The Fox Girl: Chapter 9

It felt like it had been years since Jayde had entered the school to talk to the community about the forest and the war against the fox hybrids. He knew he wouldn't be able to enter, nobody trusted him to take a side or to say bad things about anyone. It felt like it had been a century when Jayde finally came out.
"Well? How'd it go?" Samuel asked eagerly.
"Good. Before I let you guess what the answer was, let me tell you what happened..."

"Everyone in the city was there. John stood at the center of the room in front of a chair with his name on it. I stood in front of mine.
'You may take your seats,' the mayor had said. John and I sat in our chairs and waited for further orders. I could tell that John was going to tell lies about the foxes, but not have any proof, which is what the town committee were looking for; a reason with backup. I smiled secretly.
'John, please state why you fight for your cause,' the mayor called. John stood and went to the podium.
'I am John, and I believe that the fox hybrids are just taking up space. We need more space for our brilliant homes and businesses,' John said very clearly.
'Ok, now why do you fight for your cause? You didn't answer the question,' the mayor told him. Just as I predicted, John stalled. He didn't have a good reason!
'I, uh, hate how we have to cut down trees and have to deal with those hybrids, and plus with them it take longer to make buildings,' John said quickly.
'Ugh, very well John. Alright, Jayde, please come up,' the mayor said, smiling at me. I walked up to the podium and began the little speech I had written.
'Hello, my name is Jayde. I'm fighting for the hybrids because they're my family, and we want to protect the forest. Think about it, without trees, how would we have oxygen? Also, I think that we could make less small businesses separate and make more larger malls with smaller businesses together in one place so that we can preserve more space. And what about apartments? I used to live in an apartment, and it definitely saves space. Please, leave the forest alone, we did nothing to you!' I finished, and stepped off the podium, feeling like John was going to win over me. Malls and apartment complexes, what was I thinking when I wrote that speech, I was thinking to myself as the judges were discussing a decision. Hours later, we finally got an answer. Guess who won," Jayde told Samuel. Samuel thought very hard. The answer was obvious.
"You won," Samuel said.
"Ding ding ding ding ding, we have a winner," Jayde said as they laughed and went to help with the new building. And from then on, the forest was never bothered again.