Toby and Ashley have just become step-siblings and their families moved in together, but they do not get along. Ashley is running for school president, and Toby convinces his best friend, J.T., to run against her. Emma and Manny are having problems of their own. Being in grade 7 is tough, especially when Spinner is on a power trip.

Terri is not looking forward to the school dance. She's too fat for any boy to like her, except for Spinner, that is. Too bad Paige likes Spinner too. She convinces Terri to go to the dance, but not before getting her drunk, so she'll look like a fool in front of Spinner. There's also a new student in Mr. Simpson's class: Sean Cameron, who has fallen behind a year. Emma is intrigued, despite Sean's "bad boy" image. Meanwhile, J.T. and Toby decide to skip the dance to surf pornography on the Internet.

Ashley and Jimmy's eight-month anniversary is coming up - and so is the question of whether or not to have sex. Paige is playing Juliet opposite Jimmy's English-class Romeo and she's planting doubts in Ashley's mind.

Jimmy is trying to make the basketball team, but with spending all that time practicing, he is behind in school. He can only do one or the other. He convinces Spinner to give him one of his Ritalin pills to boost his energy, but it has bad consequences for both Jimmy and Spinner. Meanwhile, Liberty is sick of writing Ashley's speeches for her, so she wants to take over the morning announcements for one day. Ashley knows Liberty won't be able to do it, but sets her up anyway.

Ashley's father is home from Europe, and Ashley senses something is up with her mom and her dad. They seem to get along really well. Ashley's mom tells her the truth: her dad is gay. After hearing this news, J.T. figures out an easy way to reject Liberty. He tells Liberty he's gay.

Ashley feels smothered by Jimmy and Emma gets her first period.

Emma accidentally spreads a rumour about Liberty and Mr. Armstrong. Spinner finds a bug in this cafeteria lunch.

Sean asks Emma out on a date. Spinner and Jimmy vow revenge on Mrs. Kwan.

It's final exam time and everyone is stressed out. Especially Sean.

Ashley takes ecstasy, threatening to ruin her relationships with her friends.

Summer's over and the Degrassi kids are back...in droves. A neighbouring high school has been amalgamated with the Junior High and things are a bit of a zoo.

Ashley swallows her pride and tries to win her friends back. Her efforts work fairly well but Ashley's arrogant attitude leads to some nasty rumors about her. Toby ends up in over his head when he develops a crush on Spinner's little sister Kendra.

Emma isn't very comfortable when Mr. Simpson offers to help with her science project. Manny lets slip to the entire school that Mr. Simpson is dating Emma's mom. Spinner embraces his newfound reputation as a ladies man but upsets Jimmy when he asks out a girl Jimmy had his eye on.

Craig is delighted to have Joey's trust around the car lot and at home. However, Craig oversteps the boundaries when he takes his friends on a joyride while Joey is out of town for the weekend. Ashley tries to impress her edgy new friend Ellie by getting her bellybutton pierced.

Paige is love struck when she meets Dean, an attractive soccer player from another school. Despite warnings that Dean is too old for her, Paige flirts with him at a party and loves the attention. Things turn sour, though, when Dean pulls Paige into an empty bedroom and forces himself on her.

Paige has a difficult time controlling her emotions after the rape. When Ashley writes an explicit song for their band about rape, Paige can't handle it and finally tells her friends about the attack.

Toby takes extreme measures to make it on the wrestling team while Terri battles vicious teasing when the kids at school discover she is a plus-size model.

Manny has a huge crush on Craig so, naturally, she is ecstatic when he asks her out. Manny has the best date of her life but Craig has a different feeling entirely about their time together. Ellie starts sending "secret admirer" letters to Marco and her jealousies come out when Hazel makes a play for him.

Hazel faces an identity crisis during "International Day" at Degrassi. Feeling ashamed of her background, she lies about her ethnicity, but ends up even more confused when lying doesn't help her feel better about it.

Spike and Snake are finally getting married! Emma is thrilled to be her mother's little helper for everything wedding related but it seems like all their plans start going wrong as the date draws nearer. As if stress about the ceremony wasn't enough, Spike finds out she's pregnant and struggles with whether or not to tell Snake.

JT gets in trouble in science class but he is elated when his punishment is spending a week after school with hot teacher Ms. Hatzilakos. Jimmy and Spinner decide to start a "truth pact," which ends up endangering their friendship.

Jimmy and Ashley have finally patched things up and start dating once again. Even though Ashley's style has changed, she assures Jimmy she is still the same girl inside. Meanwhile, Toby and JT learn far more than they ever wanted to know when discussing birth control in health class.

Emma complains to Principal Raditch about the use of genetically modified foods in the cafeteria. When Raditch says they haven't been proved to be harmful, Emma stages a student protest.

Craig is surprised when his father suddenly visits him and tells Craig he wants to be a part of his son's life again. Craig decides to spend more time with his father without telling Joey. Has Craig's dad really changed or will he relapse into his old ways? Meanwhile, JT is in a rough spot when Liberty agrees to tutor him on the condition that he accompanies her to the school dance.

It's the start of the school year. For their upcoming anniversary, penniless Spinner wants to get the perfect present for Paige. His idea: get her the perfect locker, since the one she has been assigned she considers in purgatory. In Spinner's mind, Hazel has the perfect locker, but it will take some swift maneuvering to get Hazel to give it up. Emma has thoughts other than school on her mind. With Spike almost ready to give birth and with Spike and Snake's recent marriage, Emma has been thinking about her biological father, Shane McKay. Spike has told Emma nothing about Shane, except that she wants Emma to have nothing to do with him as he deserted them. All Emma vaguely remembers is meeting Shane once in a hospital when she was three years old, Emma remembering that Shane was wearing a doctor's uniform. Emma does whatever she needs to to locate Shane and know her biological dad.

Emma decides it's time to move on in matters of the heart when she realizes she has feelings for new kid Chris.

Terri is at the top of her game when she lands the lead in the school play and has a wonderful boyfriend in Rick. However, Hazel is concerned when she notices Rick's overly controlling behavior. Spinner fights feeling jealous when JT starts spending a lot of time with Paige.

Manny falls flat at her gymnastics meet because she feels nauseous. When her sickness doesn't go away, Manny begins to worry it may be something more than the flu.

Manny and Craig's pregnancy is outed by the furious Ashley to the whole school during lunch. Their failed practice to take care of Spike's baby convinces Manny, but not Craig, that, at 14, she is not ready for motherhood.

Terri wants to give Rick another chance but when she has to choose between her friendship with Paige and her love for Rick, the result is tragic. Sean gets annoyed when Marco keeps tagging along on his dates with Ellie.

Craig is determined to beat his ex-girlfriend Ashley when both of their bands are entered in an upcoming battle-of-the-bands competition. After Joey hurts his back in an accident, Catlin steps in to care for him and his daughter Angela.

Rick returns to Degrassi, professing to be a changed man. Everyone is suspicious Rick might hurt another girl the way he hurt Terri so a plan develops to run Rick out of Degrassi for good. J.T. is frustrated with his relationship with Manny because they have barely even kissed yet. When a mishap leads to Manny seeing J.T. naked, J.T. begins to wonder whether their lack of physical contact is because he can't measure up to Manny's expectations.

Humiliated and furious, Rick returns to Degrassi with a handgun in his backpack and prepares to take revenge on the students of Degrassi for laughing at him. Jimmy sympathizes with Rick and promises to back him up whenever other students harass him. Rick accuses Jimmy of being part of the prank and shoots Jimmy in the back when he tries to run away. Rick then moves on to the next person on his hit list: Emma.

Craig is suffering from mood swings and Ashley seems to be the only one who can help, Ashley's dad is planning to get remarried, elsewhere J.T. and Liberty attempt to work together on the school musical.

Paige attempts to get Mr. O alone, while Spinner is disappointed when Manny becomes interested in a new student.

Ever since the trauma of the shooting, Emma has been distancing herself from her friends and neglecting her typical interests. Emma discovers a scandalous secret when she goes to the ravine with Jay but instead of turning everyone in, Emma decides to join in on the raunchy ravine activities.

Emma keeps her "friends with benefits" relationship with Jay a secret and vows not to tell anyone what goes on at the ravine. But when Emma receives some devastating news, can she keep it to herself much longer? Meanwhile, Jimmy is fed up with being pitied and enlists the help of Craig and Marco to sneak out of the rehab center for a concert by his favorite band.

Manny pursues her dream of being a Hollywood actress but is faced with the cruel realities of show business. Manny, desperate for stardom, contemplates plastic surgery after harsh criticism from a caustic casting agent. Craig receives a disappointing birthday gift from Ashley.

Manny's still foggy on what exactly it was that happened at Peter's party the night before. She knows she made a pretty racy video but Peter will erase everything... or so he says.

J.T. and Liberty's relationship issues come to a head when Liberty gives J.T. some alarming news. Liberty takes a very practical approach to the problem because she doesn't think J.T. is mature enough to handle it. Once the shock wears off, J.T. realizes it's time for him to grow up. Spinner pursues a relationship with Darcy and finds her lifestyle more appealing than he originally thought.

Facing the pressure of year-end exams, the furthest thing from Marco's mind is what happened a year ago - when Dylan stomped all over his heart. Marco takes this as a sign that he's over Dylan for good.

What's old becomes new again for Alex, Paige and Spinner. Alex and Paige are facing their future post-Degrassi, Paige on a calculated, planned path to university at Banting, and Alex on a more spontaneous "in the moment" path. Paige expects Alex to follow her to Kingston, whereas Alex doesn't want to follow someone as she needs to find her own life. Spinner and Darcy are living in the moment, enjoying their relationship. Spinner tells little white lies to Darcy specifically regarding his past relationship with Manny and their, or supposed lack of sexual history. Darcy finds out the truth from Manny, which results in an all out cat-fight. From this, Spinner declares his want to purify himself and become a virgin once again. Despite this act, Darcy once again questions his motives when he admits that Manny was not his only past sexual partner. He thus feels that he will never fit into Darcy's mold of what she wants him to be. As a result of their problems, both Paige/Alex and Spinner/Darcy break up. Needing some comfort, each turns to old support. Alex ends up having Jay's shoulders to cry on, nothing more than that as she states emphatically to him that she really is a lesbian and Paige was her first true-to-herself relationship. Spinner and Paige turn to each other, realizing that old feelings for each other come to the surface.

Manny is moving back in with her family and Emma is not agreeing with this idea. Instead of talking it out with Manny, Emma starts a protest for the upcoming cheer competition that is being held at Degrassi because the school from which the kids that killed J.T. will be coming.

Tensions reach an all-time high when a fire forces students from Lakehurst to attend Degrassi. Darcy makes a horrific discovery after a wild party and takes drastic measures to stop her emotional torment. Meanwhile, Dylan's indifferent behavior leads a reluctant Marco to agree to a blind date.

Ashley wants to make it in the music business, but Jimmy seems to be the one getting all of the attention for his rapping skills.

Spinner is trying to deal with side effects of chemo. He turns to marijuana to deal with the pain. He avoids his love interest Jane because she's wearing him out trying to cheer him up and chills with the new laid-back Darcy instead. Paige gets fed up with her boss Andrea being evil so she walks out of work and doesn't come back one day. Marco helps her realize that it would be better to work 4 years with Andrea then go to 4 years of college. Paige goes back and Andrea admits that she needed Paige.

Paige is on top of her game at work and in school but she can't help but be distracted by her roommate Griffin. When Griffin becomes distant and secretive, Paige worries Griffin is disinterred "because he got what he wanted". After Paige discovers the truth, she realizes her lighthearted fling might be much more intense than she bargained for. Meanwhile, Jane goes to Darcy for advice on Spinner's behavior.

Liberty plans to gain status in college by pledging a sorority. Her determination to fit in and impress the sorority sisters ultimately strains her friendship with Manny and Emma. Holly J is elected Student Council President and revels in being the queen bee in school. However, a crush on a fellow classmate may unseat Holly J's influence.

The school's Panthers team is scoring great, thanks to star player Riley Stavros, but in fact he's taking steroids. Another short-term side-effect seems a straight libido, so he dumps his gay boyfriend for a cheerleader, Sav's girl. That doesn't feel right for either, so they break up by agreement and Riley drifts back to a former gay mate.

The pressure at Degrassi reaches an insane level as end-of-year exams loom over the students. Mia folds under the stress and plans to drop out of school to devote her time to modeling. Holly J is upset when she receives a less-than-perfect grade on an art project and must push herself to create something more expressive. Sav struggles with whether to sign up for engineering classes or music classes for his next year at Degrassi.

Spinner and Holly J are held at gunpoint when a robber comes into The Dot. Connor tries to reconcile KC and Clare while Peter tries to make amends with Mia.

Peter's addiction to meth worsens despite his promise to Mia that he would quit. Holly J stresses out about organizing the Winter Beach Bash.

Alli feels like her relationship with Johnny is getting boring so she spices things up by texting him racy naked pictures of herself. But when Alli angers Johnny by revealing one of his deepest secrets, Johnny takes vicious revenge by sending the pictures to the entire school. Fiona and Riley warm up to the idea of being a couple but will Riley's past cool their chemistry?

Riley is desperate to prove he isn't gay and plans to prove it by sleeping with Fiona. Anya embraces the gamer lifestyle while Dave's crush on Jenna intensifies.

Riley tries to seduce Fiona to prove he's straight but gives up when he realizes how unfair it is to manipulate Fiona's emotions. Sav is confused by Anya's new interest in role-playing games and Dave doesn't get the reaction he hoped for when he admits his feelings to Jenna.

Declan has his heart set on Holly J, but she's totally unimpressed. Game on!

Holly J. has fallen hard for Declan but will school politics and parental pressure split them up? Meanwhile, Connor valiantly continues his quest to fit in.

Peter opens a club above The Dot. Clare deals with being dumped in destructive ways.