Harrison John

Right from the first scene it's made clear that Harrison is infatuated with a certain beautiful blonde cheerleader. Brooke McQueen's "satellite boy" lives three doors down from her and has been her best friend since the age of five. Then, he aged eleven and just back from golf camp and she having grown five inches and discovered boys, he finds he has become invisible to her, "and it's been that way ever since."

It's this attraction that causes his ambivalent attitude towards the popular set. He hates them, yet he wants to be them, to be with Brooke. Something he accuses Sam of doing when she tries to land an invite to Brooke's party.

So he's very happy when he learns that Brooke is still a virgin and has hopes when she splits from Josh for the first time, but nothing comes of it for him, or Sam, who was mooning over Josh.

We learn he likes golf (it's relaxing) and he caddies for Josh and Sugar to help Sam out. The resulting bond makes him reluctant to expose Sugar as a Bio-cheat, and is very angry when Sam takes matters into her own hands and ruins his chance of popularity. Hypocrite much?

He and Lily plan to solve their virginity problem together. He books a hotel room and makes a big effort to impress but it doesn't work and she backs out of the arrangement. She does it gently but it still hurts.

He's strangely reticent about his mother's current boyfriend (Mr John left eight years before). The girls discover that this is because 'he' is Sheila, (a co-worker at the 23rd Street Pharmacy where she works) whom she has been dating for six months. He's very angry about this exposure as he doesn't wish his mom or himself to be labelled as queer. Carmen and Lily apologise for the intrusion, Sheila sympathises, but Robin is simply tired of hiding who she is. He's still not happy but tries to come to terms with it.

He also seems embarassed by Emory, (who thinks they are best friends) when he asks for help with his trial. Brooke then exposes him as a coward who failed to help Emory when Josh and Sugar gave him a swirly, but the friends are reconciled at the end of the proceedings.

To escape April's attentions Sam invites him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance, but when Brooke invites him also Sam is instantly forgotten. He then works out like crazy in a doomed attempt to appear buff. He's not at all happy when he learns he was chosen for his brains not his brawn. So he returns the compliment by admitting he's only attracted by Brooke's looks.

He bonds again with Josh and Sugar during the girls' 'lady time', then finds himself labelled insensitive when he fails to defend Lily from Josh and Sugar's comments. At sensitivity camp he reveals he likes girls to look like girls, with cleavage, legs and a nice dress, but he apologises to Lily and all is forgiven.

Next, Calvin Krupps questions his goals, a pointless exercise as he has none. Emory then uses an old school report (they both attended Taft Elementary) to convince him to become singer/songwriter. His debut performance at Cranky's is a disaster and Carmen is deeply hurt by it. He apologises for stealing her drama, offering us this insight. "I'm like a cheap chocolate Easter bunny. Tastless on the outside, hollow on the inside."

Now out at work, Robin soon loses her job becomes depressed and loses Sheila. She can now see his point about staying in the closet, but he's changed his mind and so goes all out to support transgendered Ms Debbie at school. He loses this fight but Robin takes heart from his stand and is reinstated on triple salary thanks to Cherry Cherry's takeover of Rite-Worth.

We discover he was raised in Beijing (where his father ran a Radio Shack) until the age of four and can speak Chinese. Thus being ideally suited to escort the beautiful exchange student Exquisite Woo he is disappointed to discover that she is another female impervious to his charms. However, on turning blonde (as the girls have) he suddenly catches Sam's eye as a potential hottie.

He uses his power of persuasion to get the boys into a strip club and then heroically tries to take the blame when they get busted, but it's Mike who takes the fall as the responsible adult.

He initially refuses Ms Glass' offer of 'adoption' but reconsiders when Lily persuades him that the money would help Carmen, but by then Nicole has horned in on the scheme.

He finds Sam's instant rapport with George disturbing. Nicole diagnoses jealousy: "She'll never look at you like that" and uses it to her advantage in the Chemistry pairings experiment. He is thrown together with Mary Cherry (who has long had a crush on him) and is surprised (after initial misgivings) to find he actually likes her. But he is also falling for Sam so he doesn't pursue this match.

Brooke asks him to run her campaign for student body president. He opposes Calvin Krupps' plan for mandatory drug tests. She's unconvinced and suggests that he runs himself. To her astonishment he does. She then decides to run directly against his stand. Josh and Lily support him for selfish reasons (they've been taking syrup). He's none to happy when he finds this out, but agrees to provide a sample for Josh to cheat the drug test. But as he's using stolen Vicoburin for cluster migraines it comes up positive!

Sam forces him to see a doctor. Lily tries to get him to fess up, thinking he's also on syrup. Sam discovers the devastating truth, that he has leukaemia, but he denies there is a problem. In debate Brooke publicly attacks him as a drug addict. He finally admits to his illness, withdraws, and goes to hospital.

Brooke attempts to apologise but his vicious (if accurate) assesment of her character causes her to relapse into bulimia. He later apologises to her, tells her that he's met God, but loses his faith when roommate Clarence dies and nearly kills himself.

Nicole saves his life with a bone marrow transplant but later refuses to take his virginity. So he visits a prostitute, but eventually decides to hold out for love.

After a period spent aping Nicole's satanic style to get attention, almost by accident he begins to date Brooke. And they are both very happy until she realises he has feelings for Sam and regretfully breaks it off.

Soon after he sends an e-mail to Sam declaring his love for her, then foolishly forces her to choose. She chooses George and he then withdraws all contact from her.

He supports Lily's well meaning attempt to oppose bigotry that lands her in hospital. Then runs against her and Josh for presidency of the 'Staying Alive' club.

Ms Glass decides he has contracted Rift Valley fever after a spring break trip to the Yemen and gets put into isolation with Sam as the school is put into quarantine. He reveals he has slept with Brooke, but makes up with Sam and kisses her just as George arrives to witness this betrayal.

Sam and Brooke argue over him, conclude that he is in the wrong, but continue arguing anyway. Eventually they decide to go to the prom as a threesome, but then press him to choose. His decision causes Brooke to run out of the restaurant and into the path of Nicole's car.

In season three we would have discovered that he chose Brooke, but she ran when Sam started to cry. After Brooke's recovery from her injuries they begin dating and he becomes popular. He then uses his popularity to his advantage, becomes a player, and breaks Brooke's heart. Bastard!