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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5ivelSqs3
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMFGS8bQlF
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IEJ7QaCNk
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTz5Dp8UD3U
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8IORcqQjV
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqohwvJ2mu5
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aXnYDN65D
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fIPADzGnW
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuR5ZhfA41L
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.
**********22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyQko4vbJ0
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaqNRdesCl
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.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvFz2x8mEp
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsGl4SgfzV
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskIdHkTEz3
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2Hz9NGHMX
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tFu30KRlq
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgv2Kmy8JYk
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPm4KEFE8T
But Amina was watching.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZQloP7lFD
She always watched.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQCEn0vnbA
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfeaJaDEBv
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwZ0oDhOkq
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5cGv69fvu
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnefgQtoWyL
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8D1SEJpON
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuKRYSOgYu
She adjusted her path accordingly.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MKDh2m2zk
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n7Gb0MMUW
Still, the fallout was brutal.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXMGVpqJii
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dKp2wkAK6
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXjkokVzHO
But she couldn’t stop.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUqUUafh1Y
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlLzRFIFbk
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvKurAybYB
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDjWQCC6p8
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRW431YDkC
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzh8nBd3VB
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkUjeNCGUF
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqatacjLboK
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?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdPJGOd9B8
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWy5XQxRzX
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHV5A6GQnQ
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssqv3vMzeE
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmDOel28TH
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3R3DuLbHZw
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvU9qqwqdZ
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxD3XH48xdP
But no answers.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSjh3TBPDp
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVZwSeWJFe
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqlex32bMZ
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaUfEnUNnV
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h41lD0FCf
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.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOe73LlRmqy
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFeXT9Rqws
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAznHRX6kP0
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrTrIs5hdz
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHow63eZDC
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XkRd1xERn
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEoaQtkTC1
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aUb3DpSBO
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGCVDiXzyK
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInwob522ms
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWPHmjsdn9
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNZ27vbuke
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwO7PY2LtSv
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShWKgtpfgM
Juma.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSyR5jsXt4
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafchoOayLS
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2PQSBE87W
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjUZWIe6of
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChUNF75Q78
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HwrUDkz49
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKtm13wq72
Kim shook her head.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTFQdu9DRZ
“How do you know?” she whispered.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5ZzLLOUFQ
Seline smiled, a little sadly.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4HskyN7os
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCZifuLc5t
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9toXXb2Tr
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoR93yCJKk
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOeDqKrvpd
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhrqtBfk4q
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYaP4WHHdT
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlr5c7KdW7
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1d0z9cdSi
"Oi, prefect Juma!"22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tY7bglgHH
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBIYvDpkTi
“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—”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzO2jmjEuVL
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteF17PiT9b
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdMi8yRT6g
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. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddFEz0nfmq
The handwriting stopped him.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFQ5JGbnBX
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgAKRXPKq6
It was her.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QItil1bJJ
Kim.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36OOD1fVeC
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiCeiEsr5F
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAq3F98St0
His pulse shifted.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhtGcC5ieM
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfjb74XBQv
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DHX363Lxk
And now she was asking.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQ7fYs102T
Why did you help me?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvLBO6anDF
Did you ever mean for me to know?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEaJOGFWM9
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMnzojS33V
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6r5xK0734T
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbnTZOsqlY
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnNzgQydGB
And yet, her words had made him ache.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeoyqEKTFS
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIw6NnZj38
She remembered.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuafgqOrHy
Not just the signs — but him.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4BjCoMFb5
He read the letter again.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsrQHm5wQN
And again.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6VLfmNpJ4
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVh4lpLnhc
Something terrifying and honest.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTijMeCp5J
He had a choice now.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU868REhiz6
To write back — and unravel everything.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjVDOGzwwI
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQVZBaZKDv
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoXQRZ9JhH
