MARCUS BARKER remembered when he first saw Charlie Carpenter enter the kindergarten classroom while she held her mother's hand and her sister, Billie, stood by her side, playing a game on her Nintendo DS.

Charlie wasn't nervous, she held a bright, toothless smile on her face as she squeezed her mother's hand in excitement over the idea of stepping foot into a classroom for the first time.

Her mother had raved about nap time and the snacks she would receive during the day. It was all glorious for the little girl and all Marcus could remember was the way she looked how she had a small lisp when she spoke and how long her hair was.

It was right then and there he knew he wanted to be friends with Charlie, but he feared his sister, Maxine would beat him to it.

He remembered that Charlie had been grouped to sit at Max's table instead of his and during their reading time, Charlie wouldn't sit with the other classmates as the teacher read The Little Engine That Could. He remembered the distinct look on Charlie's face when she read a book on her own during that time and Max had been stuck under her as she pointed at the pictures in the book.

He remembered how annoyed Charlie looked when Max asked her a question that was related to the book. Charlie wanted to talk about the book and not if she had seen the episode of Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I mean, she would've, but not when her mind wasn't on it and she was hyper-focused on what she'd been looking at and Max didn't seem to get that, not then and definitely not now.

But one day, Marcus worked up the snotty courage to approach Charlie during reading time when Max had been absent and sit in her seat.

Charlie didn't acknowledge him, but knew that he was Max's twin and only assumed that they were the same, but when he pointed to a picture in her book and asked, 'Why does that one have a circle around it' when she was read her book about the planets, she knew he was just a little different than his sister.

"That's Saturn." She smiled and pointed to the picture with her sticky finger. "It has a ring because someone loved it more than the other planets. You give rings to people you love."

Marcus nodded. "Who gave it the ring?"

Charlie turned, leaning close to the boy as she whispered "Jesus." in his ear.

Of course, Charlie didn't know that three other planets had rings (Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter) but that didn't matter because Saturn had the biggest, most visible ring, and that to her meant that someone loved it more than the others, especially since it had seven rings rather than one... no one dare told her that Uranus had 13 until later, but whatever. It mattered to her that you could actually see Saturn's rings no matter what.

Marcus would continue to sit with Charlie as she talked about the planets and outer space in general, even if he didn't understand what she was saying or was listening to what she was saying, he still sat there and she still let him, even after Max told Charlie that her brother had cooties and that he would infect her at night.

"How do you know?" Charlie asked as she bit into her carrot. Which she struggled to do.

"Because!" Max shouted, pausing, trying to come up with how she knew Marcus was giving her cooties. "Because I live with him! He never, ever cleans up after himself. Our mommy has to do it and-"

"My mom cleans up my stuff too." Charlie muttered, shoving a piece of her Cosmic Brownie in her mouth. "Does that mean I have cooties?"

Max sighed. "Well, no, but if you keep hanging out with Marcus people are gonna think you like him and that he gave you cooties and I don't want people to think that you have cooties because then people will think I have cooties-"

"I thought you said Marcus gave you cooties?"

"No!" Max shouted. "He tries to give me cooties at night before I go to bed but my mommy stops him and-"

And that would go on and on as long as Charlie entertained the idea of Marcus giving someone cooties. But she didn't care if Marcus had cooties or not, she cared that he listened to what she had to say, she cared that he looked at her when she spoke about the things she liked, she liked that he would try and be interested in the things that she liked.

Then, one night, Lori, Charlie's mother knocked on the front door of the Baker household and Ellen Baker opened the door, a small smile on her face when she noticed that it was Lori.

"Hey," Lori smiled. "I know it's late but would your kids like to join us at the park?"

Ellen furrowed her brows. "It's 8:30 at night, Lori."

"Oh, I know," Lori said. "But Charlie likes to go to the park at night because it's quieter and she can get a better view of the stars, something along those lines, you know."

"Um-" Ellen sighed. "O- Okay, yeah, sure. I'll come too."

Lori smiled, clasping her hands together. "Great."

Soon enough, Lori, Ellen, Marcus, Charlie, Max, and Billie found themselves at the park and Charlie was the first out of her mother's SUV and rushed towards the playground, she fell, of course, but stood up just as fast as she made her way up to the top of the playset and there she stood in front of the toy telescope and looked up at the stars in the sky.

Maxine had managed to convince Billie to push her on the swing as Marcus made his way up the playground to stand next to Charlie as she continued to look up at the stars, a small smile on her face as she looked through the toy telescope. She couldn't see much, if anything at all, but it was something. It made her happy and that's all that mattered to her and the people around her.

Charlie held her smile as she stepped away from the toy telescope, holding the object in her hand as she looked at Marcus.

"I wish I could go there." She whispered to him, turning to look by at the sky.

"To space?" Marcus asked.

"To space. To Saturn. I wanna see it all."

Marcus turned away from her, looking at the sky, and with a soft sigh, he turned to look at her once more. "I'll take you."

Charlie looked back over, her small smile as she looked at Marcus whose gaze was locked with the sky above.

"To Saturn." He continued. "I'll take you there. I promise."

Charlie knew that it was unrealistic for him to say something like that to her. To promise that to her was more insane, but it meant a lot, especially when it came from him.

Marcus was the first person Charlie could open up to about her interests and vice versa.

Charlie reached out to gently squeeze his hand, a warm smile gracing her lips. "Thank you, Marcus." She murmured, her voice filled with gratitude.

Marcus met her gaze, his eyes soft and earnest. "I mean it, Charlie." He said, his voice unwavering.

"I know."

CHARLIE WAS so sick of being fifteen. Something about it sucked more than being ten and maybe it's because she was in high school now and couldn't be mindless anymore. She actually had to put herself out there and work if she wanted a good career. She couldn't play pretend anymore and just believe that she could be an astronaut or some sort of scientist. No, she had to get up, get good grades, get into some sort of Ivy League, and pray for the best. This was her dream and she'd be damned if she failed AP English.

But she had a couple of hours before she had to dread the halls of Wellsbury High School and she had been patiently waiting for Marcus to come over.

She felt her phone vibrate by her side and grabbed it and with a heavy sigh, she typed away on her phone. Marcus had texted her and let her know that he had been grounded because his mom had caught him with bud on him and wouldn't be able to come until she decided to go to bed.

Charlie put her phone by her side and sat up in her bed, her TV playing Wall-E as some background noise, but now she was bored. She didn't want to hang out with Max, Norah, and Abby Littman because only God knows what they would try and force her to do and Billie was out with her friends before she would begin her junior year at Wellsbury.

Charlie sighed and stood up from her bed and slid into her desk chair and opened her laptop. She was never really bored and always found something to do, but today was a little different. Like something had shifted and she had yet to figure it out.

She opened her email. It was full of newsletters from NASA, space-theme subreddits she was following, and back-and-forth messages between her and her father, Joseph.

Lori Carpenter and Joseph Little were never married and had never had that thought crossed their minds. They had their kids and had their happy little family a few months after Charlie started school, and then her father found someone new. And Lori was fine with that. Everyone seemed to be fine with that until Joseph became distant. So distant that Billie had stopped all communication with him and the only way Charlie could contact him was through email.

He had a new family, she remembered reading that. She had three half-siblings that she didn't know much about and she knew that her father and his new family lived in Flordia. 1,335 miles away from her.

He hadn't responded to her previous messages yet and she didn't think he would until... God, she honestly didn't know. It may take months for him to respond with a sentence that she would read in seconds and reply to instantly.

She didn't know why she responded so quickly to his messages when he took months to say something back. It was her downfall, but something she would learn to stop doing overtime, at least she hoped she would stop.

She didn't know how long she stared at her screen, but she jumped in shock when she heard tapping against her window.

She turned to look at her window and saw Marcus on the other side of it. He waved and gave her a small smile as she stood from her seat and opened the window to allow him inside.

"I thought you said you were grounded." She smiled.

"I am." He said, returning the smile. "But I also said I'll be over later."

Charlie chucked and stepped to the side to allow Marcus to step foot in her room. She made her way over to her laptop, seeing that it had been 11:30 at night and she hadn't even realized. She sighed, shutting her laptop. She didn't know what to expect from him anymore, but she wasn't going to dwell on it any longer.

Charlie turned, facing Marcus as he sat on her bed. She pressed her hands against her desk, smiling down at him.

"Your mom really caught you with bud?" Charlie asked.

Marcus chuckled. "At least she didn't take my stash, but-"

"But?"

"But, I gave it to the new lady."

Charlie knitted her brows. "What lady?"

"The people who bought the old house near ours, never got her named though."

Charlie moved from her desk to sit down next to Marcus on the bed. "And you just gave her the rest of your shit?"

"She's hot." He answered, shrugging his shoulders as he did so. "Plus, I know you love me and I know you kept my other stash safe and sound." Marcus smiled, looking down at her.

Charlie returned the small smile and stood up from the bed, and bent down to open the bottom of her dresser drawer to find his stash with the clothes.

As Charlie bent down to search through her dresser, Marcus couldn't help but admire her. He watched her intently, a subtle heat rising in his cheeks as he appreciated her presence.

Charlie held a toothy smile as she stood upright and held the bag in her hand, gently shaking it as she sat down on the floor, her back pressed against her bed. Marcus joined her on the floor and she passed the bag over to him.

Marcus looked down at her. "What movie are we watching?"

Charlie turned, grabbing the remote off her bed, her shirt riding up to reveal a section of her torso. Marcus knew their friendship was too important to risk complicating things, but if he could he would. God, he most definitely would.

Charlie held the remote in her hands. "Spongebob?"

With that, not even 30 minutes into the 3rd or so episode of the show, Charlie had gotten high to the point she'd grown tired, falling asleep on Marcus's shoulder.

He chuckled at a joke that wasn't that funny and looked over at Charlie to see if she liked the joke as much as he had, but she'd fallen asleep mid-episode. He sighed, moving slowly to pull his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

2:30.

He moved with slowness, ensuring she wouldn't fall, and gently slid his hands under her to lift and place her on the bed. Picking up the blanket from the floor, he covered her with it. After switching off the TV, he walked to the window, casting one last look at her before exiting the girl's room and heading home.

Once there, he climbed up the rail and into his room and collapsed on his bed with a heavy sigh.

He was so fucking whipped.

CHARLIE'S FIRST class was kind of a shit show. When you don't care about a certain subject, it shows and God, Charlie couldn't stand AP History with Mrs. Caliente. She would drag a lesson on and on and sometimes she would steer off track with the subject and make it about herself and whatever the hell was happening in her life at the current moment.

But, that class was over and she now stood at her locker as she exchanged a couple of books for others, but near her side, Max was coming into view, skipping her way over to the girl.

"Have you met the new girl?" She asked, leaning against a nearby locker.

"Hello, Max." Charlie smiled, shutting her locker and leaning against it. "My day has been great, thank you for asking about me."

Max groaned. "Ugh, you're lame. Have you met the new girl?" She asked again. "She, like, totally socked Mr. Gitten."

Charlie furrowed her brows. "She hit Mr. Gitten?"

"No, no. Not literally. She, like, totally chewed him out in front of everyone. He was like" She began, lowering the tone of her voice. "if you can't handle the workload, maybe you should drop the class." She laughed, speaking in her normal tone. "And she was like, no way, I know what I'm doing and you can kiss my ass. It was kind of hot."

Charlie only nodded, giving the girl a small nod and a scoff of laughter as she listened to Max speak about the new girl.

"What's her name?" Charlie asked.

"Ginny." Max smiled. "She's like super cool. I think you might like her." Max leaned forward, grabbing Charlie's hands and swinging her hands back and forth as obnoxiously as she could. "Please, please, please, join us for lunch today instead of getting high with that asshole."

"First off, Marcus is only an asshole to you, just like you are to him." Charlie smiled. "Second, I don't always get high. Only when I feel like I need to-"

"Which should be never." Max said.

"And, no, I will not be joining you for lunch if Press is there."

Max sighed, throwing her head back as she squeezed Charlie's hands. "Charlie, please." She whined, stretching out her words. "I promise he won't bother you. If he does I will stab him with a fork. Please, come eat with me."

Max had been like this since they were kids and Charlie would always tell her no. If she didn't whine about it, she would say yes, but also, she didn't like Matt Press and he always found a way to make a flirty remark about her or what she would be wearing and Charlie was so sick of it.

"Leave her alone, loser."

Max rolled her eyes and dropped Charlie's hands as Marcus appeared behind Charlie, his chest pressed against Charlie's back as he stood behind her.

"Whatever." Max groaned. "Just think about it, Charlie. I promise you'll have a better time with me and friends than him and no one."

Max gave one more smile to Charlie and a roll of the eye to her brother as she made her way past them and towards Ginny, whom she spotted down the hall.

Charlie sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment as she tilted her head back, her head resting on Marcus's chest. She fluttered her eyes open, looking up at Marcus with a soft smile.

He gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face, his fingers lingering for a moment longer than necessary.

"Everything okay?" He asked softly.

Charlie turned around, now facing Marcus. "You know how Max is. She just has a lot of energy."

Marcus smiled. "Still not used to it?"

"Don't think I'll ever be." She smiled and pointed at his shirt. "It's Monday."

"Thank you, Charles." He teased. "If it weren't for you and the new girl I would have never known." He said, gently shoving her shoulder. "Wanna come over later?"

"To do what?" She asked. "Because I'm not coming over to smoke."

"You can help me with my bike."

Charlie smiled. "Sure, I'll "help" you with your bike." She finally backed away from him, slowly making her way down the hall. "But until then, I'm gonna go study."

"It's Monday." Marcus smiled, a small scoff leaving him. "What's there to study?"

"The world Marcus." Charlie smiled, spreading her arms out. "I thought you'd know that by now."

Marcus held his smile as Charlie turned around and, what he assumed, made her way to the library to study in silence.

She was optimistic. That's one of the things Marcus liked about her. He also liked that she preferred him over Maxine.

That, to him, would always be a plus.

— lucy has something to say !!

if you remember my first ginny and georgia fic... no you don't

anyway welcome to saturn also i named her charlie miller but then suddenly realized i shouldn't do that 😁

slow burn perhaps 🤷 lets see

i forgot ginny kisses marcus in the first episode ???? THEN THEY HAVE SEX (im rewatching season one as i write i don't remember a lot)

this is 3100+ words im sick

time in this show isn't real

bye :))))