(This was written about how I met my best friend at camp)
Ben Platt once said, in an acceptance speech, "The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful."
        Boy, did Emily not believe that at age nine.
        She was a tall girl, for her age. She had shoulder length hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. At 4'11", she towered over all of her friends, and at one-hundred-ten pounds, she was a bit chubby.
        Oh, and she had type one diabetes.
        That brings us to her situation in 2012.
        Camp Sweeney.
        That summer would change her life, forever.
        In July, she rolled through the gates and onto the grounds of a little camp in the center of Gainesville, Texas, called Camp Sweeney. She'd been horrified. The camp was a three week sleep away camp around five hours away from where she resided. She'd never been away from her parents for more than a weekend.
Needless to say, when she felt the car stop in a parking spot outside of a large white building, she had no time to process what was happening. She mindlessly exited the car, lips glued shut. The building in front of her seemed even bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was called the SAC (Shull Activity Center), and, if she had been just a little less anxious, she would have learned to appreciate how beautiful it was. The walls were blue, and in the front, there was a rock wall painted to look like three separate mountains. To her right, Emily saw three rooms, each one filled with people getting their initial medical screening. She gulped.
She couldn't have appreciated it's beauty, then, but it was truly amazing.
As soon as she checked in, she ran into a man, who seemed gigantic at the time. His name was Dr. Ernie Fernandez, and he was one of the kindest people emily met that day. He just stood there, smiling, explaining how she had absolutely nothing to worry about.
        She was safe.
        Oh, but as soon as she set foot in her cabin, the old anxiety set in. The walls were white, but the floors were checkered pink, and there were hot, faded, rosy shelves in between bunks.
        Not to mention, the thirty-two screaming girls in between the ages of six and eleven. She was right in the center of the ages. She was terrified.
        It wasn't until the next day, during her first period fishing class that she began to feel like she was welcome, there.
        Fishing. She was not entirely sure if she would like it, especially because she was almost positive she was the only one in her cabin who actually bothered to take that class. She wasn't good alone. It almost bothered her that she didn't know anyone.
        She wound up sitting on the edge of the doc, the sun turning her shoulders into tan, sweaty domes atop her arms. It was a vivid image. The boating and canoeing was out on the murky waters of the lake, jet-skis creating large waves, nearly coming atop the doc. The sun was burning brightly, odd for the morning. There were people behind her, fishing, sleeping, screaming at the fishing counselor, Michael Diffley. "Diffles! I caught one!"
        She was startled out of her daze when a hand blocked the sun from her shoulder, She felt thin fingers run down her arm as soon as the intruder brought their- her hand down. She was a calm, fit girl, around Emily's age.
        She had a pink bracelet.
        She was in her cabin.
        Emily glanced up at her, unsure of how to react to the sudden interaction. She found herself parting her lips in a hesitant attempt to speak to her, but the girl beat her to it.
        "I'm Alice," she giggled. She was fit, with long, curly red hair. She was pretty. "I noticed you're in my cabin. I don't think there's anyone else here, at least in Bonner. Wan'na team?"
        "Sure. I'm Emily."
        "What year is this for you?" She murmured, bobbing her line in the water, with annoyance written on her face. She was anxious for a bite. The wind swept her hair behind her in an orange flame.
        "First," said Emily.
        "It's my fourth," Alice chuckled. "I promise, there's nothing to worry about. I came in swine-oh-nine. Nearly all of the camp had swine flu at the end of the session, and i still ended up coming back for more."
        Emily grinned at that. She felt a laugh climbing up her throat. "Well, I'll just wait and see."
        "I come from across the globe," Alice smiled. "I've been doing it a while. You have nothing to worry about."
        Emily had been so invested in conversation that she hadn't noticed Alice's accent until the. "Where are you from?"
        "Cambridge, England. You?"
        "Central Texas. Like, five hours from here."
        "Same as half the camp,' Alice sigghed. " I guess I'm unique!"
        "Aren't we all?" Emily snickered.
        "I guess so," Alice beamed.
        They spent the rest of the time sitting at the doc, chatting about the legendary catfish that lurks in Lake Dealey. His name was bert, and no one had ever caught him, but a few people came close. Alice and Emily did not catch anything, that day, besides the greatest friendship that Either of them had ever known.