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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Lisa Jeffries Rhiannon Fish

Summer Hoyland befriended Canadian Lisa Jeffries at primary school, where the pair both joined the girls’ soccer team and attempted to persuade Summer’s neighbour, and former professional soccer player Jack Scully, to coach them. Although Jack agreed to show them a few skills, he refused to become their full-time coach, as he was just beginning year 12 at high school and needed to devote all of his spare time to study. After the girls then talked Summer’s dad, Max, into asking Jack, not realising that he’d already said no, Jack eventually relented and agreed to take on the role of assistant coach, but told the girls that his studies would have to come first. A couple of weeks later, Lisa joined the Hoyland family for a trip to the beach, where she and Summer got into more mischief by wandering off, looking for treasure, and finding themselves in the middle of a nudist beach.

The soccer team’s first big match, with Jack as coach, then ended badly when goalkeeper Summer, going through a religious phase after visiting her Nana Rosie doing missionary work, decided to do the “Christian thing” and let the other team’s goals in. The girls then joined a pony club together, but their first big fight wasn’t far off when Max and his girlfriend, Steph Scully, split up. Lisa started picking on an already upset Summer, saying that Max was too old for Steph anyway, and a fight broke out. Although Summer later tried to apologise, Lisa told her that she was no longer invited to her birthday party. The following week, the girls went to an orientation day at the high school, where Lisa was paired up with Summer’s older brother, Boyd, for a tour of the school. Boyd quickly took the opportunity to ask Lisa why she was bullying Summer, before threatening to flush her head down the toilet if it continued. However, his tactics only made things worse, as Lisa reported him to teacher Susan Kennedy, and Summer only found herself more ostracised than ever.

It wasn’t until their next soccer game, the following week, that the girls finally managed to put aside their differences. As Jack became increasingly frustrated with the girls and their attitudes towards each other, he walked away, leaving Max to take over as coach. Max quickly sent Lisa onto the soccer pitch, reminding her that the game would only work if they played as a team. In the final few minutes of the game, Summer made a pass to Lisa, allowing her to score a goal and a win for the team. That evening, Lisa went to the Hoyland house and, before long, the nastiness had been forgotten and the girls were making up dances to a Christina Aguilera CD. As Max then continued to have problems with Steph, Lisa noticed how sad he was and told Summer that it was just like when her dad left. The girls then decided that it would be perfect if their parents could get together, then they could be sisters. The girls then proceeded to ask their parents about their favourite food, drink and restaurants, claiming that it for a school project but secretly hoping to set them up on a date. And so, the following week at the pony club, the girls happily rode off, leaving Max to chat to Lisa’s mum, Andrea. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that Max and Andrea had nothing in common as they started trading insults about their children’s behaviour and their upbringings. In the end, Max had to explain to Summer that life wasn’t always like the movies, and this fight wasn’t going to lead to a happy ending.

The following year, the girls got into more scrapes as they started at Erinsborough High. They soon found themselves being laughed at in the corridor for having their socks rolled up, and struggled to find each other in the huge new building when they wanted to have lunch together. They then ended up in trouble with Mrs Kennedy when, after Summer confided that the Kennedys were getting a divorce, Lisa passed a note around the class telling everyone about it, and Susan ended up reading it. When they then went to see her to apologise, Susan snapped at them to get out of her sight. However, as Lisa and the rest of her friends then took that as a sign to start writing nasty poems about Susan and talking about her behind her back, Summer took pity on her teacher and refused to laugh at any of the jokes.

A few months later, Summer, whilst away with Max and Steph on their honeymoon, met a new boyfriend, Caleb Wilson, who, due to his father’s wealth, showered her with expensive gifts. Lisa, however, refused to believe that Caleb even existed, so was stunned when he turned up at the school on a scooter to take Summer out for lunch. Lisa was humiliated and it only got worse for her when she attempted to flirt with Caleb and he rejected her. A few months later, during a party at Lisa’s house, Summer started to feel left out as Lisa was only interested in hanging around with her new boyfriend, Troy and encouraged Summer to smoke and hook up with one of the boys at the party, Josh. However, when Summer said that the cigarette made her feel sick and she wanted to go home, Lisa left her former best friend, calling her a loser. The friendship continued to deteriorate from that point, and Summer started hanging around with nerdy Penny Weinberg instead. The final straw came for Summer when Lisa stole Penny’s diary and started to read it out loud in the school corridor. Summer was forced to make a choice, and announced to Lisa that Penny was far more interesting, and much cooler, and their friendship was over.

Biography by Steve

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