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Guest Character Profiles > Taylah Jordan Danielle Horvat

Taylah Jordan 2007-
Lived: Jordan house
Parents: Brad
Occupation: Student

Best friend to Jessica Wallace, Taylah was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, often simply following what her bitchier friend wanted to do. Whilst Jess and Taylah were at the pool one day, they saw Bridget Parker, a classmate who'd been away for several weeks, following an accident that left her paralysed down the left-hand side of her body. The girls did their awkward best to be polite, then started chatting about how a guy there was hot, but it was a shame he was in a wheelchair. The guy - Josh Taylor - came over to them, having befriended Bridget during their physio sessions, and started telling Jess and Taylah how brave they were to continue living their lives, despite their condition. Slightly confused, the girls quickly walked away from the conversation.

Ever the loyal friend, Taylah was on hand to help when Jessica developed a crush on Ringo Brown, whose girlfriend Rachel Kinski was away for two weeks in Canberra. After managing to spend some time alone with Ringo in detention, Jess called him that evening, upset and claiming to have had a bad experience on a date with a guy. Ringo met her at the General Store and comforted her and, as they got up to leave, Jess quickly kissed him, before apologising. Ringo told her it was fine, then left, as Taylah came in, having taken a photo of the kiss on her mobile phone, with the plan to use it to split up Rachel and Ringo for good. Thinking Rachel and Ringo were over for good, Jessica was horrified to see the pair kissing and making up in the General Store and promptly sent the photo to Rachel's phone. When Ringo confronted her the next day, Jessica managed to pass the blame to Taylah, who was happy to lie for her best friend, claiming that she thought Jess and Ringo would make the perfect couple and would do anything to split him up from Rachel.

A couple of weeks later, Taylah ran into Zeke, Rachel's geeky younger brother, at a rave party, and they quickly hit it off. After spending the night outside the warehouse where the rave was being held, chatting and staring up at the stars, Zeke shared his first kiss with Taylah, and she promised him that their new relationship would be their secret, and for once, she wouldn't be rushing to tell Jessica all of the details. It wasn't long before Jessica knew everything, however, and, as the teens attended another illegal rave, everyone got to find out about Zeke and Taylah's relationship, as they went public. But the big night ended in tragedy when the roof of the unstable warehouse caved in, leaving many people trapped. Despite their best efforts, Zeke and Taylah were separated in the chaos that followed and, as daylight came, Taylah was rescued but had to break the news to Zeke's family that she didn't know what had happened to him, then she was forced to deal with the fact that Jessica hadn't made it out alive. And so, a few days later, Taylah got together with Ringo, Rachel, Zeke and the others to say a final farewell to their friend with a memorial service on the jetty, a spot that, in her last moments with Ringo, she had mentioned to be her favourite place.

During one of the last conversations between Taylah and Jessica, Jess had told her friend that she'd spotted their new substitute teacher, Angus Henderson with a student and believed they were in a relationship. Back at school after the Christmas break, Taylah heard rumours about Bridget having a crush on 'Hendo' and tried to warn her off, only to be told to mind her own business. During class, Taylah passed Bridget a note, trying to apologise for what she said, but it was intercepted by teacher Daniel Fitzgerald, who was already suspicious of Angus and Bridget and took this as proof that something was going on. Taylah was devastated over the trouble she had caused, while Bridget admitted to Dan that she did have a crush on Mr Henderson, but it had never gone any further than that. Declan Napier wasn't quite convinced and, after learning that Bridget's parents were planning to take her out of the school, he badgered her about the situation, eventually realising that Bridget was covering for the person who was having an affair with her teacher - Rachel. And, furious with the way Bridget was being treated, he then announced it in the middle of the school corridor.

The days that followed were very difficult for Rachel, and she ended up running away from home. Taylah, after an evening out with her dad, then spotted Rachel sitting on a bench outside the mall and offered to give her a roof for the night, but Rachel turned her down, though she later turned up at her window when she realised just how rough the mall got after dark. Taylah then convinced Rachel to contact Zeke and tell him she was OK, before explaining her own difficult history, with her mum walking out when she was eleven, and her dad ignoring her and burying himself in work. Rachel still refused to go home, so, the next morning, Taylah contacted Zeke and told him everything, but begged him not to tell his stepparents Susan and Karl, worried that their involvement might only make Rachel run off again. When Zeke then turned up, with Bridget, Ringo and Declan in tow, Rachel was furious, taking her anger out on Taylah, but Zeke made her see that she had nobody to blame but herself.

Trivia Notes
• The character of Taylah was originally going to be called Ruby, but the name was changed at the last minute
• To read our interview with Danielle Horvat, click here

Biography by Steve