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?”