For a show as open about sex and sexuality as Heartbreak High, it was only a matter of time before one of the characters fell victim to a sexually transmitted infection.
While the recent second season of the Australian high school drama may have buried lots of the plot points from the first installment (including Dusty’s mysterious absence), fans still have some lingering questions around this class of perpetually amorous teenagers.
We’ve shed some light on the reason for Dusty’s (played by Josh Hueston) departure from the show, and also what happened between Harper (played by Asher Yasbincek) and her father throughout the course of season one. For the latter character, viewers might remember a brief plot point last season when she was diagnosed with chlamydia, which had ramifications for other characters like Amerie (Ayesha Madon) and Dusty.
How did Harper get chlamydia in Heartbreak High?
As a quick refresher, Harper learns towards the end of the first season of Heartbreak High that she has chlamydia. She initially presumed it was a urinary tract infection, but when the symptoms worsen, she visits a doctor who relays the news. While the diagnosis might be daunting for some, it gives us a truly hilarious scene in which Harper runs through all the ways she could inform her previous sexual partners of her diagnosis, even though she perhaps should’ve been attending class instead.
While the identity of who gave Harper chlamydia is never officially disclosed, fans have a few theories. Perhaps the most plausible one is Dusty, since the pair had been in a relationship throughout much of the first season. It also explains why Harper is intent on stopping the budding romance between Dusty and Amerie by barging in on them mid-sex, to prevent her friend from also getting the disease. This theory is also plausible given that Dusty has something of a reputation for sleeping around.
Other fans have suggested that Chook (played Tom Wilson) may have given Harper chlamydia sometime during the events of the finale, but we learned during that episode that she probably escaped his clutches before that could’ve happened. Other more discerning Heartbreak High sleuths have attempted to discover the person’s identity by consulting the so-called Map, drawn by Amerie in season one and collating all of the various rendezvous between students at Hartley High.
Harper is connected to many people on the Map, including one unseen person dubbed “so boring” Connor. It’s possible, given that we never actually learn who it is, that Connor is the person behind Harper’s diagnosis. In any case, it might just be that the character’s identity remains anonymous, since the chlamydia moment was more of a plot driver around Amerie and Harper’s friendship than it was a lesson on safe sex (we should consult doctors for that, not Netflix).