If you take a right and travel past the ballet gallery, past the baseball diamonds, and over the giant hill, you will find the house of someone who became a home for me when I didn't have one. She put a light outside when I was lost, she drew a blanket over me when I was scared, and most importantly, she put her arms around me when I was alone. Her name is Katie Allis and I am proud to say that she was my friend when no one else was.
At the end of freshman year, she hurt me more than anyone else ever had. At the middle of my junior year, she gave me her shoulder when I needed it more than ever before. She gave me her tears as well as her glaring eyes, but she never called my stupid. That is what I love about Katie Allis. What we share is more than friendship. It is an honesty most friendships cannot stand. It is anger and bitterness and extreme jealousy. It is also a place to go when no one else will take you in. It is a harsh opinion, but a necessary truth and it is a light when there is only darkness.
I'm not sure what keeps us together. Emmons used to say it's because we are both so weird. I think it's more than that. Some might say magic and others might say it's that we are as close as sisters. Even more, I think it is the fact that to each other, we are music. Music is what has kept Katie Allis and I together, and it is the thing that kept us from being torn apart. Music is something we both appreciate differently than other people. And despite our differences or our difficulties, there will always be music to prove that our friendship is worth more than any adversity.
I've always said we need our own word because friendship doesn't sound deep enough, "sisters" doesn't sound mean enough, and best friends doesn't sound honest enough. No, Katie Allis is my home, and that is the truth.
I am proud to write about her in this story and say that she is a large part of what made my freshman year so incredible. I am honored to say that she is the one who has accepted me. And I am blessed to know that even pain cannot change that.
Freshman year, Katie Allis and I roomed together at band camp. We marched together in our first show. We played Old Hundredth together when it was all over. Before this story continues, the reader must know this above all else.
This is a story about friendship and how it changed my life.
Among all of my friends, no one was there like she was.
Katie Allis saved my life.
