Chuck Edwards is a high-school student who's in it for the long run; he is in special education classes for learning disabled students and has next to no social skills. He isn't good with numbers, for the short story. He's fair at reading, although he tends to go slow, and gets to go out to a normal history class where he makes Cs (Bs if he's interested and pays attention).

Chuck really wants to fit in, but he really never has. He can't figure out why; he always asks if he's annoying people, and he asks why people aren't nice to him, and he asks all sorts of questions that are and are not on topic. He is the only student in the high school who has come close to being given a wedgie by several of the faculty & staff.

But everyone who knows Chuck knows that he really is a nice kid, and his insistent questions appear to be his way of trying to participate in a conversation. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of anything that even slightly interests him, and if a teacher can catch his interest on a topic (that can be learned by rote), Chuck is a diligent and gifted student.

Chuck has been in foster care for most of his life. He has been Iris’ best friend since she got out of the Facility and they were adopted together when it was discovered that Chuck had somehow tapped into magic.

Iris theory is that this is what he was doing instead of math in elementary school.