The Coalition of Sierra J. Rubenstein

BOR I (Year of Danny + Sierra):

    Spending most of my summer by myself, I came into our next bowling season excited to see Danny and Sierra. I did not show up on the same day that they did for sign ups, so our first pre-season game was the first time seeing them. They came in together casually talking to one another. Of course we were all so happy to see one another and had a long group hug reuniting the trio. Everything was good and fun for us that day. We gained two new players to replace Matt and the gymnast. They were Austin, one of the coaches kids, and Sjohn, a guy that I knew through my friends that went to his high school. Our team dynamic started off: Austin hating Danny and how obnoxious he acted, Sjohn hating Sierra for being annoying and controlling, Austin wanting to date Sierra though she was not interested, finally Austin and Sjohn liking me the most for being the most friendly even though they hated how energetic I was. I had high hopes for this team. Our last two season ended with us finishing in the bottom half of the standings under .500 record (we lost more than we won). What changed my life forever took place when we started to pack up. We grabbed our bowling ball bags and started walking out the door when I stopped in mid-sentence. I asked them what they were doing. They were holding hands. I was so confused, but they told me that this was how they wanted me to find out about them hooking up. Everything went downhill after that.
    I was happy for them. I understand why they stopped talking to me, but I WAS happy for them. Every weekend after that day became worse and worse for our team and especially me. It was just one fight after another. I understand that fighting is part of a relationship, but the amount of fighting they did every week was appalling. It was normally started from something dumb that one of them said or did and sometimes it would be both of them saying and doing something stupid. The worst thing about it was how they always dragged me into their fights. They wanted me to pick sides every time. It started off with me simply picking the side that made the least mistakes, but the line was blurring between right and wrong. All their fights resulted with them being both wrong. I got sick of it. At one point I started coin flipping on their sides, then I just took turns alternating every week. It was uncomfortable for me to be even dragged into the fights, let alone deciding who was right. They told me I was the smart one of the group so I would be better at figuring out who was right.
    I use to drive home crying some weeks after bowling because they were just tearing me apart. We were good friends until they started dating. They even told me that I was the child of their relationship based off how they treated me. I talked to my mom about quitting bowling because of my close friends were treating me and each other. I decided to keep going, but I made sure to stop talking to them during fights. So I never really spoke more than two sentences with each of them. I normally talked to Austin and Sjohn or just kept my earbuds in to listen to my music in between frames. Sjohn eventually stopped showing up. After that season, he moved to another team for a year before he left bowling. Austin was still being dragged in by his parents until he got his license and started sleeping in some weeks. He quit after that season and moved to a theatre college far away from his family. We ended up finishing close to last again.