Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Elizabeth Harrington, is a blonde, blue eyed girl, who is constantly finding her path.

She started off as a complete nerd constantly hanging with four boys from 3rd to 6th grade. Once she was in middle school she wanted a rebrand. Her brother was often referred to as the “King of Hawkins High” she didn’t want to torment the family legacy by hanging with a bunch of “freaks” as her mother would say.

From an early age her mother and father weren’t around, unless they wanted to torture Elizabeth or her older brother, Steve. Steve and Liz were very close as small children, often being left alone while their parents drank, attended parties, fought, or just simply ignored the kids. A elementary school Elizabeth would even refer to Steve as her “#1 best friend” when William Byers would ask if he could be her best friend. Although once Steve began high school, he started to act different. He didn’t want to be seen with his lame nerdy sister. This was around the same time their mother decided to intervene and make Beth fit more into her standards, her mother did let the boys stay around for a few more years but put her foot down at Elizabeth’s 11th birthday. E complied not wanting to upset anyone in her family to the point of abusive anger.

By the time Steve learned to drive, Elizabeth’s life had been set up so she was friends with all the girls that matched her family’s yearly income and her parents were basically completely out of the picture. Each month two envelopes full of cash would be left for each sibling. Sometimes Steve wouldn’t come home either, and when he did he was either in a bad mood, drunk, or with a girl he planned to have sex with. Beth learned to deal with the empty house, often swimming in her pool alone or just watching TV while doing homework till she passed out. On occasion Steve would carry her back up to her room, the one time she thanked him he insisted he didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t bring it up again.

Her main friends once in high school were: Madison Moley, the most narrcisistic girl of all time who called anyone she found strange “gay” or a “lesbian.” Next was Nicole “Nicky” Cordan, she essentially just agreed with everything Madison said and was constantly bragging about the expensive jewelry she owned. Finally was Bailey Marks, she spent all time thinking and talking about boys and often dated creepy older men. Elizabeth never really liked these girls but befriended them for the benefit of her image. They often went with boys who drank and did drugs at a man named “Reefer Rick’s” home. Elizabeth didn’t ever let her brother know about this but she didn’t really think he would’ve cared either.

She wanted to be perfect, but that all seemed to be ruined when William Byers went missing and the party alerted her of a new girl that had superpowers, Eleven. They mostly wanted her help speaking “girl” but Dustin Henderson, the curly haired boy of the group, wanted to impress her and get close again, Her and “El,” the nickname given to 011 by the group, became close. El admired Lizzie’s blonde hair and dresses. Liz taught her about make up and glitter while Eleven spoke of the horrors that were to come. Nicole, Bailey, and Madison were highly confused when Beth suddenly disappeared. When confronted Elizabeth simply stated that she was grieving her childhood friend that had passed. They thought it was odd she was sad over a “strange queer boy.”

The adventure she went on with the party caused her to rip up many of her very nice dresses when being attacked by government men. For the first time in her life Lizzie saw real life monsters not just assholes who threw things at her when they were drunk. This Demogorgan scared her shitless, this is when she armed herself with her father’s hidden gun she named SYDNEY. Once Beth ran out of bullets and Lucas Sinclair ran out of rocks, she watched as El sacrificed her life for her and the three boys.

Lizzie waited in an ambulance alone while the other kids were comforted by their parents. Then suddenly a very bruised Steven Harrington came and hugged her for the first time in years. At first Elizabeth didn’t speak of what had happened to her brother, he pushed but eventually just waited until she was ready. Two days after signing government papers agreeing to never speak of what happened, she knocked on her brother’s door asking if they could talk. She was surprised to see he actually was reading the book that was needed for English class. He put down “1984” and the two spoke of real horrors they experienced. “Steve..I think it may be my fault that Eleven’s gone. Sydney just couldn’t do it.” Lizzie cried.

“1, E that’s obviously not true and 2, who’s Sydney?” Steve stated doing the best he could to comfort his younger sister. Beth sniffled.

“Sydney’s my gun.”

“What?”

Chapter Text

After the events that took place in November, Steve got back with Nancy Wheeler, and became very protective of Elizabeth, mostly insisting that she wasn’t allowed to ride her pink bike anymore and that if she wanted to go anywhere she had to be driven by Steve. This ended up meaning that they were at the Wheeler house multiple times a week. She pretended as if it really annoyed her but the truth was she was really happy that her brother stepped up and she enjoyed Mike Wheeler’s company (most of the time).

Mike and Beth frequently spoke about Eleven and Will. When Will found out that his old girl best friend, Elizabeth Harrington, had decided to be friends with all of them again; he was overjoyed. The two quickly got along again, spilling secrets in Beth’s room and castle Byer’s. In fact, Will and Lizzie hung out so much that Will’s mother, Joyce Byer’s, thought they were crushing on each other. Mike was very worried about the small boy with the bowl cut, knowing he had experienced so much trauma. Elizabeth constantly reassured him saying that Will had a pretty deep wound that will heal, unfortunately said wound would scar for life.

Going into 8th grade, Beth decided she didn’t have much interest in her old friends, this ended up causing a public quarrel between her and Madison. “If you want to be a freak you should just come out and say it, and stop trying to dress like us!” Madison poured a can of Coke over Elizabeth’s white dress. Out of anger Beth punched her in the face, “My nose you cunt! You broke my nose!”

“I’m sure one of your older alcoholic boyfriends will accept you as who you are Madison.” Beth crumpled up the can and threw it at her when she was still down on the ground. “Leave me alone.” She said specifically to Madison, looked up to Nicole and Bailey “All of you.” Once she walked away she knew she was safe from the girls but only for a period of time.

Once October arrived she could see that Madison and the other two were planning something she just wasn’t sure what. Elizabeth spent her lunches studying in the library or on occasion with the boys. She still wanted to be perfect but just channelled that energy into schoolwork.

One morning, she was in Mr. Clarke’s class sitting behind Micheal and trying to catch up on homework due to the fact that her parents had come home the night before. She was scolded and insulted about her weight by her dad and her dirty shoes by her mother. As routine she just kept her head down, but this time her brother spoke up. He wanted Mr. Harrington to drop the weight insults, he was met with a slap by his father. Elizabeth tried to push past this experience, she would just wear some of Steve’s jackets for a few days until they disappeared again. She was solving a Geometry question when Clarke’s lecture was interrupted by a door swinging open. This was the very first time Beth would see Maxine “Max” Mayfield. Her eyes opened wider than they had ever before and she could feel her stomach inside her body.
That day she saw Max skating around the uneven concrete campus. The boys were also enthralled by the new redhead, they chose to stalk her, Lizzie chose to do homework in the library. When walking in the hall, her mind raced, she was scared but not in the same way as when she faced the demogorgan, this time it felt more like she was the monster. Suddenly, Nicole pushed her from behind. She dropped her books and scuffed up her flats again. Madison then pulled her head up by the ponytail whispering into her ear “Watch yourself Harrington, I wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

Just as she slammed Elizabeth’s face into the tile floor, a girl from down the hall yelled “Hey!” The girls softly cursed and ran off giggling. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m..fine” Beth said while regaining herself enough to push herself up onto her knees. Her gray blue eyes then met sea blue ones. Elizabeth was taken aback by the freckles that almost looked like splattered paint against the clear skinned face of the new girl that for some reason was helping her out. The redhead had picked up the two books that were dropped. Beth quickly grabbed them in a way that almost startled both of them. She stuck her hand out “I’m Max.” After a second of staring Lizzie took the hand and they reached common ground together.

“Elizabeth Harrington. We have Clarke together.”

“Well Elizabeth Harrington, that was quite a fall. You sure you’re good?”

“Yes, yes. I’m okay.”

“Who were those girls anyways?” Lizzie went silent “Sorry, sorry that’s none of my business-“

“Old friends, bitchy old friends.” She said adjusting her backpack straps.

“They looked it. God everyone here seems to be strange. I actually came inside because these boys were stalking me.” Elizabeth cringed.

“Yeah unfortunately I know those boys.”

“Friends of yours?”

“Yes they’re weird but they mostly mean well.”

Elizabeth then assisted Max to her next class. The boys questioned her for information on the new girl that they referred to as “MADMAX.” She promptly told them to leave her alone, which of course they did not do.

Liz spent the next week stressing about Madison’s plans, Will’s episode, and Maxine. Lucas and Dustin invited Max to their Halloween plans while wearing their incredibly embarrassing ghostbusters outfits. Max then asked if Elizabeth was coming to which Dustin said “Liz, oh yeah she’s gonna come that girl’s a sucker for Twizzlers” If Beth had actually been there he would’ve been met with a slap on the shoulder. Mostly because Twizzlers were her guilty pleasure and also because she didn’t want Maxine thinking she was some kind of fat freak like her mother thought, or any kind of freak at all, Lizzie needed to come off as perfect and nothing less.

Chapter Text

Once Elizabeth added the finishing touches to Steve’s costume (an old pair of their mother’s sunglasses) they drove off to the Wheeler’s. Later, Lucas taunted Beth about her costume which was a simple version of Glinda The Good from The Wizard of Oz. “It’s a good movie!” she insisted.

“For five year olds!” Then they all bickered about Nougat when Micheal Myers emerged from the bushes. Lucas essentially jumped behind Elizabeth and screamed. Thinking it was just some shitty kid Lizzie ran up and pulled the mask off. She was expecting some asshole like Troy but instead beneath the disguise there was slightly tangled orange hair. Max was laughing and her face was scrunched up.

“That was quite rude Elizabeth Harrington, and you” pointing to Lucas “You scream like a little girl!”

The next hour of the night was Elizabeth going between Max and Mike. Max was learning all of the town info and Micheal was complaining about Max. Liz really wanted to listen to him but she was just distracted. When going down a more quite street the group was ambushed by many kids in masks one of which was Madison Moley. They screamed names such as “zombie boy” at Will scaring him enough to drop his camera. Soon they had all of them with their hands pinned behind their back. “What is this?” Dustin screamed.

“Get off of me you asshole!” Beth said as she was picked up by an older teenage boy.

“Calm down little Harrington!” She then figured out by his voice that the boy picking her up was Tommy H, one of Steve’s old douchebag friends. She kicked and kicked at him. “Stay still you little cunt.” He said as Madison walked up to her taking off her mask. She dropped the mask and slapped Liz across the face. All the boys and Max had been protesting these actions screaming “No!” And “Stop!” But when Elizabeth was slapped Mike maneuvered his way out of the hold of the older boy, and began to run towards Madison. Before he got that far he was pushed onto the ground, where he was held down again.

“Leave them alone Madison, just punch me and get it over with!” Madison laughed.

“Punch you? I’m gonna do more than punch you slut. You’ve become such a lesbo since hanging with the rest of these faggots. I’ve talked to that poorly dressed carrothead’s brother, Billy, and he doesn’t like the idea of his sister hanging with queers.” Tommy tightened his grip.

“This Billy is a lot scarier than us, don’t even try to cry to big brother Stevey. Billy terrifies your pussy of a brother.” The comment of Steve caused Elizabeth to kick Tommy in the knee. “Jesus Christ! Moley get this over with!” Madison then pulled a razor knife out of the pocket in her flared jeans. At the sight of the knife the rest of the group exclaimed. As Lizzie tried to resist Madison used her left hand to cup the bottom of her face. Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike protested even louder as Madison cut into the thick flesh of Beth’s cheek.

“Will! WILL! WILL!” The scream from Micheal caused everyone to turn. The boy holding Will looked at will and let go in disgust. William was having another episode.

“What the fuck.” Tommy muttered.

“Shit!” Elizabeth said as Madison questioned what was wrong with him. “Tommy I swear to god let go of me right now! If he dies do you really want it to be on you?” After a second of hesitation he let her go.

“Lets get out of here” he said to the rest of the group. As a last ditch effort, Madison pushed Liz to the curb, cutting up her knees really badly. Mike was the first to get to Will. He woke, but he did not seem fine at all. Mike took him back to his house alone even though Dustin insisted they shouldn’t. Beth sat down on the curb and cried. Lucas and Dustin stared unsure of what to say. When Dustin finally opened his mouth Max told them both to get out of there. They took her order and walked off.

Once they were out of view, the redhead sat down next to the blonde. Max debated comforting Elizabeth by rubbing her on the back or speaking or something completely different. She ended up just saying “Look at me.” Liz lifted her head and wiped the mascara from her cheeks. “Jesus your lip is bleeding.” Max goes to use her finger to get rid of the blood.

The second they make contact Elizabeth says “Don’t touch me.” Max moves back, slightly shocked.

“God, I’m just trying to help.” Liz looks to the floor.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just kinda jumpy.” She says wiping her nose.

“I’ll leave you be then.” Max says getting up grabbing her prop knife and candy. Beth almost lets her go but she can’t.

“Max please.” The redhead turns only a few feet away “Please don’t leave me alone.”

They walk to the Harrington house. Elizabeth’s knee caps sting and the bottom half of her dress is covered in blood from the intense scraping. When they arrive Max first acknowledges the size of the house and then grabs a first aid kit from under the sink.

“This is gonna hurt okay?” Max says applying a damp cotton ball.

“Jeez.” Elizabeth says in pain “How do you know all this anyway?” Max explains that when you skateboard cuts and bandaids are like homework and pencils for school. Liz stays on top of the kitchen counter while Max applies bandages. The redhead props up the Harrington girl’s legs with the other two counter chairs while she sits on the last one. Elizabeth holds frozen peas to her face while Max opens up about her parents divorce and the Billy that was mentioned earlier. They talk until the front door unlocks quickly and loudly. They both sit up, afraid of a repeat of the events earlier. Instead a very upset Steven Harrington walks in. He makes eye contact with Max who awkwardly waves and then looks to his sister.

“Shit E! What happened?”

“I should go.” Max says grabbing her mask, prop, and candy. Elizabeth says goodbye as Steve moves the frozen peas to reveal her busted lip and cut on her cheekbone covered by a CareBear bandaid. She told him the story but left out many details, like most of the dialogue, the fact Tommy H was there, and the mention of Billy. She cried through most of it, explaining that she just wanted to be perfect and not a freak. Even though Steve could be a bit air headed he was correct when explaining that Madison, Nicole, and Bailey were not normal or perfect.

In an attempt to cheer her up he made them Shirley temples to drink while they dipped their feet in the pool. It was then that Elizabeth asked what happened to him. He explained the whole drunk Nancy “bullshit” stuff, and even though he said he’d kill her if she told any of her friends, he cried. The siblings were held together in that moment by the fact that they would always have each other.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks were a hurl of emotions. Dustin had adopted some strange creature from his trash that they then lost. They spent forever looking for it, just to find out Dustin was hiding it in his house with ended with his beloved cat Mews dying to a tiny demogorgan. Fearing the reactions from the others, Dustin went to Steve instead. Meanwhile, William was suffering from the control of the Mind Flayer. This ended with Max finding out about all that happened November 1983 from Lucas, her not believing until she saw a real demodog, Steve and Elizabeth fighting demos with a nail baseball bat and SYDNEY, her getting scratched by a claw, a lot of yelling between her, Dustin, and Lucas, the soles of Lizzie’s flats falling off while going through the woods, until they all ended up at the Byer’s household.

Liz turned up to the house in Steve’s jacket, one singular ballet flat, and a torn up dress decorated with blood and alternate dimension slime. Joyce insisted that she showered, and changed into Will’s clothing. Which put her with wet hair, his old Adidas, jeans, and one of Jonathan’s “The Smiths” shirts. Max took care of the damage on the younger Harrington’s side. Mike took heavy concern when he saw Lizzie’s wound but Max insisted he should focus on Will.

Steve explained what Elizabeth had told him about Halloween night to Hopper and Joyce. When Joyce played the video taken on Bob’s camera to give the older kids an idea of what this shadow monster was, Steve heard Tommy’s voice yelling at Beth before Joyce paused to show the dark figure. Once he put two and two together Steve abruptly went to storm out of the dining room to Liz, when Hopper stopped him. The police chief held a firm grip on the boy’s upper arm, and stared at him.

“She lied to me, I had no idea those assholes were there. They’re like twice her size! They could’ve killed her!”

“And that’s something to bicker about later.” Hopper said still holding his arm until Steve went to walk back next to Nance and Jonathan.

After the interrogation where Will ended up figuring out where they were. They all were put into fighting mode. Elizabeth had more bullets for SYDNEY that were given by Hopper, who didn’t seem too fazed at the idea of this thirteen year old shooting a loaded revolver. Even though she was armed Max still stood in front of her insisting that Liz was still hurt.

The gun would never actually be fired because the demodog came flying through the window already dead. Everyone in the room was completely confused, until the door was unlocked and opened revealing Eleven dressed head to toe in punk gear.

After Mike had his, in Liz’s opinion justified, meltdown, the others took their turn with El. First she hugged Dustin and Lucas, then coldly ignored Max’s introduction as well as her outstretched hand, and walked to Elizabeth. The reunion was emotional, her first genuine friend that was a girl was alive and looked absolutely awesome.

“Hurt, you’re hurt.” Eleven stated touching the bandaid on Liz’s face after breaking the hug.

“I’ll be fine El.” She said as she embraced the girl again.

When Mike came out from talking to Hopper he seemed distraught. When she went to talk to him though she decided to let him be with the girl he’d been missing dearly for 353 days.

After sorting out the next phase of the plan, the assigned groups split off. Steve was left with the four non-possessed non-superpowered kids. Steve desperately wanted to bring up Tommy’s unmentioned presence on Halloween, but decided to listen to Hopper and leave it for later. Elizabeth was still hurt but much improved from a few hours before. After Eleven left, Mike sat down right next to Beth and they both sat silent and extremely stressed together. When Max saw the two close together she decided to back off, thinking some of her day dreams were extremely stupid and went to speak with Lucas.

“We have to do something, Liz” Mike said staring at the walls covered in crayoned tunnels.

“I know Mike but-“

“You weren’t there, there was so many of them, so many.” With a small tear trickling down his face he turned to the blonde and continued “They’re not going to make it without extra help.”

“So what do we do?”

“The others and I will talk to your brother, and you” he throws one of Will’s sketch books “make us the best goddamn map you can out of this.” He points to the scribbled walls. The girl nodded and grabbed the pen resting on the side table. She got up analyzing and remembering information from History class that she had before thought was useless. Mike rallied the rest and began speaking with Steve. After a while of bickering about sports positions the voices were suddenly halted when the sound of car was heard pulling up to the house. Both Max and Liz went to the couch and looked through the window.

“It’s my brother, he- he can’t know I’m here, he’ll kill me.” She turns to the younger Harrington and firmly stated “He’ll kill us.” Elizabeth turned back to the window with even more fear. Steve immediately went out the door and the kids watched as a smoking Billy Hargrove emerged from the blue vehicle. The conversation wasn’t quite loud enough to understand the words being spoken, but they could see the two boys stepping towards each other. Once Billy stops close to Steve, he gestures to the brunette, the house, pauses until he eventually points straight to Max in the window with is flaming cigarette.

“Shit!” Dustin exclaims as they all duck down. “Did he see us?” The blond turned to Lucas scared for what was to come. They all hear one of the boys hit the dirt. Lizzie winces assuming it was most likely her brother. A loud grunt from Steve being kicked in the stomach is heard next. Lucas points to the wall, the teens follow ending up in front of the door. Elizabeth realizes SYDNEY is still placed next to the couch, but the second she goes for the gun: the door slams open. Billy.

“Well, well, well.” Billy walks towards the blonde “Elizabeth Harrington. What a surprise. You’re friend Madison’s told me a lot about you.” He turns to the redhead “I thought I told you to stay away from her Max.”

“Billy go away.” Max bravely speaks, he simply ignores her.

“You disobeyed me, and you know what happens when you disobey me.” Max attempts to cut him off but is yet again ignored “I break things.”

Billy suddenly lunges towards the already injured Harrington, lifting her up by the collar of Jonathan’s shirt. He drags her forward until she is slammed into a book shelf. The others exclaim. He pushes her back into Joyce’s ceramics several times before Liz speaks up. “Get off of me!” He holds her down firmly, she can feel the shelves poking into her back and legs.

“If Maxine won’t listen to me maybe you will.” She stops struggling as much and meets his eyes. Right now she holds more fear than when she had faced the dogs earlier, but she attempts to stay strong. “Stay away from her.” He aggressively pushes her again breaking a pot with her head. “Stay!” He screams “away from her!”

Liz’s breathing is rapid and her head stings while the room slightly spins. “You hear me, faggot?” The last word is spit into her face. Something about this specific name jumpstarts her brain. She forces her eyes fully open and stares into his orbs.

“I said, get off of me!” She uses the younger Byer’s adidas to nail Billy in the balls. He drops her she slips slightly but regains balance, staring at him ready to face whatever comes next.

` “You are SO DEAD, Harrington! You’re dead.” She clenches her fists knowing she won’t go down without a fight. Until Billy is pulled back by her older brother.

“No, you are.” Steve impressively nails him directly in the cheek. Billy stumbles backwards, Liz takes this as her cue to run into the arms of Mike Wheeler. Lucas and Max stand in the front as Billy erupts in laughter in the kitchen.

` “Looks like you’ve got some fire in you after all, huh?” Billy’s nose drips with blood as he mocks the older Harrington “I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone has been telling me so much about.” He walks until he’s an inch in front of his face.

“Get out.” Steve says firmly, pushing on Billy’s bare chest. Frankly he was holding back, everything in his body was telling him to beat the shit out of this mullet wearing man child that beat up his little sister and called her an extremely offensive untrue term. Billy attempts to sock Steve, but surprising he dodges and hits Hargrove again. “Yes! Beat his ass Steve!” Dustin screams eagerly. Steve socks Billy twice more, reaching the sink. Billy again begins laughing bleeding more than ever, but to Steve this still wasn’t enough. Just as Steve is about to throw again, the plate in Billy’s hand harshly makes contact with the so called perfect hair. Max screams Billy’s name as the others move back in fear. Steve marches back but is hit in the chin. The kids cautiously keep moving backwards as the step-brother throws things off the shelves and reaches the living room. He holds Steve up by his Members Only jacket.

“No one tells me what to do.” Billy then uses his head to throw the brunette across the room.

“Stop it!” Elizabeth screams genuinely fearing for her brother’s life. Billy lets out a loud yell, cheering for himself, as he turns and hits the girl with a blow to the nose. She falls but is caught by Mike and Lucas. Max is highly alarmed as Billy goes back to the older Harrington, getting on top of him. Billy hits Steve over and over. Lizzie is placed on the ground. She isn’t quite coherent but she can’t still hear the loud echo of knuckles meeting skin. The rest scream for him to stop. The ceiling spins for the young sister, until Mike’s is slightly pushed onto her from Max pushing him out of the way. She looks up to see the redhead slam the syringe previously used to put Will to sleep into the crease of Billy’s neck. He stands and pulls it out of him. He stares at Max.

“The hell is this? You little dyke what did you do.” He drops to the wood floor not having loyal friends to catch him. The boys step back as Billy recites his laughter one last time. Max looks to Beth then to the nail bat which she quickly grabs. She holds it up.

“From here on out you leave me and my friends alone, do you understand?”

“Screw you.” He mumbles. Max slams the bat down firmly between his legs, and pulls it back up from the now destroyed wood floor.

“Say you understand! Say it!” He doesn’t respond “SAY IT!”

` “I understand.”

“What?”

“I understand.” He closes his eyes and drifts off into medicated sleep. She lets go of the bat. The boys stand in shock. The red head reaches into his tight jean pocket and grabs his keys.

“Get the Harrington’s. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Elizabeth pretty much spent the entire car ride to the tunnels passed out, waking slightly when her brother began yelling at Max to “Stop the car!” She could feel the sharp turns and when her head would hit into the gasoline can that Mike was holding, but still she couldn’t fully arise from her pain induced slumber. At least not until after the car made an abrupt stop and her brother yet again began to yell.

“What are you, deaf? Hello!” Steve yelled at Mike while he tied the rope to the car.

When the blonde’s eyes fully opened she became aware that she no longer had her head resting on Mike’s lap, instead it was the green jacket adorned with stripes usually worn by Maxine Mayfield. As she turned over she could smell the redhead's shampoo. Her head was racing and everything was still not really focusing. The curly haired boy suddenly came into her view.

“Hey Liz, how are you feeling” Dustin asked in a very strangely calm voice.

“Fuck off.” Lizzie said quietly and coldly. She didn’t want him she wanted Max.

“Well, ok. Jesus.” Dustin replied as she began to get out of the car. “Yeah, you might not want to do that yet.” Liz ignored his remarks but took his hand to attempt to stand up straight. Her feet crushed small sticks and dirt, this was an unfamiliar setting.

“Where are we?”

“Merril’s Farm aka the tunnels!” He said with enthusiasm. She looked around and saw Max, Lucas, and Mike dressed up in strange gear that was covering their eyes and mouths. She also could hear her brother continue to yell.

“This ends right now!”

“Steve, shut up.” Liz said as Dustin helped her towards him. The older Harrington went quiet when he saw his sister, the dried blood on her face made him even more angry. He wasn’t getting these kids more hurt.

“I know you’re upset, I get it.” Dustin begins handing off the girl to Steve, who immediately put an arm around her. Elizabeth rested her head on the Member’s Only jacket as Dustin continues. “But the bottom line is, a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now I know you promised Nance you’d keep us safe, so..” Dustin grabs the nail bat and holds it out. “Keep us safe.” Steve let out a heavy breath, putting his cold bloody hand on the back of Lizzie’s head.

“Fine, but Liz can’t come with us.” Steve says as he grabs the bat in his free hand. Elizabeth didn’t move but still spoke up.

“Normally, I’d object but my head is throbbing and I think I’d just slow you all down.”

“I'm not gonna just leave her by herself, so one of you has to stay.”

“I will.” Max said walking up and removing her goggles. “You guys know way more about this shit than I do.” Steve lets go of Liz and lets her limp to Max. She puts her arm over Max’s shoulder, and Max places her own on Beth’s waist.

“Alright.” Lucas says. “Go time.”

“Wait, Mike.” Elizabeth says looking up, Max helps her move towards him. The redhead's mind flashes with many ideas of what she could say next, most made her want to scream. Lizzie puts her hand next to Mike’s shoulder “Protect our best friend.” He nodded. Max and her watched as they all went down the hole. Their voices echoed as they took off.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s this way!” Mike huffed.
“You’re pretty sure or you’re certain?” Dustin questioned.

“I’m a 100% sure. Just follow me and you’ll know!” The two girls on normal ground giggled.

“Oh god, they’re so screwed.” Said the blonde.

“C’mon, let’s go sit.” Max ordered while still chuckling. The two girls moved to sit in Billy’s somewhat comfortable car. Elizabeth sat first and scooched so they could both sit in the backseat. “Here” Max said throwing her green jacket off the seat and to Liz. “You look cold.” She slightly mumbled. The receiver nodded a thank you at the kind offer. She put it over Jonathan’s shirt, that now had some nice dark red editions. The smell was still very evident, it brought her comfort in this strange situation. Max slammed the door closed. The next few minutes were spent looking out of their assigned windows.

“It’s kinda awesome.” Max noted, breaking the silence.

“What is?” Liz said turning to see Max’s window view.

“The fog, I mean. In a way it reminds me of home, looks like the ocean.” She said still keeping her eyes on outside the window.

“Do you miss California? The waves and the sun, it must make Hawkins seem pretty lame.”

“No, no, no. It’s not that. It’s just..” She turned to meet the younger Harrington’s eyes, then look down to her hands. “My dad’s still there. So.” Elizabeth suddenly felt much sorrow, and understood not having a dad around. She looked into Max’s face while she took a long breath and continued. “My mom and my stepdad, they wanted a fresh start away from him. As if.. as if he was the problem, which is total bull. And things…are just worse now. My stepbrother’s always been a dick but now he’s angry all the time and…well he can’t take it out on my mom so.” She looked up and gestured to Liz’s nose. “He wants to punish me, so he hurts people I care about. I’m saying this because well, I know I can be a jerk like him sometimes, and I do not want to be like him. Ever. And I’m sorry, this is my fault.” She put her hand to Elizabeth’s bandaid. “I’m sorry I didn’t step in sooner or something. I let him hurt your perfect face and I-“

“You’re not like him.” Liz says cutting her off. “You’ve done nothing but help me from when we very first met. And also nothing could ever ruin this perfect face.” The redhead chuckled with tears that had boiling up finally falling along her freckles. “I really like you Mad Max, and don’t feel sorry.”

“I really like you too Elizabeth Harrington.”

They spent the rest of the time speaking about Eleven, the gate, Will, their old friends, Beth’s complicated family life, Max’s stepdad, but mostly how annoying the boys can be. They chat was put to a stop when the party arrived outside the car. The girls got out and watched as the headlights lit up to full brightness just dim again.

“It worked.” Mike stated. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over.


Chapter Text

After all the shit that went down Elizabeth basically forgot about the Snow Ball dance. Although, she did remember when Dustin called her panicking on how to do his hair like Steve’s. Her knees were still super messed up but her white dress covered it, and with her nose the make up did a good enough job. She decided to rebel slightly by stealing some of her mothers jewelry to enhance her look. She buckled up her white heels that gave her maybe half an inch and she was ready to go. Steve first drove to pick up Dustin, lecturing him about getting girls the entire car ride, while Liz worried about seeing Madison, Nicole, and Bailey. When walking in she linked arms with Dustin, to her it didn’t mean anything but she should’ve thought more about his massive crush on her for years. Once they stepped foot into the gym Beth saw that Madison and her group were walking towards them, she stopped in her tracks along with Dustin since they were entangled together. She held her breath preparing for the worst but to her surprise they just walked right by her. This confused her but she decided just to keep moving to get to Mike and Will.

“Hey Nance.” Dustin said attempting to sound as cool as possible, Liz simply rolled her eyes and kept them moving. Once they finally reached the table, her and Dustin untangled and spun each other around.

“Holy shit. What happened to you?” Mike said genuinely shocked. Lizzie thought Micheal’s suit jacket really made him look like his father, but still Mike.

“What do you mean what happened?” Dustin said genuinely worried. Everyone shared their opinions, a “What?” from Mike, a “Dude!” from Lucas, and “Your hair!” from Max. Liz just giggled as Lucas searched Dustin’s up-do for a bird. As they all continued to joke, they were suddenly cut off by Cyndi Lauper. The classic slow romantic song began and it totally shifted the mood. The party watched as everyone began to couple up. For some reason this brought great anxiety to Elizabeth, she still wasn’t fully aware why but she also didn’t want to find out. She watched Lucas make a sharp turn to face Max.

“Max.” The redhead turns “Hey.” He says trying to seem nonchalant but Beth can see straight through it and it’s making her angry. Max stares at him as he continues. He gets to the words that the younger Harrington was dreading “You want to, um..you wanna like… you know? Like just you and me?” Liz could feel her heart ponding and her stomach began to hurt. After forever Max finally replied.

“Are you trying to ask me to dance, stalker?” Lucas than denies this but is pulled away by Max who interrupts him with a “Sooo smooth.”

As the two walked towards the dance floor, Liz’s face began to feel hot. All of a sudden this place became a nightmare. She didn’t understand why she was so upset, why any of this was happening. It’s not like she had a crush on Lucas or anything, all the boys had pretty much taken turns crushing on Liz when they were younger but she never felt the same. She never liked any of the boys, and she had never really liked a boy at all. She actually had never even liked a boy.

Elizabeth looked down to her hands, she felt as if they had betrayed her. As if her whole body had betrayed her. What was happening why was she all of sudden feeling and realizing all of this. Her mind raced with memories. When her and Max first met, the smiles she gave in the hallway, her old friends seemingly triggering her by terms, how she never liked to change in the girl’s locker room because it scared her, how she was always so afraid to tell people the full truth, how she never really knew the full truth, how Max took care of her when she was hurt, the eye contact they could hold with one another, when Max placed her hand on her waist, when- Then suddenly her mind took over and flashed an image of herself dancing with Max. The tears hit Liz like a truck. She was not a good person, just someone who had pretended her whole life. She was a traitor of everything she had ever wanted to be. Elizabeth Harrington was a monster.

To the boys it had seemed as if Lizzie had been put into auto pilot, without saying a word she ran out of the gymnasium. None of them went after her, she had disappeared into the swarm of people and Will had just gotten asked to dance. It’s not that they didn’t care, they were just distracted and assumed she had gotten her period or something. Honestly, to Liz that was for the best. She didn’t want anyone to see her. She thought about running into the woods but thought of how stupid she would look if she somehow got kidnapped after everything she’d been through. Instead she sat on a bench outside the school for a moment. It was so cold out, every part of her already felt so unwelcome that the breeze invading her further made her almost wish for simple death. Every piece of leg hair she had accidentally missed stood straight up and her breathe was visible in the air. The only thing about her even remotely warm was the salty liquid spilling out of her eyes, ruining her make up. She needed to go home, or at least get farther than 100 feet from her friends. She got up, used the tips of her fingers to remove fallen blue eyeshadow and mascara, and set off in search of her brother’s car.

After walking a few yards, she saw her brother. For some reason he was with Mrs. Byers and the chief. She strolled quietly towards the three until she could hear her brother’s voice.

“Thank you again Chief for protecting my sister.”

“It’s nothing, those little preps were scared shitless so easily.” Hopper said inhaling his cigarette.

“Hop, what did you do?” Will’s mom asked, very concerned. Liz decided not to eavesdrop any longer. She began to move forward, starting to pretend.

“Hey guys.” She said smiling.

“E why aren’t you inside?” Steve promptly questioned.

“Are you cold sweetheart?”

“I’m fine Joyce, I was just going to ask if we could go home.” She attempted to keep her face uplifted but she ever so lightly fell, and her brother could tell something was off. “Please” She said the moment he opened his mouth. He nodded.

“See you around.” Steve said to the two adults. Liz just waved. As they went to the car, Elizabeth focused on the sound of her heels hitting the concrete. She held herself up as high as she could. Steve took out his keys and unlocked her door first. She sat down, fully feeling her weight. She listens as Steve walks around the car, she stares towards the gym door. Her nose begins to hurt. Steve shuts his door and looks to Liz. Again, her body betrays her. She begins to cry.

“Oh, Beth. What happened?” He says embracing his sister. She sniffles and replies saying she doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Can we just go home.”

“Yeah, yeah sure.” The brunette says starting the car. The rest of the car ride is silent. Once they arrive at the house, Steve tells her he needs to get groceries and that he’ll be back soon, and for once she believes he’s not just trying to bang someone. She walks up the stairs and takes her shoes off, immediately throwing them to her wall once she enters her room. She crashes onto her bed, and screams into her pillow. The whirl of emotions she was feeling was so unfamiliar and scary. She just wanted it to stop, she decided she just needed to distract herself. She goes downstairs to watch TV. She clicks through the many romantic programs that make her want to shove the antennas in her eyes, until she finally lands on a show she likes. After about thirty minutes she hears the doorbell ring. “Goddammit Steve, how did you already lose your house key again.” She mumbles as she walks towards the door. When she unlocks it, she’s met with Maxine Mayfield.

“Hi.” Max says kind of quietly, Liz doesn’t respond.”Is it okay that I’m here cause I wasn’t sure if this was a good idea or not and I-“

“Of course, come in.” Elizabeth stutters out, making way.

“Thank you.” Max awkwardly states as she walks in.

“Um…my room’s up here.” Beth says pointing up the stairs.

“Oh cool, uh let’s go.” They both head up the stairs, the blonde leading the way.

Upon entering, Max began to check out every poster and picture that adorned Lizzie’s flower wallpaper.

“Sorry, it’s uh kinda messy.”

“No, no. It’s really cool.” Max says still looking around. “Do you let the boy’s in here?”

“Only Will, I don’t trust the others upstairs.” The Mayfield girl chuckles.

“What about me?”

“What about you, Max?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, duh that’s why I let you in here.” She says trying to go back to her normal self.

“No, I mean” She pauses “Do you trust me in general. Like to keep a secret.”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. I guess cause I trust you.”

“Cool.” The younger Harrington says not quite sure where this is going and hoping Max can’t tell she was crying before.

“And what I mean by that is that, well.” Max says looking at the floor, she looks up. “There’s something different about you Elizabeth Harrington, something special. I don’t know if it’s cause you’re the only person I know that’d show up to a monster fight in flats and a dress” They both laugh “or the fact that you’re really pretty.”

Beth halts and looks to Max, she’s scared but wants to hear more. Max clears her throat. “The boys, they…they told me you left. Is everything okay?” Liz doesn’t want to lie but she feels like she has to.

“Yeah, I’m just not feeling a hundred percent I guess.” Max nods silently and looks to the pictures of Elizabeth doing ballet, ice skating, and riding the slide at the only park in Hawkins. “Those are old.” Beth states, embarrassed.

“I like this one.” Max says pointing to a tiny Liz going down red plastic. “You look really happy, like your completely yourself. You still have the same smile.” The redhead laughs slightly. Everything in Elizabeth hurts, she feels so out of control. But has she ever truly been in control? Since she can remember every movement, every outfit, every meal, every conversation, every word, had been curated to make her look a certain way. Except, when she was with Maxine. She didn’t want to pretend any more, she couldn’t. So for the first time in her life she truly let go. She steps towards Max and stops less than an inch from her face. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t of-“ but Max is cut off by Elizabeth kissing her. Max puts her hands onto Lizzie’s waist, the blonde pushes up further by her feet to better meet the redhead’s lips. They release. Her head wants to regret it but she simply can’t. She knows it’s wrong, it’s so very wrong.

Elizabeth is the first to speak “I’m not-“

“Oh me neither.” Max responds.

Chapter Text

Winter break that year was quiet. The Harrington parents had reached a new low, for the very first time in either of the siblings lives: neither of them came home for Christmas. Steve wasn’t entirely surprised but it was still a step towards the worse. Elizabeth was sad, she liked routine. Each winter holiday was spent with both parents hungover from a party the night before, so present opening wouldn’t really start until noon. When Liz was younger her father would actually get her gifts, this stopped during the third grade. Mrs. Harrington always bought dresses, sometimes she would even buy them a size to small for “encouragement.” It never really bothered Lizzie too much, the dresses were cute and she could skip dinner a couple times to make her mother happy. Some kids showed their mothers drawings to impress them, for Mrs. Harrington the only thing that impressed her was the measurement of her daughters waist. Unlike the younger, every Christmas Steve just got money. It wasn’t a bad present, there was just absolutely no emotion in it. The cash would be spent on groceries, sometimes clothes, and in his douchebag phase: alcohol and drugs.

Neither parent really cared about how their kids felt, they only cared about how they looked to the outside. The deluxe that came when they didn’t show up this year was the extra time for both the siblings wounds to heal. If she had seen, their mother would’ve thrown a fit. Not about her children being hurt but about what other people would think.

After the Snowball, Elizabeth sort of went silent. She was confused, very confused, and part of her was scared. What had happened with Max? Why did she let herself do that? The questions tormented the girl during the night. Max had gone off to California for break, it was the only scheduled time during the year she could see her father. They hadn’t spoken since that night. Liz was scared, terrified even. She still didn’t understand what was wrong with her. These were the thoughts that kept her awake on Christmas Eve. She didn’t hit sleep until around midnight. When she raised from her slumber the clock read 9:17 AM. She groaned and stumbled onto her rug, immediately noticing she needed to redo a pedicure. She stood and framed herself in the mirror. Per usual her hair was a mess and hadn’t retained the shape of the braids it was put in. She undid the crisscross pattern and brushed through her hair. Her reflection always made her disappointed, but especially today. She wished her mom was here to fix her, even though those makeovers caused their own kind of pain. She decided to ignore the thoughts and just go downstairs in her nightgown. The wood floor was it’s usual freezing temperature and sent a chill from her bare feet to her head. Steve’s room was empty so she beelined for the steps. Upon arriving in the lower level, she saw the back of her brother’s head sitting on the couch. He had coffee and was staring at the blank TV.

“Hey,” He turned.

“Hey E.” She sat next to him.

“Pretty shitty Christmas, huh?” She said staring at the place where they would usually put a tree.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you a tree.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She said placing her head on his shoulder, he’s wearing one of his itchy sweaters that Nancy liked. He reaches into his jean pocket.

“I did get you something though.” She turns in curiosity. He pulls out a silver chain adorned with the letter E, an exact replica of the one she had for years. “I figured since you lost the other one saving my ass from monsters, I owed you.” He places it into her open hand. Liz stares for a moment and clenches her fist. She hugs him, something they used to never do but became more common after all the shit they went through.

“Thank you.”

“Merry Christmas, shorty.”

“Merry Christmas, douchebag.”

Chapter Text

Once she returned for her second semester as an 8th grader at Hawkins middle, everything felt different. Elizabeth had told no one of the kiss shared in her room. In her head she insisted that they were just friends and nothing more. Two girls couldn’t be something more.

She wasn’t totally clueless, she knew what a lesbian was. It was just more thought of as an insult than an actual thing. She concluded that she wasn’t a queer because as far as she knew, her birth was normal, her body was normal, and her brain was medically normal. Maybe this meant that her desires were normal?

Liz never really dreamed about boys or boyfriends. Her assumption was always that one day she’d find her prince charming. Maybe, she only wanted to kiss Max because all the boys in this town are shit. So once she found her prince, she’d feel this deeply about that guy. Maybe, it was because Max tended to wear boys clothes. Girls could be more serious and weren’t gross, maybe Lizzie had just categorized Maxine as a boy. But, she wasn’t a boy, she was a girl. A girl Beth kissed, and even though she could never say it out loud: she wanted to kiss her again. She wanted Max’s hands on on her waist and in her hair again. These were the kind of thoughts that made her wonder if she was just broken.

She thought about talking to Steve about it, that was a quick no. Then she thought about Nancy Wheeler. That’s the girl who helped her when she got her first period, she could probably help. Maybe she had even had the same sort of feelings towards a friend. That idea was ruled out as well because after what Nance had said to her brother on Halloween, the younger Harrington wasn’t her biggest fan.

For the first day of school, Liz wore: a pale yellow dress with sleeves, a white wool button up cardigan, and her gray winter coat. It hadn’t snowed in their town yet but, it was absolutely freezing. Before all the alternate dimension shit, biking to school in this miserable weather was the worst act in the world. Her limbs would freeze up and every part of her would ache as the color drained from her skin. She’d shiver and watch in envy as her peers would be dropped off in cars by their parents. Steve seemed to not give a single shit back then, so Liz never even tried to ask for a ride. Now, it was all different. No matter the weather, Steve drove her. Trip to study at the library, Steve drove her. Needed sanitary products, Steve drove her. A hangout at the Wheelers, Steve drove her (but a bit of that one was to see Nance).

Will wasn’t coming back to school immediately. He still needed some time to recover. His entire body had been invaded by a mind flaying monster, his every move was controlled, and he was forced to spy which lead to death. In the few times they had talked after the Snowball, Will was feeling much better but still scared.

At the first winter break hangout with all of the part (minus Max), Micheal asked Lizzie why she left.

“I mean, I turned around and you, you were gone.”

“Yes.” El added “I did not see you.” Liz insisted that she had been sick and told them all to stop prying.

“I’m fine seriously, and El, I bet you looked amazing.” As she added the last part she placed her hand on top of Jane’s. She removed it relatively quickly, worrying that if she left it there for too long it could come off as strange.

Winter break was over now, Steve was driving her to school, she wasn’t freezing to death, none of her friends were possessed, and she just needed to act normal.

“You okay, E?” Steve questioned when he noticed that she hadn’t spoken the entire car ride. He was used to her insults on his intelligence in the morning. Unfortunately she usually had a point, his four years younger sister was in the same section of math as him.

“Yes.” She uttered not moving her eyeliner from the window. “I’m fine.” She wasn’t fine though, she was terrified. Terrifies to see Max again. What would they say to each other? They could not speak of what had happened. Or could they? This was all such unfamiliar territory to Liz. Maybe, this was a normal thing in California, but it was definitely not normal in Hawkins. Now Elizabeth was starting to really panic.

As she was getting out of the car, Steve wished her a good day to which Liz simply responded with a thumbs up. She was praying he was correct. Still she had this intense feeling that today was not going to go well.

Chapter Text

Liz met up with the three boys in front of their shared first period: Mr. Clarke. She’d never exactly been the best at science but thankfully had these nerds to help her out.

“I cannot believe Mrs. Larson is giving us a test the day we get back!” Lucas said with much frustration.

“I know! I mean what if I forgot all of Spanish over break!”

“Dustin, I seriously doubt you forgot all of Spanish over break. If you’re really worried, I’ll help you at lunch. I’ve been studying.” Studying made her not think about Max as much. “There’s no way the test is gonna be super hard.” Just as the last words dropped, an oddly familiar sound of scuffed rubber wheels rolling was coming down the hallway. She turned around just in time to see Max kick up her skateboard. She was wearing a pair of jeans, her signature red converse, a matching red t-shirt with some sort of graphic on it, and a brown racer jacket.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to skate in the hallways.”

“And I don’t think I care, Wheeler.” Max commented in response to Mike. They still weren’t the biggest fans of each other.

“Hey Max.” Dustin said in a deepened voice, that made the others tilt their heads in confusion. “Would you by any chance want to study for Larson’s test at lunch, with yours truly and Liz?” Lizzie eyed Dustin slightly offended. She hadn’t offered to be everyone’s teacher, and she was also sort of scared of even being close to Max again.

The redhead looked to the boy, the girl, then the boy again.

“Sure.”

“So, Max” Lucas stated jumping into the conversation. “How was California?” He had been confused about the Mayfield girl. Especially confused why at the dance the second she noticed Elizabeth was gone, she disappeared and didn’t come back. He was worried that he was such a bad dancer that she had just been dying to get away from him and left at the very first excuse. Ultimately he decided to stick to the theory that cooties might be real.

“Warm.” She replied, not sounding interested in speaking further at all.”

“Uh, cool. Winter break here was-“ the bell rang “-fun.”

“Cool.” She said nodding sarcastically as if she had been impressed by his words. Lucas cringed as she walked to the blonde. “I missed you, Beth.” This statement made Liz feel as if her skin was rising above her body, she was very warm in the cheeks. Max then was the first to enter the classroom, skateboard in hand.

“I think she hates me.” Lucas said once she was out of earshot, he felt defeated.

“Maybe she doesn’t want a boyfriend.” Mike piped “Maybe she just wants a girl best friend.” He said gesturing Elizabeth.

Do girl best friends kiss each other?

“How about I do your make up, Lucas?” She started trying to switch the attention off her. “Give you a nice dress? Some heels? If she doesn’t like Lucas maybe she’ll enjoy Lucille.” This was a very normal kind of sarcastic banter a younger Lizzie expressed constantly. She went off into Mr. Clarke’s room.

“Lucille!” Dustin laughed, which resulted in him receiving a slap on the shoulder from Sinclair.

“Shut up, Daphne!” He retaliated. Mike snorted for brief second and followed Liz into Science, leaving the two boys to hash out their usual quips at one another.

“At least Daphne’s a princess, asshole!”

Chapter Text

The next few months were long but manageable. Everyday felt the same to Elizabeth. She was sort of hanging out with the boys again, even at lunch. Ever since Hopper had talked to her old friend group, Madison, Nicole, and Bailey had pretty much backed off. There will still some things, such as the carving in the main girls bathroom that read: “BETH THE BITCH.” Elizabeth had discovered it after some whispers in the hallway. When she first got to see it, she traced her fingers over the carved lettering, and a single tear fell from her eyes. She also hated it because she knew that the only one her really called her Beth now was Maxine. At that point, Max was making her cry more than some mean words from a former friend ever could. They had kissed again. The group had come over to see a movie at the Harrington House. During the screening of the original ALIEN Max had slowly moved her hand towards Liz’s. Once they made contact, the red head spent the duration of the film tracing over Elizabeth’s knuckles. After the boy’s left, Max proposed a sleepover. Originally the blonde girl hesitated but ultimately accepted because what would be weird about two girls hanging out in one room for a whole night? Elizabeth had done the very same activity with other girls, so why did it feel different with Max.

After a few minutes of silence in the upstairs bedroom Liz explained that she wanted to go to bed because it was late.

“It’s 9:30.”

“Yeah well, that’s late for me so…” Lizzie said as she went through her drawers looking for a nightgown.

“Is something wrong?” After these words the shorter girl snapped around.

“No, nothings wrong! Jesus!” Max put her hands up in defense. Liz finally decided on a suitable sleeping dress. “I’ll be right back.” She exited the room to change.

In the bathroom Elizabeth unbuttoned her dress and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still a kid, but a teenager now. Puberty was weird and uncomfortable enough. This girl’s judgment towards her body had already been severe due to her mother, but now she had a scar on her stomach. It wasn’t too large but noticeable. She wished it was badass, like Nancy’s. It wasn’t, just a reminder of how stupid she could be.

She decided she didn’t want to dwell on her body today and threw the nightgown over her head. When she returned to her room, Max was changed out of her jeans and in the gym shorts Lizzie had given her to sleep in. She was looking at the book collection. When Liz closed the door it made a click and Maxine spoke up.

“Are you mad that we kissed?” She didn’t turn around. The Harrington girl was taken aback. She almost told her to keep her voice down until she remembered Steve was already fast asleep and the walls were relatively thick. She stayed silent. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to change things.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m the one that kissed you first.” Max finally rotated to face her. A small smile adorning her freckled face.

“Yeah, I guess that is true.”

“I just..” Lizzie sat on her bed. “I don’t know why I did it. I’m not a fag.” She whispered the last word but it still held a bit of a sting for both the girls. “I mean I’m normal. I like dresses and make up and I want to be a cheerleader and I love Madonna and The Smiths and so many normal things. I’m normal. I want to be normal.” They made eye contact.

“I don’t think I’m normal, Beth.” They both hesitated to say another word, finally the blonde spoke up.

“Well you’re not a queer. I know that.”

“How?” Max responded back too quickly.

“Because you’re not perverted. You’re just a girl like me who thinks boys our age are disgusting… and that makes us want to kiss our best friend because she’s better than a boy could be right now.” In this moment Maxine was starting to understand that to Liz being a homosexual was like having a disease. Max thought for a moment but decided to keep her mouth shut.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“You are a good kisser though.” Elizabeth said staring at her bedsheets. “I hope my future husband is that good.” The redhead was sort of shocked by these words and how they contradicted the previous statements but her mind was interrupted by Liz asking: “Am I good kisser?”

“I mean yeah.” Max said in her joking tone, sitting down next to Lizzie. “I do think you’re gonna need some more practice if, you know, you wanna be really good for your uh future husband” The Harrington girl didn’t speak. “I mean only if you want. I don’t know.”

“Yeah sure. Practice it’s just practice.”

Elizabeth Harrington liked the practice more than the idea of kissing an actual husband, but she believed one day her mind would change, once she met the right man of course. These “practice sessions” lasted until the week for promotion from the 8th grade. Lizzie had a speech to give and insisted to everyone she needed to be alone to prepare. She had hoped that her parent’s would show. They didn’t, but Steve did, already dressed in his suit in gown for his graduation that was going to be later that evening.

The speech didn’t go well. She stuttered a bit at the beginning but got into a rhythm. After that there was a minute where she was simply going through her aggressively rehearsed speech on the correlation between middle school students and butterflies. She knew it was sort of stupid but she wanted her mother to like it when she still thought there was a chance of her presence. Liz was explaining migration when she felt gum thrown into her hair. She paused but thought she was just getting in her head and kept going. She felt it again and again. “Beth the bitch!!!” Some guy screamed from the back. She kept her eyes on the text but still heard her brother yell “Shut the fuck up, asshole!” Soon after a chant began. The party was horrified and prayed that she would keep going and defy these mouth breathers. The speech continued with shaky breaths and held back tears as the school staff tried to stop people from yelling and throwing things. It all finally ended when a small rock was thrown into Elizabeth’s face. She was broken and embarrassed. A few years ago no one would’ve fucked with her, but now she was a freak. The vision of the audience was blurry for her when she finally looked up. The only thing she could make out in the crowd was the ginger hair. She ran off the stage. Applause scattered. Steve went after her. The boys and Max went to follow. Principal Coleman yelled from the mic for everyone to stay in their seats. The response that followed was Dustin Henderson flipping him off.  Joyce Byers went after the kids, in shock that shit like this could even happen to the kids.

The party plus Mrs. Byers found Elizabeth hyperventilating in a bathroom stall with Steve standing outside telling her to open up and that “kids are fucking assholes.”

“Shit.” Max said pushing to the front and beyond Steve. “It’s the stall.”

“What stall?” Lucas questioned

“Beth the bitch.” Max remarked as she did a carving motion with her hands.

“I didn’t know about this.” The older Harrington declared.

“Me neither.” Mike said.

“Well she obviously doesn’t tell you guys shit.” Max spoke.

“She kinda told me.” Will uttered.

“What the hell!” Was given from Dustin.

  “Whatever let’s focus on her, not who she trusts with her secrets.” Max said stepping up to the stall door and knocking. “Hey Beth, it’s Max.” The sound of sobs were heard in response. “Look, as you know I haven’t been in this town for long but I have noticed that this place tends to breed a certain kind of human. The bully kind. Those kids, they don’t mean shit. But Beth you mean shit. You mean shit to all of us. Right?” She said turning to the group and got a feedback of scattered yes’s. Elizabeth crying had slowed but she still didn’t respond. Steve stepped forward.

“C’mon E. Come out here. It’s all your friends, Mrs. Byers, and your dipshit brother, who’s graduating today. And he would really love if you were there, and he’s sorry Mom and Dad don’t care enough to be here. But he loves you very much and just wants to get his damn diploma and get a good fucking milkshake.” The younger Harrington cracked a laugh.

“Okay.” She responded her voice clearly sore. The door unlocked and soon a face dripped in mascara, hair full of gum and some miscellaneous things that had also been thrown, a grayish dress, and kitten heels stepped out. All these things made up the Lizzie they all knew, just a especially sad one. She gave her brother a tight hug. The others watched onlooking the scene, not wanting to interrupt the sibling moment. He kissed her covered hair.

“I love you shorty.”

“I love you too, asshole.”

“Let’s go.”

She broke the hug and went to face her friends. Dustin went and was the first to embrace her, he was also crying. The rest followed while attempting to not burst out in giggles from Dustin’s emotions. Joyce and Steve were probably the ones having the hardest time holding back though.

“Who care’s what they say.” Was the first thing said in the group hug from Micheal. “You’re our Beth the bitch.”

“Yeah.” Lucas uttered.

“Our bitch.” Dustin said through tears. They all began to laugh. The moment ended and they went their separate ways. The party went off to play Dungeons and Dragons at the Wheeler’s. Liz went with her brother. The two groups waved at each other as they went separate ways. When Elizabeth was fully turned away, she realized that she could not be made fun of like that ever again, and now she was inevitably going back to her idea of being perfect. That was work for later, for after summer. First, there would be movies, pools, fireworks, music, and much more fun before high school. Little did she know that one summer could change everything.

Chapter Text

“Where the fuck is he?” Max exhales, they’ve been waiting around for a half hour. If Mike didn’t show up soon they were going to miss the movie.

“Just give him a bit, he’ll show.” Will says while scanning the parking lot for a black haired boy on a bike.

“A bit?” Lucas exclaims dramatically, “We’ve been here for like an hour!”

“Chill out Lucas, we have only been here for…” the Harrington girl checks her bright pink plastic watch, “32 minutes. Besides, we still have another 5 before it begins.”

“Well Lizzie, unlike you I deeply care about seeing this movie.” Lucas retorts, the blonde scoffs and tosses a curl out of her face.

“Who said I didn’t care?”

“Since when did you, miss princess, care about zombies?” Lucas says eyeing her up and down.

“I care about George A. Romero’s directing abilities, and for your information I thought Dawn of the Dead was quite good.”

“Oh really-“ Lucas is cut off by Will pointing to the overly crowded parking lot and acknowledging Mike Wheeler, he rolled down the rows of cars until slowing down and parking with the other bikes. “You’re late.” Lucas says ready to cut into him.

“Sorry!”

“Again!” Lucas is seriously way too pissed off about this.

“We’re going to miss the opening.” The redhead pipes up in a sing song type voice, Max only did that when she was truly fed up and wouldn’t let it fully show.

“Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it. Let’s go!” Mike starts his way through the doors, Max and Will follow.

“If you guys keep whining about it. Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh.” Lucas said as an impression of the Wheeler boy.

“Shut up Lucas.” Elizabeth says pulling him towards the rest of the group. They catch up and Lucas still can’t stop.

“Lemme guess, you were busy.” He makes kissing noises with his mouth.

“Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas.”

“Oh, El, I wish we could make out forever, and never hang out with any of our friends.” Will and the girls giggle because it’s true, every single day this summer Mike and Eleven can not stop kissing. Secretly, Max and Liz couldn’t really be talking but at least they did something other than connect lips, like watch movies and actually talk to each other.

“Lucas, stop.” Elizabeth says after resting her giggles.

“Will thinks its funny.” The blonde turns and stares down Will, he shrugs.

“Because it is.”

“Yeah, it’s so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend. Once all you single losers start dating you won’t be laughing.” Mike did have them beat there, no one else in the friend group was actually dating anybody. Lucas had given up on Max during the last half of eighth grade, Will had very much shut down anything with the girl at the snowball, Dustin’s crush on had resurfaced slightly with the amount of time the two spent with Steve but he too gave up, and Lizzie and Max we’re doing their own thing, that both girls categorized completely separately in their brains. Max would stay up in the dark just thinking about the younger Harrington and what they were, whereas Elizabeth shoved it all in a box.

Mike led them all down the escalator, there was lots of pushing and apologies given until they finally reached the bottom floor. The crowds at the mall were absolutely insane so it wasn’t very surprising when Lucas ran into some random girl with gigantic hair.

“Watch it!” Just as Lucas was about to apologize a little girl began to speak.

“Yeah watch it nerd!” It was his little sister Erica and her friends eating their Scoops Ahoy treats. Liz quite like Erica and would still sometimes babysit her, she always had been very witty and quick with insults. The siblings went back and forth.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Isn’t it time you died?”

“Psycho.”

“Butthead!”

“Mall rat!”

“Fartface!” Lucas then blew a raspberry in her direction.

“Oh, now that was mature” Max said making a callback to few moments earlier, Liz chuckled as they walked into Scoops. They walk up to counter, Mike and Liz in front. The current operator is Steve’s sarcastic co-worker: Robin Buckley. The younger Harrington was spending a lot of time with Steve this summer since he insisted her not to stay home alone. So, if she wasn’t with one of her friends or in her room with Max, she was working for free with her brother. She could say she hated it but Robin was pretty funny and she liked the company.

“Hey, dingus, your children are here.” Robin says loud enough for Steve to hear, she turns to the blonde, “Hey Liz.” She waves in response.

“Again? Seriously?” Steve says annoyed and worried about them getting caught. Mike rings the bell in response. After being let in the back, Steve opens the door meant for package deliveries but had been discovered as a free route to the movies by Elizabeth. They all file out and down the beige hallway. “Wait, E!” She turns and sees her brother gesturing towards her, there’s an eyeball but she does ultimately come back.

“I’ll be safe, Steve. No one’s murdering me at the movies.” She says crossing her arms.

“No it’s uh it’s not about that. Mom called.” Liz is puzzled, her mom never calls she just shows up and leaves with or without Mr. Harrington. “I know. Well, Grandma died.” The siblings hadn’t really known most of their grandparents. Their dad’s parents had both died before Liz was born, and their mother’s father had committed suicide when she was 15, making grandma the only elder relative left in contact. She would visit on occasion but she was rude and old. Constantly giving inputs on how everyone looked, even though she was quite large. Lizzie used to refer to her as “Rotund Rabbit” since she had a true obsession with bunnies. Now all that would be left of her were ugly miniatures of different hares that neither of the kids ever cared for. “She said something about needing to mourn and that her and dad wouldn’t be back for a while.”

“Shocker.” Elizabeth sad coldly, very fed up with her paternal and maternal figures.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a funeral or anything but, I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks Steve. Can I go now?”

“Yeah yeah sure.” She nodded and caught up with her friends, who hadn’t traveled far in those couple of minutes. Steve spoke up from far down the hallway. “If anybody hears about this-!”

“We’re dead!” They all finish for him.

Once they make it through to the theater, the group is greeted by the familiar pre-movie jingle. For the a millionth time they found theirselves pushing through different sizes of knees to get to the free seats. Mike next to Will, Will next to Liz, Liz next to Max, and Max next to Lucas.

“See Lucas we made it!” Mike said leaning over.

“We missed the previews!”

“Still made it, fart face.” Max interjects, causing William and Elizabeth to chuckle. Lucas makes a face and begins to watch the movie. “Everything okay?” Max says quietly to the blonde.

“Yeah, my grandma died.” Max’s eyes widened.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be it’s not a big deal, actually it’s not really a deal at all.” Liz fidgets with her hands for a second but the Mayfield girl’s eyes are still on her. “It’s fine. Really.” Max is satisfied enough and turns around. Will starts to pass out the snuck in snacks. The crinkling very much annoys the surrounding viewers.

“Want some?” Max says leaning her Apollo Bar over.

“I’ll stick with the water thanks.” She whispers, shaking her bottle slightly. Despite her grandma the thing that was actually protruding her brain was her constant battle with being “perfect.” Next year was going to be different, very different. She just wasn’t ready to tell the party that and especially not ready to tell Max.

Chapter Text

Lizzie spent the first bit of the movie lost in thought, until the projector suddenly stopped. The audience groaned in irritation, Max was especially annoyed. She leaned her head back and let out a loud “Come on!” Liz was also frustrated but needed something to jolt her out of her head anyways. Then the room went fully black. Commotion could be heard outside the theater door, making it clear that it wasn’t just them experiencing this outage.

“Shit!” Steve said back at scoops once he realized this was an entire mall ordeal.

“Jesus Harrington, you afraid of the dark?” Commented by her sarcastic co-worker.

“No” Steve replied flicking the switch up and down at a rapid pace. It wasn’t him who was scared by pitch black, it was his sister. She never had a problem with it as a kid, and if she had it’s not like anyone would’ve cared. But something about inter dimensional monsters and witnessing death created that phobia for her.

“That isn’t going to work, dingus.”

“Oh really?” Steve began flipping it up and down even quicker.

Liz wasn’t doing so great back in the theater. None of her friends knew how anxious this could make her but of course, Max immediately read her. Even though most of Elizabeth’s defining features were shadowed with the lack of light, the Mayfield girl could still see the fear in her eyes.

“Hey you good?” Liz nodded her head a little too fast in response. “Ok, I don’t believe you. Let’s get you a flashlight.” She turned aggressively and tapped Lucas. “Torch now please.”

“No can do, Will has it.” The girls leaned forward to see an outline Mike holding a flash light towards Will. The freckled boy was hitting it until it finally spurted light.

“Mike! Our turn!” Max yelled

“No, screw you!”

“Give it, asshole!”

“I said no!”

“Well I said-“ She was cut off by the blinding brightness that suddenly casted over the room.

Steve sighed in relief and turned to Robin. “Let there be light.” She simply scoffed in return.

The screen lit up once again and started to roll. The audience cheered.

“Fuck you, Wheeler.” Max said before settling back into her seat.

About halfway through the movie, the redhead inched her hand towards Lizzie’s until finger met finger. It shocked her at first and she turned to make sure no one was looking. All the boys were completely engrossed in the film, meaning they were safe. Liz allowed Max to intertwine with her. They shared a soft smile until a sudden jump scare popped up on screen. This made Elizabeth jolt and squeeze Max’s hand. Max laughed not even fazed by what just happened, she leaned to the blonde’s ear.

“For a girl who has shot guns at monsters, you sure are a scardey cat.” Liz rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply with an insult.

“Haha! No way! You two talk a lot of shit to be that scared of a zombie movie!” Lucas said gesturing to the girls’ hands. Elizabeth immediately let go and turned back to the screen completely embarrassed. Max was calmer.

“Shut the fuck up Lucas, at least we scream like normal people.” The boy fell silent knowing he couldn’t argue that fact.

She felt naked, completely exposed to everything. She didn’t move her eyesight from the screen and ignored Max when she went back for the hand.
The redhead began to whisper to the girl.

“Beth it’s-“

“Shhh!” A random audience member said. Max flipped them off and turned back to the younger Harrington. Lizzie stood up and left. Pissing people off as she bumped into their knees. Max slouched back in her seat, disappointed in all participating parties.

Elizabeth threw her water into the trash aggressively and slid through the employees only door. She kept down the hallway until she reached her brother’s workplace. In the three minutes it took to get there she had shed a few tears. Undoing her ponytail and placing her red scrunchie onto her wrist. Her striped shirt and skirt suddenly felt tighter than before. She pushed through the thoughts until abruptly slamming the Scoop’s Ahoy back door open. Robin gave Steve a “What the fuck?” look, making him go and see the source of the noise. Scooper in hand he pushed the red door with the circular window, revealing his little sister sitting on the floor. He immediately planted the scooper back and went down to her level.

“Hey kid. You doing okay?”

“Mhm” she said tapping her feet against the tile floor. “Just needed a minute.” Steve nodded.

“Cool, cool.” He paused for a breather, and took note of the smugged makeup and wet eyes. “Can I sit with you?” She nodded. He placed himself down next to her.

After a beat, Liz spoke. “What’s that?” She was pointing at the tallied up whiteboard at the other end of the room.

“Robin. She’s making fun of my current inability to get girls.” Lizzie chuckled. “Well it’s not my fault, it’s this goddamn costume.”

“You as a sailor is pretty fucking stupid.”

“This hat is ruining my hair!” They both laughed. “Anyways, enough about me and my blue balls.” Liz rolled her eyes in disgust of the phrase. “What’s the real reason you’re here and not with the other heathens.” Lizzie hesitated. She couldn’t say the truth, she was terrified how he would feel, even knowing she had just kissed a girl.

“The dark.” She lied. “I just don’t like it.”
She justified that it wasn’t a full lie and figured it was suitable for her brother’s intelligence level.

“Oh, yeah. I was worried. When the,” he pointed to lights and made a closed fist with his hand.

“I’m fine now though.” He didn’t trust this. “Really, I am.” She felt guilty for lying even further. He decided not to pry, that never ended well.

“Well I get off in an hour wanna wait and then we can take some ice cream to go? Maybe a movie back home?”

“Sure.” She said offering him a genuine smile.

“You gonna go back?”

“Yeah uh no. Movie was pretty boring anyways.”

“Okay. You can help out if you want?”

“No child labor yet Stevey boy.” A third voice that came through the door.

“Jesus Robin.”

“I’ll hang out with princess Elizabeth. She’s way more my speed than you.” She shoved sampling spoons into his chest. “Buh bye!” She said waving the older sibling away, he trudged back out to the customers.

“This is pretty genius.” Liz said motioning towards the “YOU RULE! YOU SUCK!” Board.

“Thank you little Harrington. I call it “destroying a prom king’s ego.” Pretty funny right?”

“Hilarious. He needs it.”

“I know!”

The two girls spend the rest of the night bonding an unlikely friendship, “a popular” and “a band nerd.” Lizzie liked Robin, she was funny and awkward in all the best ways. Robin very loudly let Steve know that she was in fact the “better” Harrington. At some point during this talk, the party stopped by. Steve was smart and told them that Liz just wasn’t feeling well and went home. The siblings then had their movie night, with the younger one still being too uncomfortable to eat. After Steve was asleep on the couch, she went up and got ready for bed. She didn’t like what she saw in the mirror, but this time it wasn’t because of her hair, or her body, or her skin, it was because of the emotions she contained and how truly disgusting they were.

Chapter Text

Liz awoke to sounds of chaos from downstairs.

“Goddammit, she’s asleep!”

“Don’t talk to your father that way!”

The sharp agonizing voice of her mother shot her straight up. She threw of her pajamas and picked up a blue dress, quickly zipping it up, brushing her hair, clipping back her longer strands to make her face appear more thin, rolled up socks, and shuffled into a white pair of flats. The yelling was still going on when Lizzie opened her door, only amplifying it. She stumbled down the stairs rapidly making a click from each step. She faced her brother and her parents, all standing in the living room.

“Wow look who decided to finally wake up.” Her father said sharply.

“Elizabeth Harrington, boy do I have some words for you!” Her mother snapped. She stepped until she reached her mom, terrified of what the red lipstick was going to spurt out next. “What is all this nonsense I am hearing from Mrs. Moley?” Fuck. Madison. Elizabeth thought. “That you’ve been hanging with those awful boys again, spending time with the faggot Byers boy and his crazy mother? That you’ve been around with a hippie girl who dresses like a boy? That you and Madison are no longer friends, that you punched her!”

“She hit me first!” Elizabeth shot back. This sent her mother aback. Usually she would remain quiet as her mother demeaned her, but this time things were different. Still it shocked Liz causing her to immediately mumble an “I’m sorry mom.”

“I do not give a damn! What have they done to you? What are you gonna become a fairy now too?”

“Okay look Mom,” Steve cut in. “those kids are harmless, they’re good in fact. Very smart, all of them. Even Byers. And the “hippie” is a nice girl.”

“Nice, really? Is it going to be nice when she convinces Elizabeth to join her cult!”

“Jesus mom, she’s from California not Utah.”

“Stop talking, Steven!” Their father yelled. “And you, Elizabeth, I can’t believe you have become such a disappointment, such a whore.”

“Don’t call her that!” Steve retaliated.

“She’s my daughter, I’ll call her whatever the hell I want! She’s spending time with all these boys, what do you think they want from her?”

“Pick one dad, are they fairies or perverts? And either way that’s fucking disgusting. It’s brave of you to even call her your daughter. You know why?” Steve said getting in his dad’s face. “Because you are never here! Neither of you! You don’t care about her you don’t care about us! You only care about your image!”

“If we didn’t care about you why do you think we’re here!” Steve scoffed in return.

“Yeah I’m so glad you’re here and not” he began to use air quotes “mourning!”

“We came to see how you two were grieving. We put you ahead of ourselves because we care.”

“Bullshit! You have never cared! You just needed more cash from the safe again!” This was a detail Liz wasn’t aware of. She knew her parents were both assholes but she thought they at least gave a bit of a crap about the kids. That’s why they would come back every so often, right?

Both parents went quiet.

“Oh wow! I caught you guys didn’t I?” Steve spoke sarcastically and loudly. Liz stepped back.

“Oh for Christ’s sake Elizabeth. Your brother is lying!” It all made sense now, she didn’t even know why her mother was trying to keep it up. The kids were there to make their grandmother happy, her mother’s long time goal. But now grandma was gone and there was no reason for them to even try to parent anymore.

“You’re such a fucking BITCH!” Liz screamed at her mother. She was met with a slap.

“Don’t you dare speak like that, you disgusting slut!” The hand to skin contact shocked Beth to her core. Maybe her mother was right. She was disgusting. Steve wasn’t the villain, but maybe it wasn’t her parents, maybe it was her.

“Don’t you hit her!” Steve said running in front of his sister. “Just go! Get your goddamn money and leave!” Lizzie’s cheek stung in pain.

“Oh Steven, we’re not leaving.” His father said pushing Steve back. Even though Steve was taller and in better shape, Daniel Harrington could still come off as terrifying. “Our neighbor, Larry Cline, has a new competitor.” Steve laughed.

“Mayor? You’re running for mayor? You can’t be serious.”

“Oh I am dead serious. And if I’m gonna win you two better shape THE FUCK UP!” His last words seemed to shake the whole house. “Steven, get your mother’s suitcase into her room and then you go straight to work. Elizabeth go to your room and stay there, I can’t even stand to look at you right now.” He motioned her off and went back to Steve. “You make some cash, spread the word about your father, and act like a man.” The two kids stood with their heads down, defeated. “Upstairs both of you now!”

As if they were military commanded by the captain the siblings sped up the stairs. Once they reached in between their doors, out of earshot, they both began to cry.

“Are you okay?” Lizzie croaked through sobs.

“Am I okay? E are you okay?” She shook her head. “Come here.” They embraced in a tight hug. “I’m so proud of you, I’m so fucking proud of you. You stood up to them.” Steve kissed her on the head, she was still shaking. “It’s gonna be okay. Everything’s going to be fine. Just listen to them for today, stay in your room and don’t come out.” They exited each other’s arms. “I have to get to work. I’m sorry and I love you.”

“I love you too.” They both nodded and entered each of their respected sanctuaries. Upon entering her room, she brought her back to the door and slid down. She continued crying as silent as she could. Things were about to get so much worse.