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near the middle of the room, next to Amanda Cantrell. Her jade-green eyes blazed right through him when he sat down. Amanda was small, but intense and often intimidating. She captained both the debate and the girls’ wrestling teams, and was a lot stronger than she looked.
    â€œWhere have you been? You missed the opening arguments,” she said in a hissed whisper.
    â€œI had to feed Mr. Granger’s mice,” said Fisher. “He’s out sick today.”
    â€œSomething you know all about,” she said bitingly, then softened a bit. “I’m sorry, Fisher. We’ve just been getting our butts kicked so far.”
    â€œWhat’s the topic?”
    â€œThe new King of Hollywood, and whether—”
    â€œWhether it’s infringing on the territory of a duck with fifty adjectives in its name?”
    Amanda looked impressed. She even smiled, just a little. “Yep, that’s it. We’re on the side of the ducks.” Fisher lent his attention to the current speaker, who was on the pro-restaurant team.
    â€œAs you can see clearly on this map of California marshland, there are several other spots around this and sur-rounding counties where the bili … the triple … the, uh, duck, regularly makes its home,” said Trevor Weiss in a nasal voice. Today he was even more buttoned up than usual, and his stiff hairdo was dangerously approaching a pompadour. “Furthermore, as a source of sustenance to humans, especially kids such as ourselves, there can be no denying that the value of a King of Hollywood is immeasurable, and its excellent fry sauce even more so.”
    There were subdued exclamations of approval and scattered applause. The two sides went along more or less the same lines, the pro-duck arguments attempting to play on the students’ natural feelings toward small, cute animals, and the pro-restaurant arguments appealing to their love of tasty fast food.
    Amanda watched the arguments go back and forth like a hawk, keeping careful track of the debate and making furious scribbly notes with her pink pen. When she saw that the debate had reached a standstill, and neither side would alter its strategy, she chose her moment to strike.
    Fisher accompanied her to the front of the room, borrowing her pen to take down notes on her concluding argument. Amanda stepped confidently toward the microphone, and even though her head barely cleared the podium, somehow she seemed to fill the room with her presence.
    â€œThe team arguing in favor of the King of Hollywood has been happily sidestepping the issue of whether or not it can rightfully occupy the land in question,” she began, and instantly a hush fell on the room. Fisher marveled at Amanda’s ability to take control.
    â€œInstead you’ve all chosen to reiterate again and again the benefits that the franchise will bring,” she went on. “My teammates have been a little bit more on topic, but only insofar as playing on sympathy toward the little animals in the marsh, describing their feathers, their family habits, and their daily lives, which even I have to admit are beyond boring.”
    Corey Devonshire and Jenny Bits, who had both described the ducks’ dietary habits at length, squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. Amanda narrowed her eyes right at them. Corey adjusted the collar on his polo shirt to break eye contact, and Jenny decided to carefully study the wall.
    â€œThe issue in question isn’t restaurants, and it’s not ducks. It’s land ,” Amanda resumed, adjusting her pink headband and allowing herself a small, proud smile. “The land that we are supposed to be talking about was signed into protected status by the state legislature ten years ago. That status has not been revoked. It doesn’t matter how good the restaurant is. It doesn’t matter how many thousands of acres the ducks could still live on. The land, itself, was a part of a transaction