Public Issues (Demma Book 2)

Plan for Emma

Dateline: April 14th, 2002

Dan's POV

After months of playful torture from Emma, I think it's safe to say that she's right, and I shouldn't cheat on her with Bonnie in the way. It was so stupid of me to bring up that argument with her about going to the party just to talk with Tom. I think I can safely say that I'm not allowed to go alone anymore since Emma's really vying for my safety. Honestly, I need someone who could guide my path and find my own happy place. That someone...is Emma. Not Jacqueline, Not Bonnie, and Not My Mum; Just Her. Just Plain Emma Charlotte Watson, The Person Who's Seen My Bad Side Multiple Times and Handles It With No Problems, The Person Who Likes Me For Who I Am and Most Importantly, She's The Person Who's The Most Trustworthy To Me. I could go on and on with Emma, but I couldn't.

We have a big surprise planned for her tomorrow. I'll let you in on a bit of a secret, but you can't tell her. All right, tomorrow's surprise is her 12th birthday, and she wants our hotel room to be as magical as possible. In which, you might've guessed, we're throwing a Harry Potter and Hermione Granger Party. She is so obsessed with that series; she even wrote an entire 20-page essay on how it was her favourite book series of all time! I can barely even do a page on how this was my favourite book series of all time!

Emma and I can read, but Great Prince Edward, she can write like an author. Anyways, me, Chris, and my Dad were picking Emma some gifts for tomorrow at a local store outside the hotel. From Chris: A 10,000 Page Journal for Writing Books only! From My Dad: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Fences by August Wilson. And From Me: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger: The Order of The Phoenix. I have to admit, Emma can seriously write her own fancy essays and books without giving us a general idea of the story. She likes old dystopian novels like City of Ember and Anthem, and I'd thought the books my Dad brought her would be something else.

As for my gift, Order of The Phoenix, I think that's the only book she has on her favourite book series list. If you were wondering, yes, Emma shares her books with me, and I do the same to her. A little bit about this book: Harry and Hermione go through discrimination from the Ministry of Magic for believing that Voldemort has returned. They begin to learn a new lesson from Snape, deal with a cruel tool, and create an army of students to fight back against the enemy. For the entire series, Harry and Hermione are being discriminated against for being the only survivors of Voldemort's attacks, and every time something terrible happens to them, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are always throwing shade behind their backs. They hate clout and didn't ask for any of this to happen to them.

Even in the real world, Emma and I never cared about clout and fame. Anyway, we went straight back to the hotel, and we started to wrap the gifts up in wrapping paper. If you were wondering about Emma with her well-being, she's still in her beauty sleep and hasn't woken up yet. After wrapping up her gifts, we decided to celebrate her birthday today because we have school tomorrow, and it'll be no fun celebrating her birthday while we're at school, right? Exactly.

Time: 6:30 PM

The day went by fast, and Emma's going to be so surprised when all three of us give her presents one day early. She's still in her slumber and hasn't eaten anything since lunch, but I have a plan to get her out of bed. I went to her bed and stared at her for the shortest amount of time before pecking her lips with mine. Her eyes opened up, and without warning, she punched me right in the jaw. I was unconscious before I heard a woman's voice that was in a scared tone.

"DAN!" said the voice, helping me up before she pecked her lips with mine.

I kissed back, and suddenly, I slightly opened my eyes, and it was Emma who kissed me. She had woken up from her Six hours of sleep!

"What are you doing here?" she asked

"Well-" I began. "We have a surprise for you."

"What do you mean you have a surprise? My birth-"

"Shh," I said, covering my pointer finger to her mouth. "Follow me; I have something to show you."

I led her to the kitchen, and with her eyes closed on my command, I hid behind the table, and before she knew it, we came out from under the table and brought out her presents before she opened her eyes. Then, I came around to her side and told her to open her eyes.

"SURPRISE!" we all said.

Emma was in shock with her jaw-dropping in front of us. So, I think it's safe to say that she did enjoy that, but she hasn't seen the presents that we brought her.

"Since your birthday is on a Monday," Dad began.

"We've decided to celebrate your special day today!" finished Chris.

"Wow. Thank you so much, guys!" she said, giving both of the dads a bear hug before she came to me and pecked me on the cheek.

"Now, would you like your special dinner before or after your presents? Keep in mind; we have dessert to go along with dinner!" I said, very excited.

"Gifts first, then dinner," she answered. "I can't wait for what we're going to have!"

Chris' gift was first along with her grandparents, who brought her more jewellery. When she wants to do something other than acting, it's a writer for her world of books. My Dad was next with some dystopian novels, and before long after my grandparents mailed Emma's gift (some pens, paper, and pencils for her writing class every weekend), I handed her my gift and unwrapped the packaging. She was shocked by the name of the title, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger: The Order of the Phoenix. Without giving any warning to any of the dads and me, she threw herself onto my arms and squeezed me so hard; I felt like I was going to burst. Nevertheless, I hugged her back tightly as well before giving her a peck on her head. She lets go of the hug and says to Chris, "Now, that gifts have been handed out; what's for dinner?"

"Follow us." the dads said, leaving together.

"I'll be right there."

"Same here," I said.

I went to get mine and Emma's shoes before she threw herself onto me again, knocking me to the ground hard. All of a sudden, her lips connected with mine for a brief second before pulling back, saying to me, "I thought Order of the Phoenix never came out until next year? Jo said it herself!"

"Relax, Emma. Don't worry. She has a spare copy of one of her books that is already completed. She even copied off the exact same words from the text to make sure that it will get released this year." I said, honestly.

"How long did that take?"

"About eight hours."

"All that for me? Oh, Dan!" she said, kissing me quickly before heading out with shoes on her feet.

We headed over to a fancy restaurant in downtown London, and it's safe to say that it was quiet all throughout. We ate in silence before we headed back for bed since we have school in the morning. Don't worry; we had dessert at the restaurant too. The dads headed to their bed, and Emma and I ran into ours. The best 12th birthday a girl can have is the one who smiles a lot even without makeup. We got into our undergarments (like usual) and drifted off to sleep to prepare for school in the morning. Quick fact, since January of this year, Bonnie moved to a different school outside of Oxford. It's such a relief to get rid of that annoying fan-girl for once, and hopefully, Emma and I would never like to see her again!