Zoophobia Next Generation Book 1 : The Adventure Begins

Chapter 1: The Day Begins

The sun began to rise slowly showing it's beautiful colors of gold, orange, red and pink. As the sun rose over a city the shops began to open. Soon the streets became active and filled with life and color. The citizens of this town were not ordinary people, they were humans, shapeshifters and animals. This was Safe Haven. Safe Haven was a place were all kinds of creatures could be safe. You could travel anywhere to districts that were jungles to districts with a dark and gloomy depressing feeling, even to the terrifying and fire filled underworld know as Hell. Safe Haven has been around for centuries, but in the last 17 years things have changed. They have allowed all demons who help with the Hell-Royal Family to live in peace and harmony as a citizen of Safe Haven. But today is a very important day, summer vacation has ended and students will be able to start over with a fresh new school year. Today is where we'll introduce the new freshman class and welcome them to Zoo Phoenix Academy where they'll spend the next four years growing, learning and preparing for the real world. This is Zoophobia Next Generation.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" An alarm clock went off.

Maxwell woke up and rubbed his eyes. Today was the beginning of his freshman year at Zoo Phoenix Academy. He looked at his clock 5:00 AM. He fell face first into his pillow and groaned. Quintin opened the door and smiled.

"Hey Max you ready for your first day of high school?" Quintin asked as he walked into the room.

"No." Maxwell groaned as he put the covers over his head.

Quintin sat on the edge of his son's bed as his son continued groaning.

"Maxwell what's wrong you were excited about going to high school the second you left middle school." Quintin pulled the cover off of Maxwell's bed.

Maxwell sat up and put on his glasses. He looked at his dad with a bored expression.

"Dad it's high school, it's a new chapter in my life this is the stage where I only have four years to know what I want to be when I enter the real world. That's a lot of pressure to put on a 15-year-old, it's kinda scary when you think about it." Maxwell buried his face in his knees.

"Listen," Quintin put his hand on Maxwell's shoulder which made him look up, "I know you're scared, but remember your mother and I felt the same exact way, when we were just as scared as you are right now. We were your age once as well"

Maxwell felt comfort in his father's words.

"Also kids from different middle schools will also be there for their freshman year, which gives you a chance to find a girlfriend." Quintin teased.

"Dad you're so embarrassing! How did Mom deal with you when you were in high school?" Maxwell laughed.

"Listen, your mother can't resists a man like me with charming boyish yet manly good looks." Quintin gave off an over dramatic pose.

Maxwell rolled his eyes, if there was anyone he could talk to about anything it was his dad, whether it be a serious question, a personal question or just to make him smile his dad always knew what to say or do.

"Maxwell get ready," Kimberly called from downstairs, "you're walking to school with your friends aren't you?"

"Yeah Mom I'll be down in less than 30 minutes alright!" Maxwell shouted.

"Okay sweetie," Kimberly called, "Quintin get down here your breakfast is ready!"

Quintin messed with his son's hair and left his bedroom closing Maxwell's door behind him. Maxwell started to unbutton his pajama shirt and then removed his pajamas pants. Now only in his boxer, Maxwell walked over to his dresser and grabbed a pair of grey boxers and his clothes. Maxwell walked into his connected bathroom. As he started up the hot water from his shower, he looked at the picture of him and his friends Kimberly had hung up on the wall. Maxwell slid off his boxers and hopped into the shower. Maxwell grabbed his shampoo and started washing his hair. He rinsed out his hair getting a little bit of it in his eyes.

"Geez that's stings!" Maxwell winced.

He took a blue washcloth and rubbed his eyes. Once he got out of the shower he put a white towel around his waist and started to blow dry his hair, once his hair was fully dried, he ran a brush threw it and began to brush his teeth.

"Maxwell your breakfast is almost done!" Maxwell heard his mom call from downstairs.

"Coming Mom just a few more minutes!" He calls back.

Maxwell comes down the stairs fully dressed and smiles at his mom who is almost done cooking breakfast and his dad who is reading the newspaper.

"How do I look for the first day of school?" Maxwell showed his mom the outfit he decided to wear.

Kimberly was dressed and ready for her first day back at teaching, she smiled and kissed her son on the cheek several times leaving a slightly pale brown almost beige lipstick mark on his cheek.

"You look so handsome," Kimberly eyes began to fill with tears, "my baby boy is all grown up, it only feels like yesterday when you were running around with your father pretending to be space wizards. Now you're almost all grown up and soon you're going to meet a nice girl, marry her and start a family of your own."

Kimberly broke down into tears at the end of her sentence and Maxwell gave her a hug and kissed his mom on the cheek.

"Mom that's going to be years away." Maxwell gave her a soft smile

Kimberly wiped her tears away and hugged him tight lifting him off the ground, mot aware that Maxwell was struggling to get out of her grip.

"I'm so glad you still want to stay my little baby boy for just a little while longer." Kimberly kissed his cheek again.

"M-Mom I c-can't b-breath!" Maxwell strained to get those words out as his mother was hugging him so tight.

"Oh sorry baby." Kimberly let go and put him down.

Maxwell felt a little light headed after that, he sat at the kitchen bar counter as his mom gave him a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. Quintin took a sip of his coffee as he read his newspaper.

"Maxwell eat as much as you can, first day of school is a very big day." Quintin turned the page of his newspaper.

Maxwell quickly ate everything on his plate, he ran upstairs into his bathroom to brush his teeth again and ran back downstairs.

"Max, sweetie what's the rush? School doesn't start for another 45 minutes." Kimberly stated.

Maxwell walked over to the fridge and grabbed three water bottles and put them in his backpack.

"I'm walking to school remember." Maxwell reminded his mom as he zipped up the pocket his water bottles were in.

"But we live 20 minutes away from the high school." Kimberly put her hands on her hips.

"I'm walking with Gabe, Gavin, Corbin, Cece and Valentine," Maxwell put his blue one shoulder backpack on, "we want to get there early and look around the school or just hang out in the schoolyard."

"What about the rest of your friends?" Kimberly asked.

"We're gonna meet them there." Maxwell said.

Someone knocked on the door, Kimberly walked over to the door and opened it. Gavin was at the door and he ran into the living room with his black backpack over his shoulders.

"Dude we've been waiting for you for over 10 minutes and the others are probably at the school waiting for us, kiss your momma goodbye and get your butt in gear!" Gavin waved his arms frantically.

"Bye Mom," Max kissed her cheek, "love you guys, see you after school."

"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Gaboni." Gavin waved to them.

"Bye boys!" Kimberly said.

"Bye and be careful." Quintin said

"We will." Maxwell said.

Maxwell closed the door and walked with his friends to begin their first day of day of school and have a day they're never going to forget.