Heartbreak High

- Season 6

(1997)

The Heartly high students are getting a hard time from the Heartly heights students and one of them plays a cruel prank on Anita.

Kurt doesn't seem to have too many problems - he is popular, good looking and good at sport. But he has a secret - Kurt is mortally embarrassed by his alcoholic father, Barry. When Di Barnett approaches Kurt's retired football star dad to coach the school touch football team, Kurt is angry that she didn't consult him first. Les is horrified when Di Barnett suggests Anita as "the face of science" for a Department of Education promotion to encourage girls to take up science. Di loves the idea but Les feels Di is exploiting Anita, who has no actual interest in science ...

The newest addition to the teaching staff at Hartley Heights High School, Gerard Albers, is an eccentric and flamboyant bohemian from Spain, who is as at home on the touch football field as he is in the classroom.

When Les confiscates a Penthouse magazine from Drazic in class, he has no idea what the consequences will be. Drazic takes revenge by sticking a centrefold on one of Les' Biology teaching aids.

New kid Andrew arrives at Hartley. Although he has Muscular Dystrophy and is in a wheelchair, he is determined to be treated like a normal teenager.

Melanie and Andrew seem happy together but as opposition to their relationship mounts, Melanie starts having second thoughts.

Albers decides to teach a history class with a twist when he asks the class to put Arthur Phillip on trial. Was Arthur Phillip a good man or did he knowingly attempt to carry out genocide on the Aboriginal people?

Anita and Ryan are not coping well with the 4am wake up calls from baby James. Jeff feels bad - he came here to help the kids through the HSC but he seems to be making things harder for them.

Anita and Ryan are enjoying life without parental supervision until Kath Livingstone, the new housekeeper, arrives with her daughter Sarah.

Nikki is furious when Kurt continuously puts his love for the environment ahead of her. However, he reveals the cause of his fanaticism: a seal at the Aquarium is on the brink of death because it swallowed a plastic bag.

When Sarah helps Anita and Drazic discover the Internet, she inadvertently gets them both into trouble.

Ryan, still smarting over Kurt and Nikki's blossoming relationship, is staying away from the football team. However, Barry manages to persuade him to rejoin for an inter-school competition.

After putting Kurt in hospital, Ryan finds he is being ostracised. Feeling sorry for himself, he wags school and meets Mario,, who offers him a way out of his depression - and so, Ryan begins his trip into the drug culture.

Now well and truly entrenched in the world of drugs, Ryan is at the point where his speed is costing him more than he can afford.

When Ryan is late for class again, and hasn't done his major assignment, Barnett hauls him over the coals. Ryan refuses to be helped by her or anyone and walks out before he can be suspended from school.

Sarah enlists Anita's help to find her father but Kath makes it very clear that they'll receive no assistance from her.

While busking, Nikki meets Luda, a recording artist who wants to record one of her songs.

Since Mai and Drazic had a close nocturnal encounter, things in the warehouse have been somewhat tense. As the new arrival, Kurt feels that maybe he's the problem.

When JJ, a prisoner on day release, begins working at the school, he runs into some prejudice from the kids. All that is, except Sarah who, upon talking to JJ, realises they have a lot in common and quickly begins to fall in love.

Despite her mothers objections and threats, Sarah continues her relationship with JJ.

Deciding to refocus his life on getting back in shape, Kurt has a chance meeting with Lachlan, an old friend who is now running a fitness club that is dedicated to cleaning up the environment.

Kurt and Lachlan discover Skye and her friends camping in the park and try to move them on. Things heat up when Lachlan and Anita later find Lachlan's club house has been vandalised.

Lee Delaine has two strikes against him: he's the newest student at Hartley Heights and to make matters worse, his father is the school's new Humanities teacher.

Sarah is back at Hartley having finally left home and returned to the city. She has rented a flat, but the landlord keeps trying to chat her up as well as beating his wife.

When Drazic throws himself into trying to design a new type of skate, Di suggests he consider a career in industrial design.

Believing she's on a date with Paul, Anita is taken aback when he recoils from her attempt to kiss him. When she presses him for an explanation, Paul reveals to her that he is gay.

Pat Gregory, an old friend of Nat Delane, takes up a teaching post at Hartley, but soon runs into trouble with Lee who is still having difficulty fitting in.

With his parents waiting for him to choose a new school to attend, Lee shocks them by announcing he is not going to change schools - he's dropping out.

Nikki turns moral crusader when she learns that the mother of her friend Tasha is being exploited by her boss. Nikki takes it upon herself to demand he pay his workers a fair wage but her meddling only causes more problems.

Di informs the students that the school has installed a card-swipe system as part of an "efficiency measure". Among other things, the cards record attendance, a system Drazic is quick to capitalise on.

In a well intentioned effort to help Sarah overcome her inhibitions, Ryan volunteers her to perform a play in front of the class. Seeing a chance to help Kurt explore his sensitive side, Anita nominates him to be her partner.

Wanting to take her relationship with Ryan further, Sarah asks Nat and Jill if she can have a friend stay the night. They are quick to agree, unaware she means Ryan, and the evening is awkward for everyone involved.

After Anita spends the night with Kurt at the shed, Drazic doesn't appreciate Kurt rubbing his nose in their relationship and asks Ryan to move out.

With a virtual Cold War existing at the shed between Kurt and Ryan, Kurt conspires with their realtor to orchestrate a scheme to break their lease by getting evicted.

Nikki's behaviour grows more erratic. She has missed two days of school and when she returns, wet from being in a fountain where she was talking to a cherub, Lee becomes concerned for her welfare.

Kurt takes up the cause of helping find a mate for Wally the sea turtle. With charitable donations hard to come by, Kurt accepts help from D'espo who comes up with a racy promotion for a dance night at the Shark Pool.

After a humbling defeat on the tennis court at the hand of a visiting tennis ace, Kurt takes a personal interest in Bonnie Coyne but her intense training schedule - and demanding mother - keep the pair apart.

To mark Ryan's move into the shed, Sarah gives him a clock that is family heirloom. Needing money to buy a bed, Ryan turns down Sarah's offer of a loan and then takes Drazic's suggestion that he pawn the clock.

A radio contest for a state-of-the-art sound system catches Drazic's ear. "The Wheelie Challenge" is an endurance challenge that has the competitors riding a Ferris wheel.

Kurt's sudden disruptive behaviour escalates until he assaults Mr Delaine in the corridor and is suspended from school.