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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xLlwWCPNz
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCiRgCoGnW
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtwx8UUqR2
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLSkH4eKpb
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dwmplQ4Mf
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRY61vavAhN
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBa0AMCzYX
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uN4kQArCX
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgVSiMFzoU
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.
**********38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofkK8uEJU1
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE057tqzUSY
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.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3m9IqOWDN
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3wcuOhSwG
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJYZqsn5Yp
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPkCW14n4C
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxWg2HeVBe
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFwynvwG4O
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPDJPTwLtR
But Amina was watching.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrejM9OEqZ6
She always watched.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAnU8dJhoG
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaw0kr1FsFM
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a5wd7PGYB
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wPrIEUVDi
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUJnOt96nD
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vl2lfwZlT
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFzZRQpjvd
She adjusted her path accordingly.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjg4ceFmof
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2M7mQIZzx
Still, the fallout was brutal.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGc8QFjeRiT
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6zGZMRrN4
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyB543Mo3M3
But she couldn’t stop.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPMMqahdex
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLPDZ6ZRkV
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GSgoFK9HW
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu51M4xGRW
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiQonav2ep
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkWlp30PdB
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAbn58AAxx
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl90Nfwo65j
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?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pMJtOBOWa
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsyDa8cxOC
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgWpUn2jAl
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75mWWh5R01
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3ZmANpuFb
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkClNG8JZjr
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0venY6eSHo
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4tDXR7Nh4
But no answers.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlv6D9lkre
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1ffwrvPMc
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13qAZ0r1Ou
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4v0UP3NnH
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ495WvyYqR3
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.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHvi568yNj
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22p3QSECYC
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQT6JOKWQ8Z
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNukk6PPMm
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIozVWoaFE
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX451zEmsCL
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11B7NFCbgi
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8pvWlnLTQ
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqFfzTjQi7
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTNK1ffMal
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQD2iopknE
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLidXBNgsl
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwWkOSaqET
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1traH2HHPw
Juma.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezyxFVtCAL
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGrVqQIxbB
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04Vhn19p3K
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzvkjn0Jns
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRa0SqoLdQA
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QejhinosC
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHrvSU0j8D
Kim shook her head.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVBU95QzkQ
“How do you know?” she whispered.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuXXP6VizF
Seline smiled, a little sadly.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFwcABA1SO
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXK0Ruekmgv
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVs6Rx1DHz
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oatHrH08N
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeHmazYoWU
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSzISEYwN3
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtztYmxliqR
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUw4oFzhvZ
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGm2EsPukd3
"Oi, prefect Juma!"38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIejqqEVkux
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOf612f47D
“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—”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhc2RPivWV6
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHsQS4vOxR
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpogEV65u7z
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. 38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwz7N7rEf4G
The handwriting stopped him.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ej4aSmGtu
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvvgPmsybZ
It was her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDP8DUrsfN
Kim.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokyp0pqgDt
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RUVRG2Nqg
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RlZenpKbv
His pulse shifted.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg82cTDw2lG
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcsLgaTEuQ
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQq335ukyaP
And now she was asking.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfozY5GUHxN
Why did you help me?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0nNjzn1K8
Did you ever mean for me to know?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kAP56M3QR
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHRG7QJ8tO
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.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDAURlcekH
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4pI5Utx8i
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFhxs3GeIz
And yet, her words had made him ache.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjiU5HP55n
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaxhcWhUMi
She remembered.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtJpzAXTar
Not just the signs — but him.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQaFk1VNL0
He read the letter again.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsG8SZvtHy
And again.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjtBUls2kw
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv097PpZ6D
Something terrifying and honest.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsIeuPF5Sp
He had a choice now.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wfyZxWbQh
To write back — and unravel everything.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflcvlKp2Z0
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOySGJdpn6H
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1ZQElTxeN
