A Girl Named Rebecca.

I remember a girl who once upon a time was a wonder. This girl would go dancing in the woods and go camping. I remember a girl who liked to camp and had fun with me. Who understood that our life's story was not easy. She always made me feel like we were equals. To me, she looked like a leader. I knew that she was going to be a paper Eagle. Everyone knew. But what we did know was that there was a girl who deserved a good, happy life. And she had the right energy. Maybe she didn't have the right stuff. But I thought that deep down, there was a girl who deserved what she was working towards.

Well, I thought. The girl I used to know. The girl who I wished still knew. The girl who is no longer there. The girl whom I miss and wish was still here. I wanted her to come back to me. I still do. I guess you're probably wondering who and what she was working towards. Well, I'm an Eagle Scout. And that's what she wanted too. That's what she was working towards. She was five years older than me, maybe four. We were both females, which were two things we had in common. We were in the same troop and same patrol. She was always very nice to me. Who made me want to cry when it came time to truly show our true colors. This is my story of Rebecca, the girl who I thought was my friend. A girl I used to know. A girl I cannot recognize.

Rebecca had just broken her fingers the first time we met. She was sixteen when we met, I was eleven. She was very nice to all the girls in our troop. She liked getting her nails done and had nice golden hair. Well, highlighted. If it was not highlighted, it would have been brown. She said that when she was younger, her mom and dad would take her camping. That she had been with a troop before and they wouldn't sign off on her requirements. So she hit the ground running. At a pace like mine. We were always at the same rank and relied on each other. Sometimes we were only minutes off from having ranks first. But I was usually first. We had a lot of un. We had Klondike derby together, which was a huge camping trip for both of us. We both were equals.

And then she went to college and got a job and started to be an adult. She came to fewer and fewer meetings. And then came the first draft of her proposal. Which was absolute trash. She had me read it. She didn't do the correct paperwork, and it made no sense at all. Eventually, she put it on the right paperwork. It was still trash, and everyone tried to work with her and tell her not to turn it in. And yet, they signed off. Her project was official. She stopped turning up for meetings. And when she did, we tried to tell her to back out. That she needed to stop what she was doing. She needed to leave the program. We had discussions about her every day. It brought my scoutmaster to tears sometimes.

And then there were the letters. We started writing her and her mom letters about how we were not signing off. That we considered everything. That as far as we were concerned, we were not going to sign off. She started getting weird extensions and got done with a twenty-mile hike in a short amount of time. Only an hour. She had multiple meetings with the adults about it so that they could show her all the evidence they were not signing off. And yet, Rebecca still applied for a board of review.

At this point, it was clear she was not giving up. Her mom took over communication for her and her project, well, it was as expected. Based on how bad her proposal was, it was clear how unprepared she was. She had her project the same day as another girl. She didn't announce it. And then they decided to poach a girl who was going to the other girls' project and made her go to hers. But they knew, as the girl who was being poached mom called the other girl's mom and apologized. She was a lawyer and smelt something fishy. After getting a ton of shady different extensions, they allowed her a board of review. They argued and argued.

On the boar, there was a man from higher up, one of our adult leaders, and the girl's mom who got a girl poached from her project by Rebecca. And they let her pass. Well, the higher-up guy let Rebecca is a girl that I used to know. A girl, who at the beginning was one of my very good friends. And yet, turned. This is not all of the stories about Rebecca, as I left out a couple of things. For how one of the people she asked for a letter said no. I miss the girl I used to know. I remember a girl named Rebecca. Who I used to know.

Rebecca, if you are reading this, I want you to know that I am sad about what happened. I wished you hadn't changed, I wish that we were still friends. I wish you had chosen to back out of what happened. I saw you at the Eagle Banquet the other day. I didn't want to talk to you while you were there for this reason. Rebecca, I know that you think you did the right thing. I know you think you believe you got what you wanted. But I'm telling you, what you did was wrong. I miss the girl you used to be. Somewhere, beneath all the things you have done, is the girl who I used to know. The girl who is no longer around. Please, tell me why you did this. Please go back to the way things were before.