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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86czN312nv
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47IWJjwNQu
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTg5ha3PFTU
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8YdKPwt39
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NR9qT9cim
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3mOAmumhR
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxMhcLzTtf
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vg5kyFRF0
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5ZqOLbT8X
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.
**********24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLIelpKEY4
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQkUcyFXm6
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.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiFG8w0rZa
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRva6wVHGOE
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXBFrtmThV
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeGKOHwBTO
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3UD9l9Doy
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiIDrZw6eA
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZECoIMjDd
But Amina was watching.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZerxRS9fC
She always watched.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKwIN2oaBN
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAOLMp5rj8
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5j9hY9nJdh
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WCTRkmIN2
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIszVyA8ylK
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9WjXCD5nJ
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouSRAI24Py
She adjusted her path accordingly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZreyp9pA2
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCktMNaqWS1
Still, the fallout was brutal.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RiPdOqM4x
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCccV0pWX7
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KToI8UHh4
But she couldn’t stop.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9f6oaGrAkv
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVb2C8vyH1
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDt9kkYuGD
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtR7ffibEZ
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4mwRVDovk
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRulyR6F9Zv
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvbr2m2gnF
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3eFFeWO67
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?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCvB2unIIJ
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MxU0VR5Cs
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF41Q1tn7xk
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7KuxQkmfN
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0UvxRk3lf
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmhpd3xkoV
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwR4NryMPfC
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgbZyP75zN
But no answers.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3uN9SjZez
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNkUIXIQqd
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsz0kpCdO7G
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzK9skTvEr3
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpRNGLi3aG
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.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsbX9B7OM6
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ259XpAxrvB
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGQzcOz3zG
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7ZGiaIlJ1
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWx5ukFfGM
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWkWYz9HSZ
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXRiekAZGn
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2HAPLsouN
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVQOWyuqRA
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDq9SVpQHWU
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4smH2kCXPX
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbsnS3X4dg
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsj4pnTiOF
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9T1GmdsU0
Juma.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLWSUfkgDp
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lzfL4DyT3
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Yba8Fok3w
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwENDf1d9c
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy5rYUocoY
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1IojdbsIc
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc4Kdtwowt
Kim shook her head.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f162cpOl5
“How do you know?” she whispered.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogvvBqUWuH
Seline smiled, a little sadly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3LK4re1BY
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32Pq0v44Ak
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcitXGXfkxP
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfloavqEqli
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81jnqGaDSi
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtX2dAbIJ59
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN4IFYHM57
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKrS0h9pDJ
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC0Dwrb6dM
"Oi, prefect Juma!"24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqi2ZsYQta
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ32jA3v5ML
“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—”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvGhHYFtAz
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AcieWFAmc
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBgi4vWk2w
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. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzNEeexwCZ
The handwriting stopped him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMI1XP5Ok3
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhbArtgnIu
It was her.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXYsi6LKs0
Kim.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66gA5Or5Ta
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLwijhnB7C
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksNHCdHUTI
His pulse shifted.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohUNTjKwtP
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNrmlgjrM5
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESpKtFiuGt
And now she was asking.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVdO5Ney83
Why did you help me?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQn11iwINQ
Did you ever mean for me to know?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdpALHNjnR
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIR9oWfzyh
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcn5N4mCsi
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonFo5lgTCm
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfhP3Hn7lj
And yet, her words had made him ache.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaO2kslJ4Z
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnk6LQzeOW
She remembered.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgIQ5t1beX9
Not just the signs — but him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6yiR49FTP
He read the letter again.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrJayrJpnJ
And again.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5Df3uD7RV
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLanCk2SnC
Something terrifying and honest.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsx1wWL2Z3f
He had a choice now.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzzyB108RW
To write back — and unravel everything.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsUiYLW5Dn
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUftgtTsEN5
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThqTpoqvHg
