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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeVaDC9GOj
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUXdGuIksv
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXq5amAXaNP
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlefkMFoDEP
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHvmhCRWAL
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYugIWCzzHi
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNdRAago94
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUhIjXn1Ns
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhKmCanT7O
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.
**********46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWouYg7O2G
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2GSBEHZfH
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.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfL5osy9DBw
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uxJdf5owZ
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtVIrolFsI
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJzGAM6MMv
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRu0GUsF8B
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafEq1pYWhJ
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqeHAlNImz
But Amina was watching.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdN6Q74VbMl
She always watched.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASfcmJMK34
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz75AFLQTnW
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrlhOJZYGx
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHE11IE0OvI
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCusqr1Wxf
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPK89yC8puu
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsehrz55VsF
She adjusted her path accordingly.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpFDQ7d2ee
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rFKSfnaWh
Still, the fallout was brutal.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6b3BxgJoL9
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkuutOHzd2
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9IlMWQ2Q8
But she couldn’t stop.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJI8sU5mGrO
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UyJyXuK3b
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ782LDc8kPy
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDsiZRwGn1
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dlPn2rio2
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiuDEDe1W7
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwEC1gi5RJ
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaBHh5FBCs
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?46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8pfgfc9sd
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeP9ygJhoy9
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EfJMFRf2b
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlqa0aq2bn
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq49B1HyNnd
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpbJevsb8H
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdnaZZj90x
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEB1TXawQV
But no answers.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGWwUafbqt
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx7pMcyTiU
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvHzkvlITG
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n3dZlJ8Rs
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIz0NxMUYb
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.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvI6OIgGAk0
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaZv3TcgrE
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSDz3o4aux
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgv1IGtGOX
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TdScgVZii
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwzjqvi1Pl
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKv3VFCKBJ
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVLZq64t27
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWLvFtfSkS
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaC9S7iPA9l
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlRtmd7UcX
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB2MJsBqkg
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEfgCd13nx
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYDc4ACq2u
Juma.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHq7CQWzBVy
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VUPNuqu18
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbFvMjuniF
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMTNRVbmOJ
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvycqHa7Rk
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxVvu428fM
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2roLMHAHIH
Kim shook her head.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTEfGV8l0E
“How do you know?” she whispered.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTgV69g9ie
Seline smiled, a little sadly.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKboCgusJ0
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIMAdAUzT7
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEllUwqdUrX
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDWQ7b1XWZ
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkiihEA0pV
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqzZPD6ESG
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MNpKwMkmw
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwMSyy49GV
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97ih1IpUlk
"Oi, prefect Juma!"46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHMUJTT1jD
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6qUZfcPEB
“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—”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZqlVbShUQ
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRJSjHOHyQ
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PfbYeEjPq
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. 46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeV9EAY1cf
The handwriting stopped him.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ukIJof00v
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMWcGOBXmk
It was her.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YILAqSCFb
Kim.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bl68U5SeX
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhkPo3eLc1
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoElEEADK1
His pulse shifted.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRvDv3HPZF
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMludqpx2j
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7IrSqo2m7
And now she was asking.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzaonUlO8C
Why did you help me?46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gowR1y7xH
Did you ever mean for me to know?46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FDNnANy4I
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDd9Wg6bqV2
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.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTq8VSa31bf
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGA2Zz7f0P
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ehxYjWHU9
And yet, her words had made him ache.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ecyt590zf
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezX8NFpv8f
She remembered.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXG4wiTmDGZ
Not just the signs — but him.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlozbAXB3hF
He read the letter again.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbx2EW6Rja
And again.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsVEnjd4ru
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnbnLDIrrc
Something terrifying and honest.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3i15GT893
He had a choice now.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWHm8pPHsG
To write back — and unravel everything.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiUm0xc0Ge
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58wsd2GNGD
46Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqchedrvg8I
