Louis and Twitty are having a good time making prank phone calls, including one to Ren, claiming to be Bobby Deaver. When she finds out about their deception, she blasts them with a super-soaker! At school, Ren meets her old neighbor Nelson, who is a real hypochondriac with allergies to everything. At lunch he embarrasses her with all his symptoms. Then when she gets home, she's not happy to hear that her parents have made plans to go out to dinner with her and Nelson and his parents. Louis and Twitty are back on the phone again, this time calling up Tawny's house claiming to be the "$1 Million Trivia Challenge" from a radio station. Tawny puts her dad, Dr. Dean, on the line and he answers the questions. Louis tells them they've won a million dollars and Tawny and her father jump up and down celebrating. Bobby Deaver calls Ren. She thinks it's a another prank at first, but she recovers in time for Bobby to ask her out ice skating. But the date is the same day as the dinner with Nelson's family.

Ren Stevens looks like a shoo-in for "Student of the Semester" and among her biggest supporters are Principal Wexler and two admiring young cub reporters, Carla and Marla, who are writing about her for the school paper. But the unthinkable could happen: in Mr. Rupert's wood shop class Ren may get a "C" on her final project. Louis helps her to cope with the possibility that she may have to accept less than perfection. Meanwhile, Louis' locker has become a mess, and it's not all his fault this time, as a broken steam pipe is creating new life-forms in the muck. Principal Wexler gives him a dusty old janitor's closet as a temporary space, and Louis uses it to create "Casa de Fiesta", a spot which becomes as popular as Studio 54 among the students.

Ren is lobbying to get her own telephone. Her parents say she can have it if she keeps from insulting Louis for a week. At school, sleazy salesman Mr. Wallace promotes the 7th grade chocolate sale, offering a state-of-the-art motor scooter as a prize for the most sales. Louis catches scooter fever and makes plans with Twitty to sell 400 boxes of chocolate. By mistake Louis and Twitty both order 400 boxes, and Mr. Wallace tells them they're financially responsible for all of them. Twitty and Louis fight about who's to blame and break up their partnership. The next day Louis gets up early to start selling the chocolate, but his sales technique is lousy compared to Twitty, who even sold Mrs. Stevens six bars. Back at home Donny has used so much hot water in the shower that all the stored chocolate in the garage has melted and is sliding down the driveway. Mr. Stevens slips and falls in it, as does Wallace when he comes by demanding payment. Mr. Stevens tells him off and threatens to sue

Donnie is coaching his terrible little league basketball team the Dingoes while Louis is hanging around the gym after his usual detention. When Donnie takes a break, Louis has the kids run a drill, and they actually look pretty good doing it. The kids ask if Louis can be their assistant coach and Donnie agrees to it. In their next game, the winless Dingoes have improved so much that they actually have a chance to win with a few seconds left. Donnie's final play is too complicated for the team to understand, but Louis has one up his sleeve. When play stars, one of the boys gets down on all fours and starts barking like a dog. While the other team is distracted, Tiffany scores the winning basket for the Dingoes! They carry Louis off the floor in triumph. Meanwhile Ren has a couple of encounters with Bobby where it seems like they are on the verge of kissing, but every time the romantic moment arrives, he backs off and gives her a high-five instead! Ren talks to her mom about this and Eil

Louis is managing Twitty's band. They've got a chance for a gig at a big party thrown by Jason Bagwell, so they are auditioning for a lead singer. Ren hates the band until she gets a look at Jason, then she decides she wants to be the singer in order to go to the party. Louis says no way, but the band likes her much better than the parade of freaks they've been auditioning. Fearing Ren will take over, Louis puts Ren's membership to a vote. The band all vote for Ren and against Louis. Frustrated, Louis gets Tom to program a few instuments and he forms a rival techno band featuring the bizarre poetry of Tawny. Both bands audition before Jason. He rejects them both, but proves himself to be such a jerk that no one wants to get the job anyway. The two groups form a ""super band"" and play their own big gig--at a kids' birthday party.

The 7th graders are terrorized by the approaching of ""Scrub Day,"" the day when the upperclassmen are supposedly allowed to do terrible things to them. Louis is desperate to find a way out of it, but Ren and Donnie offer him no help. Louis organizes the ""United Scrubs of America"" to stand up to Larry Beale, their chief tormenter. Larry thwarts them by saying that this year they will only concentrate on one scrub--Louis. Louis turns around to find that all his supporters have deserted him. On Scrub Day the patrol is out in full force seeking Louis, but he proves to be elusive for them. Finally they catch him, when who should show up but big brother Donnie. But instead of rescuing Louis, Donnie arrives dressed like Gandhi! (He's appearing in the Living History Pageant.) Donnie has taken Gandhi's philosophy to heart and advises Louis not to fight back, then he gets a page and leaves. Beale and company take their prisoner to the cafeteria where they dump him in a vat of sloppy joe. Remember

Ren and Bobby are at the Stevens house doing homework. They are about to kiss when her dad comes in and interrupts them. Steve Stevens seems determined not to leave the couple alone. He has some ""good"" news--he's giving a guest lecture on birds in Ms. Lovelson's Life Science class. The next day at school Ruby tells Ren that Mandy ""Always Gets Her Man"" Sanchez has a crush on Bobby. After giving a thoroughly embarrassing presentation, Mr. Stevens invite the students along for a birdwatching trip to Devil Mountain. Bobby volunteers to go, followed quickly by Mandy and Ren, plus Ruby and Nelson. Meanwhile Louis and Twitty are enjoying the delicious pizza that Tom makes in his pizza oven. But when a heating coil breaks, the pair quickly leaves. The next day at school Louis is telling a joke to a crowd when Tom arrives and spoils the punch line. When Louis and Twitty berate him, Tom says his oven may never get fixed. Later the boys walk by Tom's house and find that he's making pizza, but non

Louis and Twitty are desperate to find the new ultra-cool ""Quasi"" sneakers, but they are sold out everywhere. Tom puts them in contact with his underground source, though, and they set up a meeting with ""Scabbie"" at South Creek Mall. Meanwhile, Ren is leading (naturally) a fund-raising meeting for the school paper. Ruby proposes a fashion show at the Mall, an idea everyone likes better than Ren's, including, surprisingly, Ren's devoted disciples Carla and Marla. Soon everyone is neglecting work on the paper and working on the fashion show. Ren gets upset and Ruby accuses her of being mad because the show wasn't her idea, which seems to be true. Ren angrily insists she'll put out the paper by herself. Louis and Twitty take a scary trip through the mall basement and meet up with the even scarier character of Scabbie. He takes their money and goes to his ""secret stash"" of Quasis. When the boys realize that he didn't get their shoes sizes, they quickly determine he's not coming back. Meanw

Donnie is going to be inducted into the Lawrence Jr. High Wombat Hall of Fame and Louis is getting a little perturbed at his brother because of all the things he gets away with simply because he's an athletic star. His dad ignores his complaints, so Louis plans his own stunt to get even. At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a choked-up Coach Tugnut introduces Donnie and tells him that the Texas State University football coach Specs Richardson is on his way to Sacramento right now with plans to offer Donnie a full athletic scholarship. Donnie is set to demonstrate his title-winning gymnastics routine on the pommel horse. Louis has tampered with the horse, though, and when Donnie gets on, it bucks like a mechanical bull. Donnie is thrown high in the air and lands hard on the ground, as Louis and Twitty look on in shock.

Even though she's burning up with fever, Ren still wants to go to school so she can qualify for a perfect attendance award, but her mom Eileen won't let her. Louis tries to fake illness to avoid Coach Tugnut's fitness test, but his dad Steve is not fooled. Ren is in bed with Mr. Pookie watching a musical. A big puff of steam comes from the humidifier and... Ren is at school after all, but when she comes in the office she gets a big surprise--Principal Wexler is singing the ""Morning Announcements,"" complete with a troupe of dancing students! She sees Louis, Twitty and Tawny in the hall. Louis is still looking to get out of gym class, and he and his friends start singing and dancing to the song ""I Always Find a Way."" Ren meets Ruby and Nelson for lunch. They remind her that her science presentation is due today in 6th period. Ren has forgotten all about it and isn't prepared. But Larry Beale is--and he intends to win the science medal with his presentation. While Ren stumbles around tryi

Coach Tugnut is looking for a replacement on the track team and he gives a tryout to Louis, the younger brother of the legendary Donnie Stevens, who the coach reveres. Team member Larry Beale sees an opportunity to destroy the Stevens legacy at Lawrence Junior High and finally defeat his nemeses. At the tryout Larry makes it look like Louis' time is best, and he makes the team. In practice Larry holds back against Louis, making Louis think that he's a great runner. Ren, who is assigned to cover the track meet for the school paper, figures out what's up. She tries to tell Louis but he's sure that Ren is just jealous because he's finally found something he's successful at. Ren warns Larry not to mess with ""Stevens genes;"" he'll lose every time. During the race, Larry gets tangled up with an opponent and falls down. Louis goes back to help Larry, who jumps up and speeds off to win the race. Louis sticks with the injured opponent and the crowd cheers them instead of the winner Larry. Ren w

Ren is having a ""young women's all-night forum""--better known as a slumber party--and she wants everyone to clear out of the house on Saturday night. All the family members agree, including Louis, who says he'll be sleeping over at Twitty's. But he's got a plan--to put hidden cameras in the house and broadcast the evening as ""The Secret World of Girls,"" charging $10 a head to his fellow male students to watch. There's been a young kid spying on Louis and Twitty. They catch him and demand to know what he wants. It turns out the youngster is new in town and is just looking for someone to hang out with. The boys are on the verge of turning him away, but Louis likes his nerve, and nicknames him ""Beans."" After Louis and Twitty wire up the house, Beans distributes flyers promoting the big pay-per-view evening to be held in the Stevens basement. Plenty of guys show up for the broadcast, but it's not very long until the girls all go upstairs, where there is no camera! Louis is faced with an an

Louis plans to make an entry in a local young people's film festival. He recruits Tawny and Twitty for his cast and Tom for his crew and they begin making his extremely low-budget space alien love story. Louis proves to be a fanatical and dictatorial film director, and after Tawny almost gets hurt on a cheesy special-effect shot, his cast and crew quit en masse. Louis finishes the film alone and shows ""Three Eyes Wide Shut"" at the film festival, where it plays to great laughter from the audience, especially in the scene where Louis has his arms wrapped around himslf pretending to be two people kissing. Louis is humiliated, but Tawny at least will stand by him after the film's showing. Also, Ren is ready to tell Bobby Deaver that she's interested in him, much to the delight of school gossip-monger Ruby. Ren practices her lines she's going to use on Bobby, then writes them out. Ruby mistakenly gives the note to Bobby. Ren is frantic to get the note back, but it turns out that, rather tha

Ren and Louis are both looking forward to Zack Estrada's party with anticipation and nervousness. Ren has told her friend Ruby that she's planning to make her move on Bobby Deaver at the party. Louis decides to go when Tawny and Twitty say they're going, but he's afraid because he can't dance. He goes to Betty London's dance studio but all she teaches him are the rhumba, cha-cha, etc.—dances that he doesn't think will impress Tawny. Ren is mortified when she hears Louis will be at the same party as her and Bobby. She stipulates all sorts of no-contact rules for Louis to follow. At the party, Louis is too shy to ask Tawny to dance. Ren's attempts to hook up with Bobby meet with disaster. First her hair gets caught in a houseplant, then her foot gets stuck in the toilet. Louis is amused with his sister's plight at first, but he senses that Bobby is as important to her as Tawny is to him. To help her out, he creates a distraction by doing the tango with Mrs. Estrada, which impresses Tawn

Ren is ecstatic when she finds out that her braces will come off in the morning before her 8th grade school picture will be taken. When the dentist removes them, he says she has a slight infection and gives her some oral medication which has ""mild side effects."" Ren looks great and rushes to school to get her picture taken. The disinterested photographer doesn't tell her that her cheeks are now grossly swollen. In the halls everyone stares and laughs at Ren. Louis shows his sister a mirror; Ren is horrified. She chases down the departing photographer, Mr. Krapezi, but he says there will be no reshoot unless the principal authorizes payment. Ren is sure Principal Wexler will do it for her, but by the time she sees him, the swelling has gone down and he won't consider it. At home, Louis brings in the horrible yearbook photo that's arrived in the mail. Ren's mom tells her how she led a protest for women's studies in college and suggests Ren could do the same. Ren organizes a demonstration

The Stevens are a middle-class family living in Sacramento, CA. Husband and father Steve is a successful attorney. Wife and mother Eileen is a state Senator. Their oldest child Donnie ia a high-school sports legend. Ren, an 8th-grader, is just about the perfect daughter. She makes the best grades, she's popular, she does volunteer work and other extracurricular tasks by the score. Her brother Louis, in the 7th grade, is her opposite. He likes to sleep late, he's messy, his grades are not good, he's frequently in detention and he seems to take nothing seriously. But he is serious about finding something of his own that he can do to put himself on a par with the rest of his overachieving family. Though he and Ren occasionally soften their attitudes toward each other, at any given moment the're likely to be fighting like mongoose and cobra. In this episode, Louis finds a valuable ""Roaring Drycon"" card for sale online. He asks the price and finds out that the seller wants a date with his s

Ren is overjoyed that June Marie is going to be her ""pre-high school mentor."" She excitedly sings her praises to everyone in the family, but Louis is only interested in finding his missing tape of a favorite Saturday Night Live episode. He gets some surveilance equipment from Tom and begins spying on family members to find out who taped over his show. While doing this he finds out that June Marie is only using Ren in an effort to make a play for their brother Donnie. Louis tells Ren but of course she doesn't believe him.

Ren is surprised by Louis, who she finds in her closet looking for Hanukkah presents. In the process he messes up her room and breaks Donnie's trophy's trying to run away from her. Keeping up his search, Louis finds the presents in the basement. Upstairs, Ren asks her mom to tell the Hanukkah story again (Eileen's side of the family is Jewish.) Louis hears his dad coming upstairs to get him, so he hastily wraps the presents in a blanket and dangles them outside his window. The presents all go crashing to the driveway. When the family sees what happens, Louis is in trouble with them all. Feeling sorry for himself later, Louis wishes out loud that he hadn't been born into this family where he doesn't fit in. Suddenly in great flashes of light an old woman appears to Louis. It's the spirit of his great-great-great-great grandmother Bubbie Rose. She's heard Louis complaining and is ready to take him on a trip to see what would have happened if he hadn't been born. They travel to the Steven

Ren is an organizer of the ""Beacon of Help"" fund-raiser, where people will work, walk, skateboard, etc. for pledges of money. Louis wants to find something suited to his talents which also might impress Tawny. He decides to ""doze for dollars"" and is scheduled to spend 48 hours in a bed in a department store window. He soon draws a crowd and news media, who dub him the ""amazing boy."" Ren is irritated that she does the hard work and Louis gets the attention. But Louis' fame proves fleeting when he's upstaged by a skateboarding dog. He also can't go to the ""Fun-tasia"" festival where Tawny is spending the day with Zack Estrada. Loius calls Tawny on the phone and admits he should have washed cars with her and Twitty instead of being selfish, but she can't hear him. Louis wants to leave the window early, but his malfunctioning bed threatens to swallow him up. Tawny realizes that Louis is more interesting than Zack, and she comes to visit him.

Louis, Twitty and Tom are engaging in one of their usual crazy pursuits (this time trying to walk on the ceiling!) when they find that Beans has once again snuck into the house and is annoying them. Beans says he has a cousin named Chris that the guys might like to meet, but they throw him out anyway, only to find out that not only is Chris a girl, she's a pretty one, too! Now all of a sudden Louis and his friends are fawning all over Beans, hoping that he will introduce them to his cousin. Beans puts them through a test and decides he'll let Louis meet her. Louis arranges to take a gondola ride with Chris, but she shows up with Beans in tow. Louis manages to ditch Beans, and on the gondola ride sparks start to fly between him and Chris. She gives him permission to kiss her, but when Louis starts to move in on her, Chris' head morphs into a replica of--Beans!! Louis screams in horror! At school Twitty and Tom want to know all the juicy details about Louis' date, but Louis is still trau

At school, Louis and Tom are fooling around with Tom's boomerang when Louis flings it in the direction of Ren, Ruby and Monique, nearly hitting them. The group looks for the lost boomerang, but instead of finding it Ren stumbles upon something else. a metal briefcase, the kind used to carry large sums of cash! When the gang gets home, they open it up and check it out. Amazingly, they find that it IS full of money--$4,412 to be exact! Everyone starts mentally dividing up the loot and deciding how they are going to spend it--except for Ren, of course. Though the others are reluctant, they finally listen to Ren when she tells them the money is not theirs and must be turned over to the proper authorities. They all agree that Ren, being the most responsible one, should take the money to the police. But on the way to the station, Ren sees a pair of lizard-skin pants in the window of an expensive botique. She stops in to look, and the saleswoman there does quite a sales job on her, so much so

Twitty has broken up with his girlfriend Allison, but he says things are OK between them and they are still friends. Louis is surprised, though, when Allison starts giving him ""the eye"" right away. Louis tells Tawny about this. She's very skeptical, and bluntly asks Allison if she's been checking out Louis. Tawny is surprised when Allison say yes, ""I like his look."" Louis is even more surprised when Allison asks him to meet her at a local park with a reputation as a place to make out. Louis is confused about what to do. He's concerned how his best friend Twitty will react to himself and Allison as a couple so soon after breaking up with her. His conflicting emotions are played out in his head in the form of a couple of old guys sitting around in a deli talking! Despite his fears, Louis tells Twitty he can't hang out after school and goes to the park to meet Allison. But when she asks Louis to put on a bathing suit she's brought along, he stops her, saying that this is all wrong and he'

It was a dark and stormy night... just before Halloween as Ren sits and watches a horror movie alone. She gets a terrifying ""I know you're home alone"" call from someone, but it turns out to be Louis, dressed in his penguin jockey outfit. At school the next day, Ren is the only person not dressed in a Halloween costume. Instead, she is encouraging all the students to get eye examinations, which are being given by Principal Wexler and Coach Tunut, who are looking and acting suspiciously like Dr. Frankenstein and Igor. Meanwhile, Louis has plans for the greatest Halloween prank ever, eyeballs in the turkey gravy. But by lunchtime, his cohorts Tom, Tawny and Twitty have flaked on him. They've all taken the eye exam and are now drinking milk and talking and acting responsibly, like Ren. In fact, everyone now is looking and acting the same way. When they take their dark glasses off--they're missing their eyeballs! Louis runs down the hall in terror trying to escape, surrounded by zombie-like

Louis has a scheme to raise money for a snowboarding trip for himself, Twitty, Tawny and Tom. While everyone else is out of the house on a weekend night, he plans to turn his home into ""Stevens Manor,"" a bed and breakfast inn, and he's already got guests' reservations! When his parents leave on an anniversary trip, he and his friends put on monogrammed shirts, redecorate the house, and greet their new arrivals, who find that the staff includes Tawny playing cocktail-lounge piano and Beans as a masseur! Despite some near-disasters (like Tom turning out to be an obnoxious waiter), the guys seem to be pulling off their plan. Meanwhile Ren is at a sleepover at Ruby's, who is down after breaking up with her boyfriend. The two plan a ""boy-free"" evening, but when her ex calls on the phone, Ruby spends the night talking to him. Ren goes home in disgust and climbs in her bed only to find--there's someone already in it! Ren hits the roof when she finds out what Louis has done and is immediately

Tawny, Twitty and Tom wait for Louis, who they are supposed to meet in the gym. To their great surprise, they find out that he's a member of the school's diving team! But when Louis does his first dive in competition, it's a ragged cannonball that splashes about half the water out of the pool, to the crowd's great amusement. Meanwhile, Ruby has the early word on who is going to win in the class favorites voting. Ren is set to sweep the big awards, but when she hears that another girl, Kelly, is ahead in the ""Best Smile"" voting, it brings out her competitive nature and she determines to win that award too. When Louis comes home late, he doesn't want to tell his parents where he's been, but Ren spils the beans about him being on the diving team. Steve and Eileen are delighted at this news. Ren works on her smile that night and the next day at school she and Kelly are involved in a big ""smile-down."" At Louis' next diving meet, his dad brings along his boss Mr. Kupchek to see his son. But

In Mr. Lopez's algebra class, Tawny and Twitty are doing great, but Louis is pretty much clueless. Despite his teacher's warning about the upcoming mid-term, Louis shows no concern about learning the material. Instead he spends his time with Beans working on some strange device. We soon learn what its purpose is: it's a snow machine, and Louis takes it to Principal Wexler's house to try and fool him by faking a blizzard so he will cancel classes on the day of the algebra exam. The ruse almost works until Ren comes along and blows Louis' cover. In a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Wexler comes down hard on Louis, suspending him for a week. Eileen Stevens takes the job of tutoring her son while he's out of school and she puts him through a tough course of learning. But Louis still gets nowhere with the algebra. Ren confronts Louis and asks why he went to such trouble to get out of a test. Louis admits that he just doesn't understand anything about algebra but is embarrassed to admit t

A tearful Ren can hardly believe it--Principal Wexler is leaving his job at the school! What's more, he's going off to pursue a career as A MODEL! Louis and Twitty are extremely pleased with themselves, since it was their doings that gave Wexler the idea he could be a successful model. Now the new man in the job will be Vice-Principal Landau, a real soft touch who's mostly interested in performing magic. For a while everything goes the way the boys want it and the school is in total chaos. That's when Ren goes to Mr. Landau and convinces him to crack down, saying there are other ways to do it besides screaming and yelling at students, which he's not good at. So Landau comes up with an idea to make the students wear ""Scarlet Letter""-type signs around their necks for every infraction of the rules, from ""I Am a Troublemaker"" for Louis to ""I Am an Eye-Roller"" for Tawny! Louis asks Ren for help in stopping Landau's new policy, but she doesn't have much sympathy until she notices that every

When an emu that Louis ordered arrives through the mail, his dad Steve puts his foot down on his son's get-rich-quick schemes. But Louis is not so easy to stop. While he's bowling with Twitty and Tom in his basement using milk cartons and a frozen turkey, Louis knocks a hole in the wall revealing a heretofore unkown tunnel. Louis does some research and finds that a rich businessman who made sausages once owned the land their house is on, so along with the other boys and Beans they start excavating the filled-in tunnel hoping to find some of the man's lost wealth. When Steve finds out he's upset with Louis, but soon he goes on an Indiana Jones-type mission with him to recover the treasure Louis has located: A large gold-encrusted sausage! Also, Ren and Larry Beale's rivalry is responsible for Principal Wexler getting a couple of pies in the face, so he sends them to the school's somewhat flaky counselor Miss Shannon, who decides on a radical therapy: she tethers them together! After a c

Louis and Twitty are not too impressed when Tom shows off his cousin Grayson, the reigning two-time winner of the ""Little Mr. Sacremento"" pageant, but when they hear there is a $1000 prize for the contest winner, they team up with Tawny to try and groom Beans to be a contestant. It isn't easy though; Beans' only talent is--ah, making a certain kind of noise with his cupped hand and armpit to the tune of ""Polly Wolly Doodle!"" Louis tries to teach him another talent, but is frustrated. Beans overhears Louis complaining to his mother than the youngster is hopeless. With his feelings hurt, Beans goes to drown his sorrows in a plate of bacon at the Bacon Shack. Louis finds Beans and tells him a secret: he himself was once in the Little Mr. Sacktown pageant, but he blew his chance many years ago. Beans thinks that Louis is realy trying to satisfy his own ego and tells him that he'll stay in the pageant, but he won't use Louis' help. With the Stevens family watching on TV, the pageant begins,

Ren and Pricipal Wexler are giddy with excitement when famous actor Barry Hudson Jr. shows up at Lawrence Jr. High to help judge auditions for the new Sacramento Arts Conservatory for Creative Youth (SACCY, or ""sassy'). So is State Senator Eileen Stevens, who takes Barry right out from under Ren's nose and takes him on a tour of the school. Tom Gribalski is excited about auditioning, but Louis and Twitty ridicule his ambition at lunch. Tawny listens and gets irritated; she's getting fed up with her friends' endless practical jokes and childish behavior. She defends Tom and tells off Louis and Twitty. The boys go to the audition to make fun of the performers. Tom sings a severely off-key song for his audition (accompanied on piano by his mother Doris!) Louis and Twitty are about to leave when, surprisingly, Tawny gets up to take a turn in front of the judges. She does a dramatic monologue which moves everyone and she gets an ovation from judges and spectators. Louis realizes Tawny is a

Principal Wexler gives his student assistant Ren the task of investigating a new organization at school called the ""Lumberjack Club."" It seems that Louis got fifty signatues on a petition, allowing him to get $218 from the school to start a new club. Ren finds out it's what she expected: Louis is pulling another scam. The only purpose of the Lumberjack Club is to provide Louis, Twitty, Tawny and Tom with lots of pancakes and high-quality syrup! Ren is ecstatic when she finds that Principal Wexler has given her a desk of her own right outside her office, with a nameplate and all the works. But she's not so happy when she ends up doing all of Wexler's work while he goes out riding in his new car. When Wexler tells her she must fire the school's old janitor, she puts her foot down, saying she won't to the principal's dirty work for him. An argument ensues, and Ren quits her job as student assistant. But right away she misses being out of the action, so she goes back to apologize, only to

Louis is being threatened by Lloyd, a bully at his school. Tom tells Louis that he needs to stand up to Lloyd, but Louis dismisses Tom's advice, inferring that he's a wimp who doesn't know what he's talking about. But Louis isn't handling Lloyd very well, and in shop class Lloyd humiliates Louis by putting the smaller guy into a hutch (cabinet) that he's building. Tom decides he's seen enough. As calm as Clint Eastwood, he strolls up to Lloyd and tells him to stop. Then he surprises everyone by putting on a dazzling display of karate moves, breaking boards and other pieces of wood left and right! Lloyd immediately backs down. In an instant, Tom changes in the eyes of Louis from a wimp to a hero. He tells Tom he wants to be his student and learn his ways. But before his first lesson, Louis impulsively calls up Lloyd and invites him to meet in an alley for a showdown. Tom then tells him it will take Louis nine years to learn his teachings! Louis learns all he can in one day, then goes to

Ren and Louis are at the carnival on a Ferris wheel when the ride gets stuck with them at the top. As the two argue, a repairwoman comes climbing up to their bucket and serves as a moderator for their argument. In flashback we see Louis' first days at junior high and how he embarrasses Ren. We also see the early rivalry between Ren and Larry Beale plus Louis' first flirtations with Tawny.

Some students from Jefferson are temporarily going to Lawrence Junior High, and Ren, Ruby and Monique are checking out the boys for possible dates to the upcoming semi-formal dance. Ren is sharing a locker with a Jefferson student named Travis Gresham. She is infatuated with him, but she's never actually seen him yet, despite her efforts. Meanwhile, Louis is incurring the wrath of all sorts of people, including Twitty, Principal Wexler and a girl named Charlene (who stomps on his feet!) because of the pranks he's been pulling. But in truth, Louis isn't the one doing those things; it's some other mysterious guy. Ren finally hears someone address Travis by name at lunch, so she goes over, sits down and talks to him. After a while, she asks him to the dance. Travis is everything she's been looking for--until they both stand up and she sees that he's half a head shorter than she is! Ren is looking through the school files when she comes upon a Jefferson student named Loomis Freeman. The gu

Louis badly wants a set of drums he's seen in a pawn shop window, but his parents say that he (and they) have accumulated too much junk that just sits around the house. Louis proposes they have a garage sale. Steve and Eileen go for the idea and tell their son he can buy the drums if they make enough money. Meanwhile, Ren is apprehensive about Scott Brooks coming by to be her ""study date,"" and Ruby is there to help get the two together. While the three are studying, Ren's favorite stuffed animal from her childhood, Mr. Pookie, gets mistakenly included with the items to be sold at the yard sale. The sale is successful--even Donnie's old unwashed uniforms and cleats are bought by Coach Tugnut. But when Scott leaves, Ren looks for Mr. Pookie, who was hidden away during the study date. She can't find him, and her mom breaks the bad news to her: he was sold at the yard sale! Ren accepts the news maturely at first, but later she finds out from Ruby that Scott has gone back to his old girlfri

Louis arrives late in class to find a huge new transfer student named Lenny sitting in his seat. Louis is scared of the big guy but loans him a pencil when he needs one. The class watches the ""Wombat Report"" featuring Ren's expose on dodge ball. She has film of Coach Tugnut and his sadistic practices plus a medical report from Nelson about the injury risks. Lenny follows a nervous Louis to the cafeteria, but he's not going to hurt him; rather, he's grateful that Louis was nice to him. Louis asks Lenny to have lunch with him and Twitty, then he boldly goes and sits at the 8th grade table. Normally this would get the 7th graders a pounding, but with Lenny by their side, Louis and Twitty are soon able to order guys like Larry Beale around like they were little kids. Meanwhile Ren meets with an angry Coach Tugnut. There is going to be a referendum on whether or not to keep dodge ball and the Coach promises to fight Ren all the way, enlisting Larry to campaign for him. Louis and Twitty are

The Lawrence Jr. High baseball team is blowing a big lead and is about to lose the game. Things get so bad Coach Tugnut puts in Twitty, who hasn't pitched all year. Surprisingly, he strikes out the rest of the side and saves the day. At school the next day, Twitty is congratulated by everyone, but Louis talks about him being the star player every one depends on so much that it begins to make him nervous. Now with his confidence shaken, Twitty pitches terribly in the next game while Artie Ryan broadcasts to everyone how he blew it. After the game, Twitty blames Louis and all his talk for his pitching problems. Twiity is sitting at home depressed when Tawny and Louis come over to help snap him out of it. Tawny suggests ""behavior modification,"" giving Twitty a reward for having good thoughts and giving him a whiff of Louis' old socks for bad ones! It doesn't work, so Tawny asks Louis to bring his brother Donnie over to help. Donnie tells about when he had similar problems and says a trip

In the form of a ""rockumentary"" directed by that noted filmmaker Tom Gribalski, we witness the ups and downs of the Twitty-Stevens Connection, the rock band featuring Alan Twitty on guitar, Louis Stevens on drums, Ren Stevens on vocals, Tawny Dean on keyboards and Artie Ryan on bass, who is replaced by another bass guitarist--would you believe Beans? The rest of the Stevens family is delighted and amazed to find that Ren and Louis are actually getting along and working together as songwriters. But a problem soon arises. Louis comes up with an idea for a rooftop concert to be given at the school, a la the Beatles and U2, even though Principal Wexler will not give permission for it. Ren won't go along with the idea, leading to a big argument between her and Louis, and she quits the band over the dispute. Louis pushes ahead with his idea and the group manage to sneak their equipment onto the roof past Mr. Wexler and Coach Tugnut. But one by one the nervous band members drop out of the pro