I just found out people I grew up with secretly petitioned to kick me off our town's youth council project. They acted completely normal to my face the whole time. Should I fight to stay on the board or just resign before it becomes public?

Do not resign in secret just to save them the discomfort of confronting you. Stepping down immediately will only feel like self-protection for about an hour; after that, it will feel like you handed them the narrative on a silver platter. In small towns, quiet sabotage thrives on politeness and avoidance. When people petition behind closed doors instead of addressing an issue directly, it is usually because their case is weak, personal, or cowardly. If you simply disappear, their version becomes town history. Ask for a brief, formal meeting with the project coordinator or the board chair—not the whole group yet. Say one clear sentence: "I’ve been made aware of a petition regarding my role, and I’d like to see the specific concerns in writing so we can address them on the record." Force the issue out of the whispers and onto paper. Once their actual reasons are out in the open, you can decide whether this project is genuinely worth your energy. But if you walk away, do it because you chose better company, not because they managed to hide in the dark.