The Perfect Emma is co-written by two separate authors: Alexis and Alice (ChemistryOfLife)

Throughout the story Alexis and I will rarely leave authors notes at the end of chapters. This will be our only time to ask you to consider following and reviewing as you read or following ChemistryOfLife if you are eager for more updates. There are a total of 64 chapters for The Perfect Emma already prewritten on a document, and I anticipate daily posting.

The two authors went back and forth in writing a new chapter in their designated character's perspective. Alice wrote in the point of view of Emma Mabel and Alexis from the point of view of Grayson Todd.

Aside from the basic facts about the characters and plot determined by the coauthors at the beginning of the story, nothing was planned, mapped, or laid out in explicit detail ahead of time.

This is the story that the characters gave us to tell.

Emma Mabel

"You know I just... I don't want kids right now, Arthur."

"But why not, Em?" Arthur placed his coffee cup down on the kitchen table while he had his breakfast. Emma, on the other hand, merely sat at the table while grading an assortment of math papers.

Tapping her red pen against the counter, Emma looked up. "You work at a bank," Emma stated with a frown, glancing over towards him. "It's different. When I go to work, I walk into a classroom full of twenty-seven third graders." She bit her lip softly, trying to form her words carefully. She didn't want to start another fight with Arthur over the whole kids matter... but it was bound to happen anyway. "When I come home, I want to leave the whole kids aspect behind."

"Then why did you go into teaching?" Arthur argued with a frown. He wanted kids when they were in college - technically, they both wanted kids. Emma and Arthur both promised to wait until after they were married to have kids. Now, Emma was in her fifth year of teaching in Los Angeles and her third year of marriage. Everything was wonderful - except her opinions on kids.

"Because I love kids, Arthur." Emma dropped the pen onto the table and lifted her head up. Her hazel eyes glared towards her husband with a frown. "Because I still do love kids - I just enjoy the idea of coming home and not having to worry about taking care of another kid. I already have twenty-seven kids in school. I don't want to make it twenty-eight right now."

Arthur stared Emma back with a slight scowl. He sighed and glanced back down, reaching for his coffee cup. Emma loved him - she truly did. For the most part, Arthur and Emma never fought. When they did, Emma was usually the fiery one that made Arthur back down. She didn't enjoy the fact that she pushed Arthur into a corner during most arguments - especially since this one is, technically, her fault. They both did plan on having kids. It was Emma backing off of it. Em just got tired of arguing and fighting over the same topic.

"Can we just..." Emma let out a sigh as she ran her hand through her long, blonde hair. "Let's talk about it after work. Okay?" She offered, pushing herself up to her feet. Em leaned over and began to gather the math papers together into organized piles. She placed them inside of folders, holding them in her arm.

"Alright," Arthur murmured. Because Emma was a teacher, she worked much earlier than Arthur did at the bank. Em stepped over to Arthur and kissed his lips softly. He smiled against her lips softly as she leaned back. "I love you," Arthur spoke to her as she sat up.

"I love you, too," Emma said happily. She massaged Arthur's shoulders warmly before stepping back, beginning to gather all of the papers and materials she would need for her upcoming day of teaching.

Arthur raised his coffee cup up to his lips and took a sip. He lowered it down and turned his head over his shoulder towards Emma. "When will you be home?"

Em furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head. "I promised Lily that I would stay after school for a bit and work on tweaking some future lessons with her." Emma explained. "I'm not sure how long it will be." An idea popped into Emma's head and she smiled. "How about I meet you at The Chopping Pearl for dinner?" The Chopping Pearl was a steak restaurant that Emma and Arthur frequently went on for dates - it wasn't too upscale that they wouldn't merely wear their work attire to the restaurant. In addition, heading there would likely be a good change, since Arthur was upset about the whole kids thing. They could have a nice dinner and spend time after talking about having kids.

Nodding his head, Arthur gave Emma a warm smile. "I'll make a reservation for six." He said, nodding his head. "Have a good day, Mrs. Mabel," Arthur said with a smile. He enjoyed hearing Emma have his last name - he had for the past three years.

"You too," Em said with a smile on her lips, shaking her head slightly. She grabbed her purse and her bag full of papers, heading out the garage door to the cars. Emma unlocked her car, a wonderful Prius - regardless of what others say, and hopped inside. She opened up the garage and immediately began backing out, heading the familiar route towards the Los Angeles elementary school.

Emma made her way inside of the building, far earlier than any of her students would be here, and began to walk towards her classroom. She propped open the door and smiled, noticing that Lily's classroom door was open as well. "Morning, Lily!" Emma called as she made her way into the classroom.

Lily, one of Emma's closest friends and fellow teacher, poked her head out of her classroom and scampered her way into Emma's classroom. Emma dropped her bags onto her desk as Lily grinned. "Hey, Emma. We still on for lesson planning after school?"

"Of course," Emma said with a smile. "Though you have to admit, it's less planning and more talking."

Waving her hand in the air, Lily shrugged her shoulders. "Same thing." She exclaimed. Teaching, as with most things, was a gut instinct. You either have it or you don't. Fortunately, with teaching, Emma felt like she had it. She went out of her way to have an individual connection with almost all of her students. In addition, her students have gotten to the point that they did work both for themselves and because they wanted to make Mrs. Mabel proud. At least... most of them did that. You can't win every battle - despite how hard Emma does try.

"As much as I would love to talk," Emma smiled towards Lily. "I was bickering with Arthur this morning so I have a few papers left I need to grade and mark in my book before passing out. Talk after school?"

"Yes," Lily said, pointing her finger towards Emma. "Are you two bickering about having kids again?"

Emma sighed and nodded her head. Lily frowned and tapped her finger against the door. "Moments like these are why I'm glad I'm single." Lily paused before adding. "Moments where kids call me 'Mrs. Nickels' instead of 'Ms. Nickels" is why I'm not glad I'm single."
"Or how about when they ask what 'Miss' means?" Emma joked with a grin, knowing full well how agitated Lily can get on the matter. Boy did that girl want to be married.

Lily let out a groan and waved her hand in the air. She pointed to Emma's desk and narrowed her eyes. "Get to grading!" She exclaimed, heading back into her own room.

Emma merely laughed as she turned her attention back down to the paperwork in front of her. Picking up where she left off at the breakfast table, Emma continued to grade her student's work. After marking the grades into the grade book, students slowly began to pile in. Eventually, the bell went off. "Good morning!" Emma exclaimed happily as she pushed herself up onto her feet. Emma picked up the pile of homework she had been grading and held it against her chest. Students gradually stopped whispering to each other and merely turned their attention towards Mrs. Mabel. However, that didn't stop the squeaking chairs or the tapping pencils. That never stopped. "Third graders, I just want to start out with how extremely proud of you all I am for your math homework that I graded this morning..."