Class of Misfits

five | Juila

"Ordinary is for losers."

Juila hummed the tune to herself from the DJ booth, as it played on the jukebox. She was proud of this tune, along with all the others she'd played so far, as she'd made most of them herself.

Partycake sidled up to the DJ booth.

"Great turnout, huh?"

The whole tenth grade was there, along with a bunch of eleventh graders and a couple of ninth graders. All were in jeans or skirts, dancing their butts off on the glowing tiles beneath their feet.

"Yeah, amazing."

In her hot pink moto jacket, black jeans, and white high top sneakers, Juila looked like a typical popular DJ. The black headphones framed her face and complimented her perfectly straight hair.

She looked normal. Her name was normal. Everything about her was so normal today.

What a stereotypical girl. She wouldn't even want to be friends with herself.

Partycake frowned.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, it's just..." she sighed. "Wagner said I shouldn't be a rebel, but that's always been my life goal, you know?"

"Hmm. Well, if it's any consolation, I don't live up to my name either. Patricia - so un-party-like. Partycake is much better."

"So Partycake is like your Juila."

"Exactly. By the way, why do you call yourself Juila?"

Juila sighed.

"I don't like to remember... but long story short, when I walked into kindergarten - not here, at a local school - there were three "Julia"s - not including me - and even the teacher's first name was Julia. The kids called me Julia #4."

Partycake suppressed a laugh.

"Bummer."

"I know, right? So I called myself Juila - a unique name with no labels, and most importantly, no number after it."

Partycake opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off when Mikayla walked over holding two soft serve ice cream cones.

"Dude, that glowing floor you rigged up is the bomb."

Mikayla smiled, her brown hair spilling over her shoulders and onto her sunflower yellow dress.

"Thanks. My dad owns an automotive business - I picked up a few things.

Juila smirked.

"You think you could build us a better school?"

"Well, I could try..."

Partycake cut her off.

"Hey Juila, do you need a break? You've been at it for three hours... Go pick up a soft serve or something. I'll cover for you."

"Thanks," Juila said gratefully as she slipped out of the booth.

She made her way to the door of the common room, past the herds of people, and into the hallway, starting out toward her dorm room.

She stopped at the door when she heard voices coming out.

"Can we please go?"

"No, you know we have to study. Parties are no good. They're a distraction, remember?"

"But Partycake has the best parties around."

"Yeah, but does Partycake work hard to get good grades? Not really."