Lizzie tries out for cheerleader but doesn't do very well. Later that night she and Miranda chat online. Lizzie jokes that Kate made the squad because she stuffs her bra. Miranda accidentally sends out the message to everyone on the class roster. The next day at school Kate is furious about the taunting she's receiving and confronts Lizzie and Miranda, demanding to know who is responsible. Lizzie stutters and stammers for a few moments, then Miranda says that she did it. Kate promises to make her life miserable, and a war of dirty tricks breaks out between the two. Miranda tells Lizzie that she took the blame because Lizzie can't handle conflict. Lizzie feels guilty as the war between Miranda and Kate escalates. Finally Lizzie works up the nerve to take responsibilty for the message and she stands up to Kate. Also, Matt brings home a lizard for a school project and names it Lizzie, much to his sister's annoyance. While Mr. and Mrs. McGuire are supposed to be watching the lizard, it die

Lizzie is looking forward to the science class field trip, but she is mortified when she finds out that her mother is a last-minute replacement as the girls' chaperone. Lizzie fears that her mother will embarrass her to death, and Mom does a pretty good job of doing just that while they are competing with the boys on a nature walk. But Mrs. McGuire proves how cool she can be when she helps the girls get back at the boys for a prank they pulled then takes all the blame herself. Back at home, Matt and Mr. McGuire are left on their own and try to cook for themselves.

Lizzie, who is writing for the school newspaper, asks for the assignment of covering the school's production of Mr. Escobar's play ""Greasier."" Miranda is overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets the lead in the play. When Lizzie and Gordo go to rehearsal, however, they are dismayed to find that Miranda is a terrible actress, and clumsy to boot. Miranda is confident before the opening of the play, but her performance is no better and she destroys most of the props and scenery. Lizzie can't bring herself to write the bad review Miranda deserves, but Gordo thinks she'll be able to take it. Lizzie writes a review that is honest, but goes easy on Miranda. Her friend doesn't see it that way, though, and thinks Lizzie has betrayed her. At lunch they get into a big fight.

Hoping to win a trip to Miami, Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo team up to enter the school's ""Fact-athlon."" Their rival team consists of Kate Sanders, Larry Tudgeman and Claire Miller. But things start to look a little bleak when the faculty advisor Lizzie and company chose is replaced by substitute teacher Mr. Dig. But to their surprise, Mr. Dig manages to turn studying into something fun and interesting with his unusual approaches. By the time the competition starts, Lizzie's team is confident while Kate, Larry and Claire are feeling the pressure. But Kate's team beats Lizzie's team badly when there are too many questions about dates and names rather than ""how and why"" problems. Kate and her teammates gloat over their win and Mr. Dig is ready to leave his job at the school because he thinks he let the team down, But Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda convince him they they actually did learn a lot and that they had a good time doing it.

When Miranda falls head over heels for Ryan Adams after seeing him perform in drama class, Lizzie vows to do all she can to get them together. But when Miranda gets tongue-tied after meeting Ryan in the halls, she wants Lizzie to tell her exactly what she should say to him. At lunch, Lizzie hides in a garbage can and feeds lines to Miranda as she talks to Ryan. Miranda repeats everything exactly, even sneezing when Lizzie does. A bee stings Lizzie and puts an end to the charade. Miranda is disappointed after this escapade and is about ready to give up on Ryan. When Lizzie tries to explain things to Ryan, he gets it backwards and thinks Lizzie is the one who likes him and that Miranda was talking to him for her friend's sake. Miranda thinks Lizzie betrayed her. But when Lizzie makes her come along and talk to Ryan one more time, Miranda realizes she was attracted to the actor rather than the real boy and she and Lizzie make up.

Gordo is feeling a little left behind: the girls are going crazy over Ethan Craft, who gets a new dirtbike for his 14th birthday, just like all the ""men"" in his family have. Even Larry Tudgeman is shaving now, though not very well! Gordo now wishes he had celebrated his bar mitzvah, the Jewish ceremony performed on the 13th birthday that marks the passage of a boy into manhood. Concerned about what makes a boy a man, Gordo takes his camera interviews many different men to get their experiences. He tries several different ""manly"" things that they mentioned, even going to a tattoo parlor! But he decides they are not for him. He asks his parents why they didn't insist on a bar mitzvah for him. They tell him they trusted his judgment then, and that at the time he didn't think it was necessary or important. But Gordo has made up his mind now--he wants to be bar mitzvahed. The ceremony is held with all his family and friends in attendance.

Miranda accidentally bumps into a lipstick display, upsetting the contents, she hurriedly puts things right, then tells Lizzie and Gordo she wants to leave, but the security guard stops her and wants to check her purse. Inside he finds a brand of lipstick from the display. Miranda protests that she bought it at the store last week and asks Lizzie to back her up, but Lizzie doesn't help her out.

Lizzie is in a frenzy because Ethan Craft has asked her to sit with him at lunch the next day. But at home she still has to put up with bratty brother Matt, who put honey on the phone receiver and messed up her hair. Lizzie is furious with him and this time his parents are also very upset, too. They ground him and Mom says there will be more severe punishment to come. Matt races to catch the bus, but he gets on the wrong one, the junior high bus. Ethan Craft tells him to get out of his seat, but Matt stands up to him, which Ethan likes. He tells him his name is ""Bond...Matt Bond."" By the time they reach school, Matt has created a legend for himself as a child prodigy, actor, etc. and his reputation has already spread all over school.

The various obsessions of Lizzie, Matt and Gordo are driving friends, family, teachers and themselves to distraction. Gordo is intent on winning the Science Olympics at all costs against defending champion Larry Tudgeman. Matt becomes hall monitor at his school and gets carried away with his own power, giving out citations to schoolmates by the dozen and even trying to do the same to teachers and family members. Meanwhile, after she and Miranda work on a successful volunteer project at school, Lizzie becomes an environmental warrior, a fanatic for collecting clothing and food for the homeless, and even a vegetarian! All three learn that they must put limits on their fanaticism or else their original causes will suffer as a result.

Ethan invites Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda to go bowling with friends on the weekend. Of course the girls are thrilled but Gordo isn't so happy--bowling is something he's not good at. In fact, he got so nervous doing it before that his fingers swelled up and the ball had to be cut off his hand! Miranda says she will be Gordo's ""life coach"" for bowling and tries to teach him him a kind of mystical philosophy (""Be the ball!"") Meanwhile, Matt and Lanny are trying to think of what they can do to stop the bully Heywood Biggs from picking on them. When Sam McGuire hears Lizzie talking about her sort-of date on the phone, he worries that he's not involved enough in his daughter's life. He asks her if she'd like for just the two of them to go out to dinner on Friday so they can spend some time together. Lizzie agrees, but later realizes that the bowling date is the same night! She decides she'll have to ask her father to reschedule.

Lizzie finds out in square-dancing class that a guy has a crush on her--but it's Larry Tudgeman! She asks her mom's advice about how to get rid of him, but Mom suggests she find out what he's all about first, intimating that her dad was kind of a geek when she first met him. This isn't what Lizzie wants to hear, but she doesn't want to be mean and consents to go out with Larry. To her surprise, he shows up for the date looking very nice, and--bigger surprise--she actually has fun on their trip to the science museum.

Gammy McGuire sends Lizzie one of her frequent ""birthday"" gifts--a role-playing game called Dwarflord: The Conquest. Mom insists that Lizzie play it at least once, so she recruits reluctant Miranda and Gordo for a game. The girls can't understand the incredibly complex rules but Gordo likes it. In fact, Gordo joins a ""Dwarf Tribe"" at school (led by Tudgeman, of course) and begins to spend all his time playing and thinking about the game. Gordo gets so obsessed that he even quits studying and, unbelievably, gets an ""F"" on a test! Lizzie and Miranda try to talk some sense back into Gordo but he refuses to see he is addicted to the game. Matt agrees to help the girls capture Gordo and help to deprogram him. They stealthily invade a Dwarflord game, abduct Gordo and hold an intervention in which they finally convince him to go back to his old lifestyle.

Lizzie starts feeling inferior when she realizes a lot of the other kids around her have special talents and skills that they've developed, including Gordo with his film making and Miranda with her violin.

Lizzie is dissatisfied with being an ordinary ""B"" student and is looking for something at which she can excel. Surprisingly, she finds out in gym class that she has a real talent for rhythmic gymnastics. But she thinks the sport is stupid and is ambivalent about competing. She trains hard and goes to the regional competition, where a jealous Kate tries to sabotage her performance. Miranda and Gordo help foil Kate's plan and Lizzie wins first place. Her parents are proud but Lizzie decides to give up the sport and go back to being her ""ordinary"" self.

Lizzie and Miranda feel neglected, when Gordo spends more time with his new girlfriend, Brooke. They are unable to come to terms with the fact that Gordo has a girlfriend now and he is drifting away from their group. Meanwhile, Matt learns about "percentages" from his father and starts accepting bets from his friends, but he eventually lands in trouble when his mother finds out about this.

Gordo wants to raise money for a new stereo, so Miranda and Lizzie suggest he tutor students who need help in math. His first student is Ethan Craft, much to the girls' delight. When Gordo is working with Ethan at the Digital Bean, Lizzie and Miranda keep trying to horn in on the action and end up spilling drinks all over the guys' papers. Gordo gets mad at them and suggests that they aren't smart enough to help him tutor anyway. The girls get angry right back at him and leave. Meanwhile, Matt and his friend Oscar are looking for something exciting to do. They decide to become ""super heroes"" Matt Man and the Incredible Oscar. They go around the neighborhood in costume trying to do good deeds, but all they do is annoy the neighbors.

Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo are obsessed with a Spanish game show, "El Oro de Montezuma." Miranda's cousin, Carlos, is scheduled to compete on the show and Lizzie and her friends decide to be on his team.

A major food fight is raging in the cafeteria. Principal Tweedy walks in and sees Lizzie, Kate Sanders and Larry Tudgeman right in the middle of things and calls them to his office. For punishment, the three will have to clean up the huge mess and do some community service.

A water pipe bursts in a wall in Matt's room and to Lizzie's horror, she'll have to share her room with her brother for a week until the repairs are done.

Lizzie and Miranda are excited about the news that singer Aaron Carter is coming to their town to do a video shoot. They enlist Gordo to help them figure out where the shoot will take place so they can crash the set and meet Aaron. Matt horns his way into the group also. When they arrive at the site Matt is mistaken for Aaron's stand-in and let on the set, but the other three are not. They try several ways to sneak in but are always chased off by a security guard. In all the confusion Mr. and Mrs. McGuire somehow manage to get detained by security. Aaron's manager catches the trio and Lizzie convinces her to at least let one of them meet Aaron. She agrees, and Lizzie tells Miranda that she can be the one. Lizzie goes back to get a tape recorder she left behind and runs in to Aaron, who gives her a kiss. The kids all get to be extras in the video.

Lizzie and friends are frustrated--the only candidates for school president are super-popular cheerleader Claire Miller and oddball Larry Tudgeman, who promises to eat a worm for every vote he gets. Gordo encourages Lizzie to run as a ""normal"" candidate and Miranda seconds the motion. Lizzie agrees to do it. Gordo is her gung-ho campaign manager as she runs on a ""voice of the people"" platform. Lizzie starts to gain confidence, even enough to tell off Claire and Kate. Gordo thinks she should schmooze the ""second-tier"" popular kids in the drama club, so Lizzie puts on her shades and black leather and tries to get in good with them. Miranda is annoyed that Lizzie is blowing off the less popular kids and groups to hang with the drama club. Lizzie starts to develop a prima donna attitude and now Gordo has to agree that he has helped create a monster in candidate Lizzie.

Director Stan Jansen is filming a documentary at the junior high and everyone is trying to get on camera--except Gordo, who wants to be a director himself. But Stan singles out Gordo as his star and tells him his appearance in the film could lead to a career in directing. Gordo is eager to go along, so when the director tells him he wants conflict, Gordo trashes Kate on camera. Lizzie and Miranda think that's great, but it's not so great when Tudgeman gets upset after the same treatment. Then when Gordo manipulates Lizzie and Miranda into revealing long-held secrets about each other, the trio's friendship is on the rocks. The girls can't stay mad at each other, though, and they convince Gordo that their friendship should be the most important thing to all of them. The kids find a way to get back at Stan Jansen.

The McGuire family members are all psyched about making their annual journey to Grubby Gulch, a "Wild West" theme park. But Lizzie, Miranda, and Gordo are reluctant to go for the trip.

Gordo is irritated by his grandma's new lifestyle choices.

Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo all have big problems on the day their pictures are to be taken for the junior high yearbook. Lizzie searches and searches for the right thing to wear, but her mother insists she put on a ""hideous"" sweater that her grandmother gave her. Miranda runs afoul of Kate when they both show up wearing the same outfit. And Gordo feels the pressure to assume a tough-guy pose when his picture is snapped. Meanwhile Matt hasn't studied for a quiz at school, so he fakes being sick to get out of it. But he finds out that his mom's cure can be worse than the disease.