Premiership sides. The players who had the number were printed in small white print on my locker. I read the name of the previous captain. "Ryan Schwass".
"Schwatta is training with Richmond this year mate. You got some shoes to fill there" Cal was at the locker next to me. Giving me a light hearted shove. I looked at the number six on the back of his white training jumper, in navy blue print. I could imagine the game jumpers, which were usually inverse from the training ones. Navy blue with white numbers and the Gatecrasher lyon on the front. I took off my shirt and track pants. Along with my puma runners throwing them in my new locker. Then putting on my black football shorts, boots and the new training jumper given to me by the coach. I felt some of the other guys eyes on me as I tied on the boots and adjusted the bottom of the shorts.
As we jogged out onto the field, I felt an English College vibe with the large grandstand on the College side of the oval. Suprisingly their were about a dozen people sitting at the bottom of the stands. I notced a small group of about four girls as well. Then as I looked close Elissa and Chelsea were sitting there. I caught Elissa's eye, she gave me a small wave and cheeky grin. I watched on, before Marshy caught my eye.
"You got your work cut out for you buddy. Although I saw you chatting to her the other night." I acted like I didn't know what he was talking about.
"What?" It was stupid but I didn't want it to seem obvious. The coach directed us to a warm up lap. Cal and Marhsy on either side of me as we jogged around the large oval. Marshy's longer blonde wavy hair bouncing as he ran, it looked a lot like the surfer look I was used to back in WA. His skin tanned, he was a big guy. Standing about 6 foot 5. But he looked amazingly mobile and athletic for his height.
"Elissa Walsh. I'm just saying we all tried when she got to Wesley last year but no one has got close. I mean gorgeous girl, but the only guy she ever dated here was..." Some how I knew immediatly before the words came out of Marshy's mouth. Ryan Schwass. The guy who captained the school team and now plays for Richmond.
"What happened? I mean why did they split up?"
"Who knows." Marshy took a depper breath as the team picked up the running pace slightly. "It was around graduation, i'm guessing Ryan knew he was hitting the AFL or something." As Cal told me I looked back over towards where the girls sat. They appeared to be watching intently. Talking amongst themsevles. From the impression I had got from Elissa I thought I had a shot. But Mashy's words gave me anything but reassurance. I would have to impress both her and the coach.
Coach brought us into a group and gave us a motivational talk as we stretched on the forward flank fifty metre line. As I lay there stretching my hamstring the coach along with his two assitances and a media coach over powered us. Standing over us with such symbolic authority. Coach talked about how they lost in the semi-final last year by a solitary point, which had me think back to the party and the guys giving Cal shit for a kick. Did he miss a shot to win the game? I wasn't sure. But he spoke about that season, how we should be better this time and Ryan. Their captain. He spoke about him like a hero. Which made me look across to Elissa. How she dated a guy a year older, captain and professional player now made me feel so insignificant. How could I compete with her ex?
"And I hope we make Jesse feel welcome. You can never have enough left-footed runners in the guts" A couple guys either side of me patted my back as my attention turned back to the coach. How he knew so much about me already scared me a little. My prefered foot. Playing position. Even the sizes on my clothes in the locker were right. It made me think how many connections he had. He seemed like the kind of guy who a community looked up to. He was scary at times but passionate.
He sent us on training drills which had us sprinting after each other in fifty metre intervals, laying tackles which took the wind out of your guts, then jumping up moments later and going again the other way. I was in the zone. I needed to impress after the pressure I was under. Coach watching. Elissa watching. Even the team mates. This was my chance to really show what I was worth.
"Yep yep yep. Jesse Jesse Jesse" I sprinted my guts out to get the pass off to Cal running past. Then landed a heavy tackle on one of my team mates, leaving him flat on his back. The coach blew his whistle and I was frightened for a moment I hurt the guy. He held his stomash in a little pain as the coach brought us in.
"Awesome stuff. This is what I want to see. Hit em fucken hard and make them stay the fuck down. Well done kid" The coach gave me a firm hit on the back before helping the guy up. He seemed okay, just a little winded. I gave him a tap on the shoulder, which represented an apology in footy. He accepted gracefully, and the coach sent us on a warm down lap. Everyone was fucked to be honest. a full 2 hour session of sprints and intense fitness work. I was extremely fucked. We jogged slowly, water bottles in hand. The water giving seconds of energy before the pain in the chest hit again.
As we jogged in, the sun began to drop towards the horzion. It suprised me that the girls had stayed for the whole two-hour session. Chelsea ran towards Cal was we all filtered towards the change room. Jess, another one of the guys I had met put his hand on my shoulder.
"He is one lucky guy because Chelsea looks incredible". I turned and gave him a reassuring smile as I agreed with him. She kissed him and they laughed about something she had to say. I was tempted to talk to Elissa as her and another girl approached Jezz and I. I thought why not, no point letting this Ryan guy who I don't even know intimidate me.
"Hey there" I smiled. Trying to act as if I weren't tired, but truth was we were all exhausted. Many had hands on hips pulling the cool air in. My blue socks sat low above my white puma boots. I coulnd't help but crouch a little seeking air as the two girls stopped infront of us. Elissa had jeans and this navy blue Mooks zip up jumper, looking casual but some how she made it look unbelievably gorgeous. Something about girls in hooded jumpers I found really attractive, and with Elissa's dark hair magically streaked across her face made it even more beautiful.
"Hey guys." I almost forgot how sexy her slightly husky voice was. She smiled as her friend playfully punched Jezz in the guts as he had hands on knees, seeking air. "Looks like the coach really put you guys through a lot tonight."
"We can only try" I smiled. Still completley buggered from the sprints, push ups, tackling and non-stop physical pressure.
"Well you looked really good out there Jesse. One thing Chelsea didn't tell me was how good a player you were" I smiled at the compliment. Any word that came out of her mouth made me smile. I altered my messy sweat filled hair. It must of beena little all over the place, as I could see parts pushing down close to my eyes, half blonde half brown.
"What did Chelsea tell you?" I started breathing easier. I asked the question light heartedly. I was curious to know what Elissa knew about me.
"Jesse. You right?" Cal was calling me over from close to the change room. The coach was almost in and I didn't want to be dragging behind.
"I guess it's my turn bail?" She laughed softly, her glossy lips gorgeous as she bit her bottom lip.
"Don't worry. School starts next week. I'm sure i'll have plenty of time to get to know you better Jesse" I smiled at her comment and began jogging back towards the change room. I turned back and gave her a smile as she and the other girl began walking back to their car. When I reached Cal he gave me a poke in the chest and made noises to embarrass me. We started laughing a pushing each other as we made our way into the change room.
I stood in front of number seven locker. Taking off the sweaty jumper and throwing it into my puma sports bag. I read down some of the names dating back a while. Then I get down to Ryan Schwass, Captain. It worries me a little. Although I look forward to reading Jesse Baker underneath. I throw my shorts and socks in the bag along with my puma boots, and threw on my black sports pants and this time my new navy blue Wesley Football Club collard shirt. It fitted perfectly, again crediting my athletic look. I pull the collar up like so many of my team mates did, and threw on my puma runners and followed some of the guys out. The coach stops me.
"You trained hard today Baker. I like the look of it. Keep it up okay. I'll see you Wednesday." He turns to Cal and throws a footy at him. "And Cal. Look after him okay, looks like the kid can play!" We all had a bit of a laugh as we walked back out towards the car park and threw out bags in the tray. Marshy pushed his blonde hair out of his face and threw his bag in the back of his nice looking Commodore.
"So Jesse. I saw you takling to Elissa after training. What's going on between you two?" Marhsy loved talking about girls. He was a pure footy bloke. It was a lot of fun being around him. He always seemed really excited about things, well girls, like a puppy.
"Nothing is going on. I'm new to town I guess she's just being nice" Cal laughed and threw his bag in the back.
"No way" Marshy exclaimed. She seems totally into you. And I am so jealous! You hook up with Elissa Walsh and I will go mad!" I couldn't help but laugh as we all got into our cars. Marshy gave me his excited smile as we took off, the music blaring from his speakers. I never for a moment thought I had Elissa but just hearing Marshy talk about her like she was mine, it was so exciting.