In the days following the prank, the schools awoke to an uneasy silence beneath the usual buzz. The spectacle had faded, but its echoes clung to every corner—whispers in dormitories, furtive glances in classrooms, a subtle tension in the air like static before a storm.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8gAWuY2ke
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgKI0mbVoz
Both schools harbored spies—students loyal to their respective Orders—working within their own schools, reporting on suspicious activities and even on their fellow students. Each side believed only they had such internal networks, a unique advantage in this silent war.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXfAYVUbAn
Naomi’s agents moved like ghosts through Kisumu Girls. They shadowed friends and rivals alike, questioning with smiles that didn’t reach their eyes, watching for the slightest sign of weakness or guilt. Reports trickled back in coded messages hidden in routine notes, scraps of conversation overheard in the dining hall, and subtle shifts in behavior observed under the watchful eyes of their handlers.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr73iQyqX22
But something was wrong. The usual smooth flow of intelligence had stuttered; several trusted operatives had disappeared into sudden “investigations” by the prefects. Fear whispered through the ranks — loyalty was no shield now. The crackdown was indiscriminate, and paranoia was bleeding into every corner.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IprjYUu0s
Across the wall, Jabari’s network was under similar strain. Couriers once swift and invisible were being stopped and searched. Trusted informers had gone silent, either scared or silenced. The usual channels of communication—secret knocks, hidden notes, coded gestures—felt exposed, brittle, vulnerable.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG176JgZyAS
Jabari stood at the edge of his usual meeting place, a quiet courtyard where orders were once given in shadows. Now, even here, eyes seemed to linger too long. He gave terse instructions to his closest circle, urging caution and patience. The prize was still out there—the small battered tin, the relic slipped through the chaos—but the path to it was growing tangled.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAtRgXiz8z
Neither leader knew the full extent of the other’s reach, but their actions had begun to bleed into each other’s shadows. Girls loyal to Jabari found themselves under scrutiny in their own dorms, questioned by Naomi’s agents. Boys faithful to Naomi were hunted down in classrooms and corridors by Jabari’s watchers. Each crackdown threatened to expose the entire fragile web of alliances.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QV2c9gSj9
Despite the growing pressure, neither side dared to pull back. The risk of revealing their networks was too great. Instead, the hunt intensified—silent, relentless, and blind to friend or foe.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltZIkgetfx
And somewhere between the walls of Kisumu Girls and Kisumu Boys, the game had shifted. It was no longer just about the prank, or even the tin. It was about control, about survival in a world where every shadow might hide an enemy—or a traitor.
**********61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1IKpfrAJO
Amina moved through the corridors of Kisumu Girls High with practiced ease, her steps light but purposeful. To most, she was just another diligent student, her notebooks filled with neat diagrams and formulas, her laughter rare but genuine. But beneath the surface, Amina carried a secret heavier than any textbook.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdwgjDCvGi
Months ago, in the quiet aftermath of a tense interschool debate, a subtle approach had changed everything. A senior boy from Kisumu Boys — never named, always careful — had found her in the library, slipped a folded note into her hand, and vanished before anyone noticed. The note was simple: “We need someone like you. Trust no one.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfA3Rgf1Es
It wasn’t just curiosity that pulled Amina in; it was the promise of something bigger — a way to look beyond the wall, to bridge the invisible gaps, even if it meant walking a dangerous line. She joined the boys’ Order, becoming one of their eyes and ears inside the girls’ school.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4irpU2iCPR
Now, as the lanterns from the recent prank still flickered in memory, Amina’s role had never felt more critical. She moved silently among her peers, listening, watching for cracks, for whispers that might hint at the other side’s moves. Every smile she gave, every word she spoke, was carefully measured.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSblt62HZ7O
In this clandestine dance, trust was a currency rarer than gold — and Amina had learned to spend it sparingly. The risk was immense. If the girls’ Order ever discovered her allegiance, it would mean exile, or worse.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrO947QIpzt
Yet she pressed on, driven by a stubborn hope that maybe, just maybe, these walls weren’t meant to divide forever. And for now, she was their silent shadow inside the fortress of Kisumu Girls.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdbyB51jeu
The corridor was quieter now. After the prank, after the scramble of prefects and the tightening of patrols, the school had recoiled into a tense stillness. But to her, this silence was an invitation.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMZH2VOfSR
She walked with purpose but not urgency, her expression composed, her posture corrects. Everything about her radiated normalcy. A model student. Invisible in her perfection.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCutFbJw4WI
But Amina was watching.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNVixwA6C3
She always watched.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxM9067i0VS
In her blazer pocket, folded between the pages of a Chemistry handout, was a note. The paper was watermarked with an unfamiliar sigil, and though she had burned the original copy—as protocol demanded—she’d copied its contents by hand. The message had arrived two days before the prank, smuggled through a borrowed Literature anthology returned late to the library.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbQDBHEHsW
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffVmws405c
She didn’t need to know what “it” was. She didn’t need to ask who “we” were. Her job was not to know, only to observe. And to report. To the boys.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cLa77TqZC
Not to Naomi. Not to her House Captain, not to the prefects, not even to the senior girls who had begun tightening their own networks in the aftermath.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BiBCPY0XH
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFqNLdpU94
She paused by the science block, adjusting her bag just enough to catch the reflection in a window. Two girls, one of them always five seconds too early to morning assembly, the other constantly retying her braids. Watching her. Watching everyone. They weren’t Order, not hers anyway. But they were someone’s.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxRw5bWKSg
She adjusted her path accordingly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPpd8IQlwY
The tin had passed through. She was almost certain. She’d seen it change hands near the staffroom side entrance, disguised as part of a snack’s delivery. A risk, but a clever one. The prank had pulled too many eyes toward the wall. But not hers. She had obeyed the message. She had looked left.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFbCEsPMTo
Still, the fallout was brutal.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIXzSKu8Yn
Naomi’s crackdown, while calm on the surface, had sent tremors through the entire school. Bag checks. Room sweeps. Silent interrogations disguised as routine prefect sessions. Everyone was a suspect. And now even she—one of the Order’s oldest field shadows—had begun to feel exposed.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUoOlfWtvJ
Amina knew she had to be careful. The girls on her side were getting smarter. Naomi’s network was beginning to spot the patterns—the subtle path deviations, the library entries logged twice in different hands, the missing pages in the sign-out sheets.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZajLgVihY
But she couldn’t stop.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlc2qTI6uPq
If anything, this was the moment she had been trained for. A moment when everything tightened, when trust folded in on itself. That’s when the real agents moved.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrbOkfLlut
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkefg3Q8IwU
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjqhPT4pn4
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5tcaAQgWF
Months had passed since the events that tangled their lives — the secret messages, the near encounters, and the shadowed help that saved her more than once. Yet Kim still had no answers.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlZ3KKX4Vf
Sitting in the quiet corner of the library, she absentmindedly traced the faded crease of a folded note — one that had somehow found its way to her during the most chaotic days. The words weren’t signed, but she knew who had sent it.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjrGvatlcu
Her mind churned, replaying everything she’d pieced together — the strange help from the shadows, the moments when it seemed Juma was near but never quite close enough to reach, and the puzzling silence that followed each attempt to connect.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNzANUXh9S
Why did he help me? she wondered, voice barely a whisper. How did he know everything — the dangers, the secrets? And why did he pull away when she most needed him?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡig8xfszt10
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxabQ6Yred
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡts2qzWAg2q
Kim closed the book she had been pretending to read, her fingers tightening around the worn cover. The library around her buzzed with the usual quiet chatter and shuffling footsteps, but her world felt suspended in a fragile bubble of doubt and longing.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUd6BHcvmJI
The past months had been a maze of half-truths and silent messages. Every time she thought she understood Juma’s reasons, new questions twisted tighter around her heart. She remembered the way he smiled at her that day on Sports Day — a smile that had seemed to hold a promise. But after that, he had vanished into the shadows, his help subtle and distant, leaving her to wonder if it had been real at all.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9i4HLgtR6
Now, a fresh rumor was drifting through the school — whispers that the Order was cracking down harder, and that anyone connected to secret dealings risked exposure. For Kim, this was more than a threat. It was a signal.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29P2ueN3mF
If she wanted answers, if she wanted to understand Juma — she couldn’t wait for fate to pull them together. She had to take the risk herself.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQhEgrcZaz
She remembered Seline’s sharp gaze the day after Sports Day, the silent tension whenever Juma’s name came up, and the strange calm in Juma’s eyes when they briefly locked.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkH7N2z3Ja2
But no answers.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVozyTZFysB
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWwkeTRwQT
Yet, somewhere deep inside, a stubborn voice whispered that Juma wasn’t just part of the Order or the game. That maybe he cared. Maybe he wanted her to find him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqiT9nzdBZ
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWrfiEnqHy
Kim stood back by the edge of the school grounds, out of earshot and sight of the boys’ side. The music festival team from her school was preparing to cross over for practice—a rare chance for the mixed group to rehearse together. Kim stood a little distance away, clutching a folded sheet of paper. The crowd of girls preparing to cross over for their session buzzed around her, laughing and adjusting their instruments.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ988xDV639q
She handed her folded letter to Mary before she stepped through the gate, she thrust the letter into the other girl’s hand. “Please, if you get the chance… give this to the prefect. The one in charge of discipline. I don’t know his full name or class, but he’s a prefect.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwWC5kJQRn
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4igAd4PDu
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2e8Mne36U
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiamNUImYrM
As the girls disappeared beyond the boundary, Kim felt a quiet hope — but also the sting of distance. Once they were on the other side, everything was lost to her—the voices, the sounds, even the possibility of a reply.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxfILpDA3K
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHPrwdlGpf
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows over the courtyard where Kim sat alone, scribbling notes for her upcoming school assignments. The air was thick with the scent of rain yet to fall, and the hum of distant chatter from the other students blended with the rustling leaves.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4lWGVGD4j
Suddenly, a scrap of folded paper slid quietly across the stone bench beside her. She looked up, startled. No one seemed close enough to have dropped it.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWUGhU6Gtv
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpX5C77JqM
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHzAXXMLO2
You ask why I watch from afar, why I help without revealing myself. The truth is this: the wall keeps us apart, but it also keeps us safe. If I showed myself, we would both risk everything.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeWacZXCmc
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pOotUgHFl
The Order watches. Trust is scarce, and words are weapons. That is why I must be cautious, why I send my help wrapped in riddles and folded papers.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxmLZybAzg
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4RUwC2Wa7
Juma.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyq267gt2fV
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ygMKUTYQq
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmjtU1mYi7
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NuW0aezXi
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6qeAnxo0n
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakubMs8Slh
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGz6ZcvAMx
Kim shook her head.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqN3Ur1fIJ
“How do you know?” she whispered.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjD2PkaR7vo
Seline smiled, a little sadly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TPTlJdddv
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wNm0QhAR5
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFuzs5FOTf
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVEL7ao3h1
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxD36bZW531
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsHt5ErbL7
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCR15ZTigDQ
It was a slow Thursday. The kind that dragged itself across the compound like an unwanted chore. Juma sat on the old stone ledge behind the dining hall, a cracked red prefects' ledger balanced on his knee. The sun was slipping behind the Jacaranda trees, dust floating through the shafts of gold.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtmHoniGKm
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1FM6hVOpg
"Oi, prefect Juma!"61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Gt51Pdy5C
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQUsGfMqBj
“Someone from the girls’ side told my cousin to give this to a prefect. Said it was urgent but... weird. No names, just ‘give to a prefect, maybe he’ll know.’ I thought you might—”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM49ee4pCnp
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo988tFqTH7
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPUVeEReFK
Juma almost dismissed it — he got things like that often. Requests. Club lists. Messy signatures from juniors hoping to gain favor. Unfolding it felt... dangerous. Sacred. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoft6qWQIH9
The handwriting stopped him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8beFnX7f6F
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdw1CLckDEK
It was her.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfXGFbnQNY
Kim.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMRSHjxCq3
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgoMy5lXLj
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VwsEyNbpz
His pulse shifted.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZ8wsonUIn
As he kept reading, his jaw tightened — not with anger, but something heavier. He stood still in the narrow corridor, one hand bracing the wall as if the truth written in ink had tilted his balance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdrjku1Iis
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPj2oCd6fV
And now she was asking.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq25IRcvFSH
Why did you help me?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TEy93y3G4
Did you ever mean for me to know?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMm5mzYQjN
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOLDYDL9jO
Then he sat down — on the stone ledge by the wall outside the chapel block — where no one would ask why a prefect looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpf10Bi7taq
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB34hLHfLGg
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mSfJVycun
And yet, her words had made him ache.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRD63KP1tz5
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9hQKh8lAH
She remembered.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqCyUD8CDG
Not just the signs — but him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8fsIlHvEf
He read the letter again.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkiXxRPWjK
And again.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHquLh9ItV
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqbQJocsra
Something terrifying and honest.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJn54WDiuN
He had a choice now.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15zcZk4P1K
To write back — and unravel everything.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdQdgBK7EC
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxLbFpHZie
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVm3R4GkRUF
