**Previously on Honey Hollow**

AN: Individual character recaps will follow in a few days. I knew writing a recap would be a pain in the ass, but it turned out far worse and far more time-consuming.

The Wasp Lake Trip

Ten years after the tragic **** of Cassandra Singer on an icy road, a batch of her and her husband’s friends gathered at the newly rebuilt cabin of Harvey Diamond on Wasp Lake. A closet friend of Fred Singer’s, Harvey’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Whitney, and Fred’s new twenty-four-year-old girlfriend, Skye Willows, a waitress and aspiring model. Fred’s older sister, Sybil Gettinger, and her daughter, Polly, also eventually arrived at the cabin.

On Cassie’s side of the invites, Bridget Tarver arrived a day late, thanks to her husband, Leo’s constant delays. Instead, her son, Sean, drove up with his good friend, Newt Denton, Whitney’s latest boyfriend, college student Owen Nevin, and the younger teen’s classmate, Austin Rusk. The latter had been Lacey Stratton's boyfriend for the last two years. Lacey drove up with her parents, Rachel and Clive, and her best friend, Ramsey Swift. Rachel’s best friend, Gabriela Lockett, brought her husband, Jeff, and son, Jared. Kimberly Goose, soon to be divorced from Fred’s good friend, Larry Lufflutz, also came for the visit.

Cassie and Fred’s son arrived two days behind the others, with Peyton Tarver and Lana Stratton. Sean’s best friend, JoJo Gibble, would be a late-minute addition, accompanying Bridget when Leo bowed out.

Tinsely Toone, Bridget and Cassie’s other best friend, was unable to attend because of a family emergency. Feeling guilty, she surprised everyone by sending her son, Nate, as a very late addition.

The cabin trip would feature a trip to the hot springs and a pond used for ice skating. Along the way, crushes would develop, virginities would be lost, and couples would break up.

However, the most significant event took place after the ice skating, when Whitney and Owen broke up. Angry, the teenager stormed off, slipped, and slid down a cliff, landing precariously on a thin layer of ice covering Wasp Lake. Depressed and dejected to learn that his longtime crush thought his name was John, Sean happened to be in the right place at the right time to hear Whitney’s cries for help.

Unfortunately, Sean slipped while attempting the harrowing descent of Deadman Drop. Injured, he tried to reach the panicked Whitney on the ice before she fell into the cold waters. Risking everything, Sean dove in. By a stroke of luck, the sparkle of a sapphire-and-diamond pendant necklace, a Christmas gift, caught Sean's eye at the last possible moment. Not breathing, he performed successful CPR on Whitney.

Due to a major car pileup, the two teens went to the hospital in Honey Hollow. Concerned about her prolonged exposure to freezing water and her lack of breathing, Whitney stayed for two nights for observation. Sean stayed one night, thanks to Harvey’s demands, but he was discharged with a Lisfranc fracture in his foot and various cuts and scratches. Prescribed painkillers, the first ones made Sean loopy, while their eventual replacements caused increased arousal and long-lasting erections.

An ice storm on NYE would trap a returning Sean, Bridget, Whitney, and Harvey at the cabin, and keep the others from coming back until January 2nd. During that time, each parent and their offspring would cross the taboo line sexually. Later, Whitney would reward Sean for saving her, while Bridget and Harvey would finally fulfill long-suppressed desires for each other, dating back almost a quarter of a century.

New Year’s Eve Charity Ball

As a fundraising and promotional event for the Cassandra Story Society, the ball proved to be a success. Besides making local headlines, Honey Hollow High graduate Cleopatra Monroe, Finn’s predecessor as school newspaper editor, conducted television segments for WFSH "The Fish". Channel 13 out of Muskie Harbor also covered much of the greater Blackbridge area.

Online, Sussing with Serinda and Sanna, the vlog run by Cassie’s nieces about Nosy Nectar, reached new levels of attention and increased subscriptions from newcomers in Honey Hollow, Rattle Ridge, and Breezy Bay.

As expected based on the history of Cassie’s friends and their children, several flare-ups occurred during the ball. First, a large-scale fight between cheerleaders and dancers broke out after the current Sugarbee captain, Bianca Zuccaro, flirted with Austin Rusk, cheerleader Lacey Stratton’s boyfriend at the time. By the time cooler heads prevailed, Lana Stratton and Teresa Zuccaro lost the tops of their dress, making the night legendary for many.

Speeches in honor of Cassie were hijacked by Orrin Rusk and Edward Laffont’s political ambitions. As a result, the Diamond and Wynwick families put aside a century of public feuding when Whitney and Fletcher announced that they would double the selfish grandstanders' donations, and that they’d gladly return any donations from people who’d changed their minds after the teens’ actions.

A misunderstanding would see Clive Stratton break his hand and Fred Singer’s nose, sending them both to the hospital. Rachel and Lacey would go with, leading the latter to run into several classmates, who had been injured at Milner’s house party.

Lacey’s public dumping of Austin and Bianca’s subsequent cold-hearted rejection of the school quarterback rocked the high school world. Additionally, the Peyton Tinsley Tarver Dance-Off between guys interested in her conjured up plenty of college chatter. Both age groups also raised eyebrows over The Beevenger’s tying up and gagging Dennis Conway and Palmer Malloy because of separate indiscretions.

Mayoral and District Attorney Elections

Using their donation speeches to the CSS, Orrin Rusk and Edward Laffont made clear their political ambitions. Their actions outraged many, including Orrin’s wife, Miranda, and Eddie’s sister, Alexis. However, unlike Alexis, Miranda gained a bit of **** on her husband by fucking her old crush, Harvey Diamond.

Shortly after the dinner speeches, another round of speeches took place in front of the Witzler Hotel. There, Rusk announced his bid to unseat the current mayor, Dwight Dunkley. Laffont followed suit by capitalizing on incredibly well-timed allegations of corruption against District Attorney Clive Stratton.

Rowdy hecklers pelted Laffont and his son with eggs and tomatoes, but Rusk escaped untouched. Although most of Honey Hollow were led to believe that drunk, belligerent supporters of Dunkley and Stratton were behind the incident, a small number of people realized that the hecklers had been plants, possibly hired by the Klackhurst Gang.

Cassandra Story Society

Still a work in progress, the literacy group made tremendous strides during the ball. Outside of the donations, native son and children’s author Webster Whelan announced a generous offer in which proceeds from a new series would go directly to the CSS.

Additionally, dozens of high school students, such as Auora Rusk, Jessalyn Granmeyer, Dora Delay, and Lux Chaumont, were officially announced as stortime readers, for the in-character readings. Due to Yumi Nakano’s pleadings, many of the varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders agreed to help the CSS in some way.

While a lead director is still required, Fiona Wynwick graciously offered Wynwick Foundation workers, Lainey Jolley and Sutton Tapper, to help lead the CSS in the interim, according to Finn Singer and the Bank family’s wishes.

And an undecided position in the new foundation awaits the loveable Chastity Kupp.

The Stinging Truth

An online tabloid focusing on Honey Hollow, which debuted last year, ratcheted up its salacious and false stories on the mayor, district attorney, and any other so-called elites of the city. Unexpectedly, people such as Bridget Tarver were caught in its crosshairs with a fake scandal about a secret lovechild with Harvey Diamond.

Both Harvey and Bridget are relatively sure they saw one of the tabloid’s workers in the ER after the ice incident. Far too many details of their conversation appeared in the tabloid article a short time later. Harvey also suspected this might be the same man that Austin spotted the night before, watching in the woods outside the Vandermeer lake house.

Additionally, during Harvey’s arrest, Finn chased a female photographer, who hopped in the passenger seat of a car that sped away.

Nosy Nectar

After nearly a decade and a half of breaking Buzzy Bee reporters with the impossible scoop, Ramsey Swift has concluded that it is her destiny to expose the person or people behind the gossip site and take it down for good. However, she won’t find much help in the school newspaper office. Daisy Kirby isn’t going to sacrifice the long-term health of The Buzzy Bee. Aware of the numerous foolhardy attempts to expose Miss Nosy in the past, she’s focused on recruiting incoming freshmen journalists while preparing her brother and Norah to carry on as leaders.

At the other end of the spectrum, Olena Olesky has finally reached her breaking point. She’s long wanted Nosy Nectar under her control, and she’s issued orders to her minions and blackmails subjects to get her what she wants.

Either in the middle of the two or off in a separate galaxy, overconfident teen playboy, Fletcher Wynwick, has decided to find out the identity of Missy Nosy. After receiving a direct message from NN about his short-lived stint as the Beevenger, Fletch isn’t sure if he should be worried. Armed with a list of suspects, Fletch’s attention span is unlikely to last, but stranger things have happened.