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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyq7ajkCgvt
But neither Naomi nor Jabari knew the full picture.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaQDBjjJmb
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUclSTjsCl
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8kWpbY4v8
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHJ6LtqWLr
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFZaLndLOR
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKojH4gZF9
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGHT6F5InV
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpYClLCyys
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.
**********28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEahdM7LDC
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrY2Rk9BIV
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.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEQMAOjJ0e
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7FE9nsH9n
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NSV2lzlFG
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nSbeg4UN3
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrBEsr4jrm
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplxX7kU8Hn
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKVP6Y1oL2
But Amina was watching.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbke38a3vno
She always watched.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGUuhq3Z9y
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWtdoQq4Lo
"When the lights rise, do not look up. Look left. We will pass through the still ones."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWS1XNKdZm
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZqCE9BPhQ
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzggoJl1Z2o
Amina’s loyalty lay across the wall.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MPvpFU8Fu
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnb3xDGHJRp
She adjusted her path accordingly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdl6Q2l7osT
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaBnoqAee1
Still, the fallout was brutal.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9w0c9tkn4
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfeeASxx8Y
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbzEjIrrs4
But she couldn’t stop.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJ2VQwoylQ
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JOP78a2M8
And when they moved, she would move too. For Jabari. For the Order.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VLybulZP3
Even if it meant losing everything on her side of the wall.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKz60ULO55
Even if it meant becoming a ghost for good.
**********28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4L2S8fC0pp
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6wcuMs60h
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOREcstgM9
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNKKuJuxlk
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?28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34tNBfUfSv
Her heart ached with unanswered questions, tangled with a reluctant hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSqRIqFIVU
But the walls between them — both physical and invisible — still held their secrets tight.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzCHvKEDRB
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvwvNjwcQy
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnWLr27L5C
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVadQ4StNB6
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7fiXLxXmN
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXYP55q8WG
But no answers.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WD0J6vuwY
Kim clenched her fists. The wall between their schools was more than concrete. It was silence, secrets, and distance.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyRCPr2ZOw
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtqDKXsXGL
Her next steps were uncertain — but one thing was clear: she could no longer let the silence define their story.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFTenJw0Ug
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4qD3qXVfr
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.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsb2jRYAsIG
Mary’s eyebrows rose. “That’s mysterious. Why don’t you just say Juma?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMNTgHoCaj
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know if he’d want me to. Just… be careful.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWOZHTjLuq
Mary nodded; her face serious. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbF7TZTh7c
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7L7UXPSVz
She folded her arms, staring at the empty space where they had just vanished, wondering if her words would reach him at all.
**********28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH717I4OSM8
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeKuVfgdtA
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSueVI0gKf7
Kim’s fingers trembled as she unfolded the note. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, yet with a hint of urgency.
Kim,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKl2ppsNIN
Your message reached me through the usual silence — thank you for trusting the shadows.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6Yn5YzjbL
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwLJRA3his
I am only a prefect, but not just any prefect. I carry burdens you cannot see — duties that bind me tighter than chains.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91ex7Doatb
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCi2Q90DYC3
If you want answers, patience is your ally. For now, keep your questions close, and your heart closer.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprd7X2omss
Juma.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZazvQ8YRtu
Kim spun around to see Seline standing there, eyes sharp and unreadable.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8j7tGyQAOf
Seline took a step closer and glanced at the letter in Kim’s hand.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2mfFmWbiZ
“Let me see it,” she said quietly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIK4boSHIY0
Kim hesitated but then handed over the note.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSllayYDfpx
Seline’s eyes scanned the lines, her expression unreadable.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwur8ffxLn
When she looked up, she said, “This isn’t just from any prefect, is it?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp82b4vjoBb
Kim shook her head.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0speyjyb1H
“How do you know?” she whispered.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVXX4xmWNq
Seline smiled, a little sadly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSK5vJlULW
“Let’s just say I’ve heard whispers. Juma’s no stranger to me.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4P55juVrC
Kim’s mind raced—why was Seline here? Why did she care?28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSZkxqMPyV
Seline folded the letter carefully and handed it back.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtMYDOplC5
“Be careful, Kim. There’s more at play here than you realize.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKbJbXjtGn
Kim nodded, clutching the letter tightly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7XMHKkMCp
The mystery of Juma deepened.
**********28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZo0OCYeAXp
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87cJWQfIMH
His fingers ran down the page — detention rosters, noise makers, dorm checks — until he heard a voice.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsSBFO5Xi7
"Oi, prefect Juma!"28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bLBomS3dy
He looked up. A Form Two boy — lanky, eyes darting — jogged toward him holding out a folded paper.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqYDfVnjoC
“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—”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7M7V9GVfq
Juma’s heart jolted. He took the paper with steady hands. “You sure it’s from across?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9dWJrY6TF
The boy shrugged. “Girls came for that music thing, right? She passed it just before they left.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SA3h6AKYn
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. 28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmop66TSpko
The handwriting stopped him.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡai1mjoBS8w
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t desperate.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbtu4MDEmX
It was her.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFw7hoM2Aq4
Kim.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhlE9Ix5Se
He read the first line. Stopped. Then read it again. Slower.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm85cbYNATr
“I know you’re a prefect. I know your name — only the first — but somehow, that was enough to notice the patterns...”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrEnjvfN10
His pulse shifted.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw1R1cefTk
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2rkMhUMHg
She knew. Or at least, she had guessed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6LIVdfYFj
And now she was asking.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5a5ZnNYDEI
Why did you help me?28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzPhB5WjyA
Did you ever mean for me to know?28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUueFlCY4MR
He folded the letter back, slowly, carefully. Like it was something sacred.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgE93dXSig
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUot6va0rh
For months, he’d lived with the guilt. Watching her maneuver battles he’d softened from behind the curtain.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAC16AoY2a
He’d convinced himself silence was safer — for both of them.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSOqfwOmdu
And yet, her words had made him ache.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcwzVdGp6S
Not just from guilt. But from the hope he’d buried.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1U1BgoeLUA
She remembered.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlZ6giWEf6
Not just the signs — but him.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84gNN4O3A9
He read the letter again.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbAXrYkgId
And again.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5g8fRjIDw
Then, for the first time since he joined the Order, Juma felt something stir that no doctrine could quiet.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7I2ewIVZL
Something terrifying and honest.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOMSX6tt1P
He had a choice now.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnEMj90mOA
To write back — and unravel everything.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7a8dgjG13E
Or to stay silent — and lose the only girl who ever saw through him.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI50LHLuA73
28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3LLfBh4dR
