"Good morning, Miss Clara."
Miss Emily's voice was calm, professional, but carried a softness that made Jennifer's eyes lift from Clara's shoulder.
Clara turned, still holding Jennifer loosely.
"Good morning, Miss Emily. And today, you look...stunning."
Her tone was light but sincere, her eyes lingering just a moment too long.
Jennifer blinked.
That was...new.
She shifted slightly, but Clara was already stepping back toward the boot of her car.
"I brought a few things," Clara said, opening the trunk. "Didn't want to come empty-handed."
She pulled out a small collection-a box of biscuits, a carton of drinking water, a pack of milk, and a few wrapped snack bars. Jennifer stood watching, her expression unreadable.
Clara reached for a peanut chocolate bar and handed it directly to Jennifer.
"Here. This one's for you."
Jennifer took it slowly, reading the label, her brows rising.
"Peanut chocolate?" she muttered, almost to herself. Then, looking at Clara:
"Oh...this isn't my favorite."
Clara blinked and gave a quick apologetic smile.
"Oh no, I forgot...Sorry, Jen."
Jennifer gave a small shrug.
"It's okay. I even thought...on my birthday..."
Her voice trailed off. She paused.
Clara tilted her head.
"What did you think?"
Jennifer pressed her lips together.
"Nothing. Never mind."
Then Clara lifted a wrapped parcel from the back of the car-soft paper, a ribbon knotted once. She turned and placed it in Miss Emily's hands.
Jennifer's gaze fixed on the moment.
The package sat perfectly between them.
She didn't know what it was, but the way Clara smiled at Miss Emily-warm, sure, familiar-it stirred something in her chest.
Clara always knew Jennifer's favorites.
So why not today?
And what was in that package?
...
"Jennifer! Jenn!"
Two voices called out in unison-Cynthia and Angela, waving from a cluster of girls ahead.
A few heads turned at the excitement, but the voices didn't lower. "Come on already!"
Jennifer glanced toward them, then back at Miss Emily and Clara.
Miss Emily gave a small nod. "You should go join your friends."
Jennifer hesitated. The warmth of Clara's arms still lingered faintly on her jacket. She didn't want to move just yet.
But Clara caught the hesitation, smiled knowingly, and touched her lightly on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Jenn. We've got more time together, okay? Go have fun now."
Jennifer nodded, swallowing something that wouldn't go down.
"Okay."
She turned and jogged lightly toward the group.
Angela reached her first, looping her arm playfully through Jennifer's.
"You're finally done hugging your fairly godmother?"
Cynthia smirked. "We were about to call security, Jen. You were starting to look...emotionally kidnapped."
Jennifer rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself.
"Shut up, both of you."
The girls huddled in small groups, still adjusting their caps, stretching their legs, and pointing out familiar faces from other schools.
"That's Kamala Fresh's group over there," Angela whispered.
"And isn't that Bernice?" Cynthia added, squinting toward a bus labeled Kitui Girls.
"I thought she transferred," Jennifer muttered.
"She did...to Kitui," Cynthia replied, still watching the girl braid her hair casually near the front.
At the front, just near the first animal enclosure, a tall woman in safari khakis stepped up onto a low platform with a speaker mic hanging from her collar. Her name tag read Tala-Senior Wildlife Guide.
"All right, girls!" she called, her voice carrying clear and firm. "Welcome to Nairobi Safari Park. I'm Tala, and I'll be your guide for the morning."
Murmurs of Interest rose from the crowd.
Jennifer stepped a little closer, her group tightening around her.
Tala smiled, adjusting the mic with a cheerful ease.
"Now, I know some of you expected us to head straight to the lions or cheetahs," she said, her voice lifting with a teasing lilt. "But no, we're starting slow-with one of my personal favorites. The elephant."
A few girls chuckled behind Jennifer, but she kept her gaze steady as Tala continued.
"Elephants are the largest land mammals. But despite their size, they are calm, social, and incredibly intelligent. They mourn, remember, and care deeply for their own.
You'd be surprised how quiet something that big can be."
Jennifer blinked. The words settled strangely in her chest.
How quiet something that big can be. She thought about the weight she carried lately. The confusion, the glances, the birthday chocolate, the scarf.
She hadn't spoken about it to anyone-not Clara, not even Angela.
Tala pointed ahead, her voice trailing off into something about matriarchs and memory, but Jennifer barely heard it. Her mind was still somewhere in the quiet power of elephants-the way they carried weight without complaint.
Maybe all heavy things didn't need to speak.
Just then, a cluster of students rounded the bend from the opposite path-laughter and voices blending as another group was led in from the eastern side of the conservancy.
The badge on their guide read Tembo Trails.
Jennifer looked up.
And there, in the midst of the St. Andrew's and St. Peter's boys, was Kevin-walking right beside Brian and other boy, easy and loud.
Before she could react, the groups slowed where the two paths merged, the chatter briefly overlapping like a current meeting another. And suddenly, Kevin was there-right in front of her.
"Finally," he said, his voice lighter than she expected. "I've been looking all over for you."
Jennifer blinked. Her thoughts hadn't caught up with her mouth yet. Cynthia turned sharply toward Brian, her face coloring. The other boy elbowed Kevin and smirked, mumbling something only the boys could hear before slipping past.
Their guides exchanged a glance, already starting to herd the two groups apart again.
The two groups had already parted ways- St. Peter's and St. Andrew's boys guided further toward the east trail, while Jennifer and the girls followed Tala through the rocky curve ahead.
But as Tala pointed out the marks of buffalo hooves in the dry earth, a quiet rustle from behind made Jennifer glance over her shoulder.
Kevin and Brian.
They had sipped away, clearly abandoning their own group.
Kevin caught her eye, unbothered. "I'll walk with you instead," he said with a grin, slipping into place beside her.
Jennifer gave a short laugh, trying to brush it off. But she turned again, she caught sight of Angela.
Angela stood off to the side, a little behind the group, her arms folded, watching.
Not saying anything.
Just watching.
And for some reason, that silence felt heavier than it should have.
Jennifer wanted to reach out-say something, explain something-but the moment slid past, and Tala's voice rose again ahead, leading them toward the shaded ridge.
...
Jennifer walked beside Kevin, nodding vaguely as he spoke, but her mind wasn't with him anymore.
Her eyes caught a cluster of movement off to the left, near the monkey enclosure.
There they were.
Clara and Miss Emily.
Clara stood a little back, arms folded casually, her head titled with a faint smile.
Miss Emily knelt closer, holding out a banana to a young monkey gripping the fence. It snatched the fruit from her hand and scurried up the bars-and Miss Emily laughed.
Soft.
Warm.
It was the kind of laugh Jennifer had never heard from her before.
Not once.
Not even during the quieter moments.
Since she joined Our Lady of Fatima, Miss Emily had always been distant, composed-never this open, never this free.
Jennifer stared for a moment, lips parting slightly.
She wasn't sure why it bothered her.
It was just a laugh.
Just Clara.
Just a teacher.
Just a parcel.
Still, her chest tightened.
Maybe the package Clara gave earlier was just a kind gesture-something a guardian would give a teacher. Something normal.
That should have been enough.
But the ease between them, the way Clara leaned in, the way Miss Emily responded, like they understood something Jennifer didn't-it made her stomach twist.
She told herself not to read too much into it.
There was no reason to.
Yet... the taste of something unfamiliar pressed against her chest-not quite sadness, not anger.
She didn't know what to call it.
So she said nothing.
And kept walking.
"Are you okay?" Kevin asked quietly, stepping a little closer.
Jennifer blinked. "Yeah," she said, but her voice was distant.
Then, suddenly, she stopped walking.
"I think we should kiss for real."
Kevin stared at her.
"What?"
Jennifer didn't look at him. Her eyes were still on the path ahead, still on the shape of Miss Emily and Clara far off, now just faint silhouettes behind the chain-link fence.
"I said," she repeated, a little louder, "I think we should kiss for real."
Kevin blinked, genuinely confused. "Are you sure?"
Jennifer turned her face slightly, finally meeting his eyes-not with affection, not with desire, but something else. Something unsettled.
"Yes," she said. Flat. Certain.