Chapter 2
"Lady Ophelia"
The rest of the day was uneventful, as all Lily could think about was going into London the next day.
As soon as Mr. Tannenbaum left, promising to meet up with them in London, Lily had barraged her parents with a series of questions, none of which they were able to answer, of course.
"What do you think I’ll learn there?"
"I don’t know, Lily."
"What are witches really like?"
"I don’t know Lily."
"Where is this school?"
"Do you think I’ll meet nice people?"
"Lily," an exasperated Rose Evans finally said, "just calm down. Your father and I have no idea what to expect, and we’re still not entirely sure we’re going to let you do this, so just relax and wait until tomorrow, alright?"
Lily jumped down off the stool she had been sitting on in the kitchen. "Fine," she said. "I’m going outside."
"That’s a wonderful idea," her mother said as she continued to chop mushrooms, a hint of relief in her voice.
Lily opened the backdoor and stepped onto the stoop, climbing down the four stairs into the backyard. Petunia was sitting outside in the sun, reading a book. Lily walked over to where she was sitting.
"Hello, Petunia," Lily smiled. "What are you reading."
Petunia didn’t look up. She did acknowledge her younger sister’s presence, though, as she slightly tiled the book upward so Lily could read the title.
"Jane Eyre, huh?" Lily asked.
Petunia gave no response.
"So, are you trying to get ahead in school for next year?"
Still no response.
"Petunia, what’s wrong?"
Petunia let out a long and exaggerated sigh. She slammed the book shut and dropped it to the floor.
"Nothing, Lily," she said harshly. "Absolutely nothing. Why would anything be wrong?" Petunia stood up, then bent down and ripped the towel she had been sitting on off the ground, grabbed her book and started for the house. "Have fun in London tomorrow," she added without turning back.
"Petunia, wait a minute, please," Lily started, but it was too late. All she was met with was the sound of the back door being slammed shut.
Lily scowled and turned her back away from the door. "Alright then," she muttered to herself. She walked to the front of the house and started walking down Devin Lane, not entirely sure where her destination was. She just knew she needed to walk.
"Lily!" came a male voice behind her as soon as she had reached the end of the street.
Lily turned around, anxious to see who was calling after her. When she finally saw who it was that had just called her name, her heart dropped into her stomach, a feeling of dread washing over her.
"Geoffrey Stevenson," she said out of a forced, gritted smile. "And how are you doing today?"
Geoffrey broke into a light trot to approach Lily.
"I’m doing just fine, thank you," he said. "And yourself?"
"I’m …"
"Well good," Geoffrey interrupted. "You will not believe what happened to me this morning. There I was, delivering my papers – you do know that I’m the finest newspaper delivery boy in town, I’m sure."
Lily forced another grin and nodded politely.
"Anyway," Geoffrey continued, "I was delivering a paper to Mrs. Allison, who lives a few streets over. I don’t know if you know her. It doesn’t really matter. Anyway, she left me £20 as a tip. Can you believe it? £20! I was surprised that I ran all the way home and woke up my mother to show her.
"Well," he added, noticing the look of disinterest settling over Lily, "I suppose £20 isn’t all that big a deal. After all, my family has tons of money as it is, so £20 isn’t so much. I mean, I personally have a lot more than that, but it was the principle of the thing. Mrs. Allison thought so highly of my newspaper-delivering skills that she …"
Lily didn’t want to appear to be rude, but this was always how it went when you talked to Geoffrey Stevenson. Or his mother. Or his father. Or his sister. So, Lily kept the smile on her face and tuned Geoffrey out, as he droned on and on about how wealthy his family was and how he was sure to win the newspaper contest. After all, it didn’t matter that she wasn’t responding. All that Geoffrey cared about was that he was talking about himself. Lily didn’t even need to be there, as far as he was concerned.
So, Lily thought about Hogwarts and what it would be like. She imagined herself standing over a cauldron mixing potions, muttering spells underneath her breath. She really had no idea what to expect. After all, all she knew about magic she had learned from fiction books, television and movies.
Lily dreamed on and on, until she was interrupted.
"Lily!" came another voice from behind.
Lily awoke from her daydream and turned around. Running toward her was Phillip Hoffman.
"Lily!" Phillip called again. "I absolutely must speak with you!"
Phillip skidded to a halt, completely out of breath. He looked from Lily to Geoffrey (and scowled), back to Lily again.
Phillip was still panting heavily, but he began speaking anyway. "Delivering … papers .. your house .. owl .. window … broken … what?"
"Phillip, calm down," Lily said, giving him a look at half glancing toward Geoffrey. She didn’t want Geoffrey to know of any of this.
"But Lily," Phillip started again, not slowing his pace, "I saw it. I saw it all. The owl that flew into your house this morning and broke the table. What was it doing there?"
"There was no owl at my house," Lily lied.
"Sure there was! I heard your father wake up and yell for your mother to phone the police! Oh Lily, something terrible happened at your house. I’m so glad you’re alright. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back there …"
"Phillip, really, I have no idea what you’re talking about," Lily cut him off.
"Making up stories, are you Hoffman?" Geoffrey interrupted. "Well, I suppose people like you have to tell lies to amuse themselves."
"What do mean, ‘people like me?’" Phillip barked back.
"You know what I mean," Geoffrey responded, stepping closer to Phillip.
"No, I don’t think I do," Phillip said, taking a step toward Geoffrey. "Why don’t you explain it to me, Stevenson?"
"Alright!" Lily said as she backed away from the two boys who looked as if they were ten seconds away from pummeling each other. "Well, you two have a nice afternoon. Good talking to both of you. Phillip, get some sleep, alright?"
Lily turned and quickly walked back toward her house, ignoring the pleas to stay coming from both Geoffrey and Phillip. As soon as she reached the walkway leading up to her house, she noticed her father on the porch, trying to repair the broken window in the living room.
"Hi, Dad," she smiled.
"Hello, Lily," he responded, not looking up from what he was doing.
Lily opened the front door and walked up the stairs to her room. When she reached the hallway at the top of the stairs, it was just as Petunia was coming out of her bedroom. Petunia quickly let out a loud scoff, turned on her heel back into her bedroom and slammed the door shut.
"Alright, I get it," an exasperated Lily said as she paused outside her sister’s door. "You’re mad at me, and now you’re ignoring me. You don’t have to be so blatant about it. I’m not stupid."
Lily kept walking until she got to her room. She quietly shut the door and sighed. She flopped herself down on her bed and shut her eyes.
"Your life is never going to be the same again, Lily Evans," she thought to herself.
She reached over to her nightstand and opened the drawer, pulling out a small leather journal. She had just received the journal as a birthday present from her grandmother last week. She hadn’t written anything in it yet.
Lily took out the pen that was attached to it, turned over so she was lying on her stomach, propped herself up with her elbows and began to write.
She wrote about what she was feeling, what she was wishing, what she was anticipating. She found total relief in her journal. The minutes flew by, turning into hours. She didn’t stop when her mother called her for dinner. She wrote and wrote and wrote some more, and she didn’t stop writing until close to midnight, when she had filled every one of the journal’s pages and had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion.
The next morning, a soft tap on her door woke Lily.
"Lily," came her mother’s voice. "You need to get up if we’re going to be on time for our meeting with Mr. Tannenbaum."
Lily’s eyes sprang open and she leapt out of bed. The journal fell to the floor, and Lily kicked it under her bed and bounded over to the door. She opened the door and skipped to the bathroom, cutting off Petunia and beating her to the bathroom.
"Hey!" Petunia cried as she watched the bathroom door being shut in her face. "Lily, I was here first!"
But the only noise Petunia was met with was the sound of the shower being turned on.
"Mom!!" Petunia screamed, as she stomped her way down the stairs into the kitchen where her mother was.
Lily took the fastest shower of her life and got herself dressed in a hurry. She paused as she was going our of her bedroom door and noticed she was wearing a flower-print skirt and a striped shirt.
"Oh, Lily," she said to herself as she pulled off the skirt, "pay attention. Really."
She pulled out a pair of jeans from her wardrobe, brushed her hair, grabbed her favorite pair of sandals and again headed for the door. She paused again at the mirror, shook her head and walked back to the wardrobe. She began digging through her clothes and stopped only when she found the light green shirt she had been looking for. She replaced the striped shirt with the green shirt, looked approvingly in the mirror and went downstairs to join her family for breakfast.
As soon as she entered the kitchen, Petunia got up from the kitchen table, placed her bowl in the sink and brushed past Lily, intentionally bumping her shoulder as she left the room.
Lily rolled her eyes and chose to ignore Petunia’s moment of immature aggression.
"So," Lily asked, "are we ready to go?"
"Lily, you haven’t eaten breakfast yet," her mother answered.
"But I’m not hungry."
"You didn’t eat dinner last night!" her mother said. "Just sit down and eat something. I promise you we’re not going to miss the meeting with Mr. Tannenbaum."
Lily smiled, grabbed a blueberry muffin off the counter and sat down at the table.
"Where’s the newspaper?" she asked.
"That’s a very good question," her father said. "It appears Phillip failed to deliver it this morning, although I have no idea why. We’re not late on our payments."
Lily smiled. She knew why.
"Perhaps he’s feeling ill," she volunteered.
"Perhaps," her father answered. "But if he doesn’t deliver it tomorrow, I’m phoning the newspaper offices myself to complain."
Lily made a mental note to tell Phillip to keep delivering the paper and to tell him not to be afraid. She knew how badly he wanted to beat Geoffrey Stevenson, and Lily was more than willing to help him.
After what seemed like four hours (but was really only 15 minutes), the Evans family, minus Petunia, set off for London. To Lily, the drive seemed to take three times as long as it normally did, but that was to be expected.
When the family finally did arrive at the meeting place they had determined, Mr. Tannenbaum was already there, as was a woman Lily guessed was his wife. There were also two children, a boy and a girl.
"Good afternoon!" Mr. Tannenbaum greeted them, spreading his arms wide just as he had done the previous morning. He was still grinning from ear-to-ear. Lily thought to herself that Mr. Tannenbaum was probably always this happy. ‘Good for him,’ she thought.
"Allow me to introduce my family," Mr. Tannenbaum began. "This is my wife, Elizabeth, my son, Sebastian, and my daughter, Ophelia."
Everyone exchanged hellos.
"Sebastian is going to be starting his third year at Hogwarts, and Ophelia here is starting her first year, just like you, Lily."
Lily felt instant relief. She had found someone her age, and someone who came from a magical family at that.
Lily turned to the girl who was exactly her height and had long, curly blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was very stylishly dressed in a black and white dress that hit her exactly at the knees. "I’m so glad you’re starting this year too," Lily said with a smile.
Ophelia smiled back. "Me too," she responded. "I don’t really know anyone else who’s starting this year."
Ophelia’s eyes were kind and warm, and Lily knew instantly that she had found a friend.
"Well, shall we head over to The Leaky Cauldron, then?" asked Mr. Tannenbaum.
"The what?" asked David Evans.
"The Leaky Cauldron," Mr. Tannenbaum repeated. "It’s how we get into Diagon Alley."
"Where?" David Evans began, but his wife took hold of his arm and playfully shook her head, communicating to him that they should just let Mr. Tannenbaum lead them.
And lead them he did. When they stepped into The Leaky Cauldron, Lily took in a deep breath of amazement.
Her eyes quickly darted among the several customers in the tavern. It certainly was a diverse crowd. Lily looked from a small wizard sitting alone in the corner, sipping on a beverage that was steaming to a family with five young boys running around, over and under tables. She looked and saw two boys about her age, sitting in a booth in the back. She could only see one of them, but he was the handsomest boy she had ever seen. Just then, she felt a tap on her back and turned around to face Mr. Tannenbaum.
Mr. Tannenbaum’s smile widened even more. "Oh, Lily, just you wait! You haven’t seen anything yet!"
Ophelia also smiled and nodded. "Diagon Alley is one of the greatest places on Earth," she added. "You’re going to love it."
They walked to the back of The Leaky Cauldron, Lily bumping into tables and people as she went because she was too busy looking around to pay attention to what she was doing. She was also trying to catch the eye of the boy in the back booth. They exited out of the back door, and Lily found herself staring at a brick wall. She was very confused.
But then, Mr. Tannenbaum pulled out the stick out of his pocket that he had used yesterday, and tapped a brick on the wall three times. It suddenly dawned on Lily that this stick was a magic wand, and Lily felt very foolish for not realizing this earlier.
Mr. Tannenbaum put the wand back in his pocket and stepped back. Lily watched in amazement as a hole appeared where the brick had been, growing larger and larger, until it was as big as a doorway.
"Lily," Mr. Tannenbaum began as he gave a half bow and pointed into the doorway, "welcome to Diagon Alley."
Lily took the first step into the walkway and gasped at what she saw. Magical stores of all kinds lined the streets, and there were witches and wizards everywhere. She turned around to greet her family and saw that the walkway from which they had all came had disappeared. Lily wondered how they were going to get back, but she was sure Mr. Tannenbaum knew.
"Alright now girls," Mr. Tannenbaum started, "I am going to take Lily’s parents to Gringotts to exchange some money. You may look around for a while, but don’t go too far."
"Alright," Ophelia answered.
Lily watched her parents and Ophelia’s parents walk away. Lily was secretly surprised that her parents were actually letting her be on her own for a few minutes.
As soon as the parents were out of sight, Sebastian turned to the girls.
"Alright," he said. "I’ll see you later." He turned to go.
"Wait!" Ophelia started. "Dad said not to go anywhere far. And we should stick together."
Sebastian turned back around. "No, he said girls, don’t go too far. He said nothing about boy. So, I’ll see you later."
And Sebastian disappeared into the crowd.
"Honestly," Ophelia said, "he’s impossible. I just bet I wind up in the same house that he’s in."
"What do you mean, ‘same house?’" Lily asked.
"Well, there are four houses at Hogwarts – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Sebastian’s in Gryffindor, and so were both my parents, so that’s probably where I’ll wind up. Although I wouldn’t mind Ravenclaw, but no one wants Hufflepuff, and no good witch or wizard wants Slytherin. Am I making sense?" Ophelia paused.
"I think I get it," Lily said. "How do they determine what house we’re put into?"
"Well, that’s a big secret," Ophelia said, "but I overheard my parents talking one night about it, and apparently all you do is try on some hat."
"Oh," Lily said. She couldn’t really understand how that could accomplish anything, but she told herself not to worry about that.
"I really like your dad," Lily told Ophelia. "He’s so nice."
Ophelia smiled. "Everyone likes him. He’s very popular. And he’s a great dad." Ophelia turned and started walking in the same direction her parents had gone. Lily quickly took a step to catch up.
"I would think that you would know tons of people starting at Hogwarts this year," Lily said.
"I know," Ophelia answered her. "Most of the people I know are either older or younger than me, though. There really aren’t that many people my age that I know. Well, that’s not entirely true. I know two people starting this year."
"Who?" Lily asked curiously.
"Well, first of all is Peter Pettigrew, but he’s not that spectacular," Ophelia began. "Don’t get me wrong, he’s really very nice."
"But…?" added Lily.
Ophelia smiled. "But, he’s just a little … out there? There’s just something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on it."
"Who else do you know?" Lily asked.
Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Ariel Julian," she responded. "I’ve gone to school with her forever. Let me warn you now – don’t get on her bad side. She really is quite horrible, and I mean that in the broadest sense of the word. She’s not the type of person you feel good about knowing. I bet you anything she’s a Slytherin."
Lily gave a small laugh, and set on a tour of Diagon Alley, given to her personally by Ophelia. Ophelia proved to be a very informative and entertaining tour guide. She had personal stories about every one of the shops they passed.
"Now, over there is Ollivander’s," Ophelia said. "Mr. Ollivander makes wands. We’ll both go in there later. Anyway, when Sebastian was getting his wand, we were in the store for four hours. Seriously, I’m not exaggerating. I think we were all convinced that Sebastian really had no magic in him. After two hours, Sebastian began to cry, although he’ll never admit it. But after three hours, he was blubbering and carrying on like a baby. Really quite embarrassing. He told me he’d make sure I die a slow and painful death if I ever told anyone, so you might not want to repeat this story. Anyway, he eventually did find a wand.
"And over there is Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore. That’s where we’ll buy all our books later. Remember that girl I was telling you about – Ariel Julian? Well, a few years ago, we were on a field trip to Diagon Alley, and we went in this store. Our teacher warned us not to open any of the books – and that’s good advice for you too, because you never know what a book can do – Anyway, Ariel figured she didn’t have to listen, so she opened this book called The Fashionable Witch: Choosing your Colors because she considers herself to be very fashionable and all. Well, she didn’t happen to notice that the book was in the Humor Section, and when she opened the book, she turned red. Now, I don’t mean red like embarrassed. I mean red like the color – a deep scarlet red, from head to toe. And then she turned green, then orange, then blue and so on and so forth. Our teacher was so furious that Ariel had disobeyed her, she refused to perform a counterspell until her parents saw her. Oh, that was great. Everyone called her Rainbow for the rest of the year. Of course, the whole incident did make her even more vicious, but it was worth it."
The tour continued on as such until their parents met up with them again.
"Alright," said Mr. Tannenbaum, "what shall we do first?"
"Ollivander’s!" exclaimed Ophelia. "Please, can’t we go there first?"
"Absolutely!" cried Mr. Tannenbaum. He linked his left arm with Ophelia’s and his right arm with his wife’s and skipped them off toward Ollivander’s. Ophelia glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at Lily.
Normally, Lily would have very excited about choosing a wand, but after listening to Ophelia’s story about Sebastian, she was hit with a feeling of intense dread. Sebastian had come from wizarding parents, and he almost hadn’t found a wand. Lily had no magical blood in her at all. What if Mr. Ollivander really didn’t have a wand for her? Lily couldn’t bear the thought of having to go home and give this all up. She was very nervous as she stepped into the store.
"Gregory Tannenbaum!" a unusually cheerful Mr. Ollivander greeted them. "Come for wands, I see?"
"Why, yes sir," Mr. Tannenbaum responded. "This is my daughter, Ophelia, and this is Lily Evans."
"Very nice to meet you both," Mr. Ollivander said. "Now, who would like to go first?
"Hopefully, we’ll have better luck than with Sebastian," Mr. Ollivander added, poking Mr. Tannenbaum in the ribs with his elbow.
"Lily, you go first," Ophelia said.
"Oh, no!" Lily cried. She then realized how foolish she sounded and tried to compose herself. "I mean, I’m not sure what to do. Ophelia, you should go first, so I can watch."
"Nonsense," said Mr. Ollivander. "Lily, dear, just step up onto this platform, and I’ll take a few measurements."
Lily looked at Ophelia, who nodded to her. Lily looked around, taking in the whole room. ‘Alright, Lily,’ she thought to herself, ‘this is no big deal. You can do this. Everything is going to work out.’
‘Yeah, right,’ she added as an afterthought. ‘Now I’m lying to myself.’
Lily begrudgingly took a step forward up onto the platform. Mr. Ollivander came around and started taking measurements. Lily was so nervous that she barely noticed what he was doing. If she had been aware, she likely would have found it strange that he was measuring her head or the size of her feet.
But, finally he stopped measuring and handed her a wand.
"Alright," he said. " This is when the magic happens. Lily, swish the wand through the air a bit."
And then it happened. On her very first try, Lily lifted the wand and brought it down. Red and gold sparks flew through the air, and Lily oohed in amazement.
"Why that’s it!" Mr. Ollivander cried. "Ten and a quarter inches, made of willow. That’s amazing that you got it on the first try!"
Lily stepped down, proud and no longer nervous. She looked over at her parents and noticed they were beaming at her.
Next, it was Ophelia’s turn. Ophelia’s wand didn’t choose her nearly as quickly as Lily’s did, but it only took her ten minutes worth of wands, a major improvement over her brother’s four hours.
"Nine and a half inches, made of ash, with a single hair from a unicorn tail!" Mr. Ollivander announced. "A very fine selection, indeed!"
Their parents paid for the wands, and Mr. Tannenbaum next led them to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Ophelia grabbed Lily’s arm as they moved inside.
"Lily!" Ophelia exclaimed in a whisper. "Do you see that girl over there in the corner?"
Lily looked and saw a girl who looked to be about their age. She had shoulder-length white blond hair and a very nasty look on her face.
"Yes," Lily whispered back. "Why?"
"That’s Ariel Julian, the girl I was telling you about."
"You mean Rainbow?"
"Shhhh!" Ophelia said, then broke out in a small fit of giggles.
"Ophelia Tannenbaum!" Ariel suddenly said, coming down off the platform she was on as a witch on her knees was magically hemming her robes.
"Stay still!" the witch commanded.
"Oh, hush," Ariel said as she kept walking toward them.
"Who are you?" Ariel demanded of Lily once she had reached them.
"Lily Evans," Lily answered.
Ariel took a step back and looked Lily up and down, not at all being subtle about it.
"I see," she finally said. "Well, Lily Evans, so good to meet you." She gave a disingenuous, sarcastic smile. "Ophelia, dear," she added as she whipped around and went back to her place on the platform.
"Alright, you can finish already," she told the witch.
Lily looked at Ophelia, and Ophelia looked back at Lily. They said nothing to each other verbally, but there eyes communicated several nasty thoughts.
They patiently waited for the witch to finish with Ariel, and when she did, Ophelia stepped to the platform for her fitting.
On her way out the door, Ariel grabbed Lily’s arm.
"I don’t like you, Lily Evans," she announced to her in a hushed whisper.
"Why not?" Lily asked.
"No reason," Ariel answered nonchalantly. "I just don’t." At that, she turned and walked out of the store.
‘Ophelia had been right,’ Lily thought to herself. This girl was horrible in every sense of the word. Lily had done nothing, and already she was on Ariel’s bad side. This was what Ophelia had warned her about, and Lily wondered how serious she should take Ophelia’s warning.
‘Don’t let it get to you,’ she thought to herself as she stepped up on the platform to be fitted.
But something inside of Lily kept nagging her all day. While they bought their books, cauldrons and other supplies, Ariel’s voice echoed in the back of Lily’s head. ‘School hasn’t yet begun, and already you’ve made yourself an enemy,’ she kept thinking. ‘Well, at least you have Ophelia."
Their final stop was Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Ophelia’s parents were going to buy her an owl.
"It’s a fine investment, really," Mr. Tannenbaum was telling David Evans. "That way, Lily can communicate with you while she’s away at school. Granted, she could use one of the school’s owls, but they’re very old and not nearly as dependable."
Rose Evans turned to her husband, who was having trouble concentrating. His eyes kept floating among the 40 or so owls all perched along the back wall.
"I detest owls," he muttered to himself.
"David," his wife said to him, "I really think we should buy Lily her own owl. We do want to be able to reach her in a hurry, should we need to."
Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. An owl! For her own?!
"I suppose you’re right," David Evans answered.
"Lily," he said, never once taking his eyes off the wall of owls, "why don’t you go pick one out. A tame one, mind you."
Wide-eyed and grinning, Lily walked to the back and instantly say the owl for her. It was very small and was the color of fresh snow.
"I want that one," she said as she pointed to the owl.
"Well, that’s not too bad," her father agreed. "Small and manageable."
Ophelia had selected a small beige owl, and on their way back to The Leaky Cauldron, they discussed names for the owls.
"I think I’m going to call her Medea," Ophelia said.
"I’m going to call mine Rainbow," Lily announced.
"No, you’re not!" Ophelia laughed.
"Oh, yes I am," Lily answered. "Isn’t that right, Rainbow?" she asked the owl.
"I tell you what, Lily," Ophelia said, still laughing. "You’re asking for it, that’s for sure. Just watch out for Ariel. She can get downright nasty."
‘Tell me about it,’ Lily thought to herself.
They met up with Sebastian in The Leaky Cauldron and exited back onto the streets of London. Lily was sorry to see the day end.
"So, you’ll owl me over the rest of the summer, then?" Ophelia asked her as they were saying goodbye.
"Absolutely," Lily answered. "But only if you owl me back!"
Ophelia smiled. "I can’t wait for September 1!" she exclaimed. "I’ll see you then."
Lily watched her new friend and her family walk away before she headed back with her parents to find their car.
"So, does this mean you’re letting me go to Hogwarts?" she asked.
"Oh honestly Lily," her mother said. "Do you think we would have bought all this if we weren’t letting you go?"
Lily grinned sheepishly as she and Rainbow climbed into the backseat of the car. During the ride home, Lily was lost in her own world, trying desperately to cling to the memories of the day. She wanted to remember every second of it. Well, maybe not the run-in with Ariel in Madam Malkin’s. But every other moment, Lily held onto and cherished.
‘I can’t wait until September 1,’ she thought to herself.