Drive Me Crazy

Nicole (Melissa Joan Hart) and Chase (Adrian Grenier) have lived next door to each other their whole lives and were childhood best friends, until junior high when Nicole joined the popular crowd while Chase began to rebel and pulled pranks around school, like mixing orange dye into the school's water supply and turning the sprinklers on during lunch time, drenching everyone in orange color. Thus, constantly landing him in detention. The death of Chase's mother from cancer drove them apart. During their senior year at the Timothy Zonin High School, Nicole devotes much of her time and energy into planning their high school's centennial dance, which she expects to go to with a basketball player named Brad (Gabriel Carpenter). Nicole is on the organizing committee for the centennial and was in charge of the theme for the dance. The centennial committee has about $16,372 left in the budget account to spend on making the event more attractive to students. Brad is a jock on the basketball team and one of the most handsome hunks on campus. Nicole parades herself in front of Brad, even wearing her mother's red halter top to attract attention, but Brad still does not ask her out for the dance. Nicole tells her friend Alicia that she has given all the necessary signs and Brad should know the rules that he has to ask her out. At a basketball game Brad sends his friend to ask Alicia that if he were to ask Nicole to the centennial dance, would she say yes. Alicia says that a real man operates without the safety net. At the same game, Brad has an accident and falls on the cheerleader of the rival team, which whom he shares a moment. But the plan fails as Brad falls in love with a cheerleader named Kathy from a rival school and asks her to the dance instead of Nicole. Chase is dating Dulcie (Ali Larter), though she ultimately leaves him for a socially conscious college student named Joshua after Chase refuses to attend an animal rights protest with her. Dulcie says that Chase's rebel image is a huge fake. Nicole's parents are divorces. She stays with her mom Mrs. Maris (Faye Grant), while her dad Mr. Maris (Stephen Collins) has visitation rights. Nicole knows she will be treated as a loser and asks Chase to take her to the centennial as his date. Chase agrees, but Nicole says if people are going to buy it, they will both really need to be into the whole "dating" thing. The idea is to get Brad and Dulcie back. Nicole gives Chase a complete wardrobe makeover. One night, Nicole calls Chase and asks him to the dance, suggesting that they pretend to date to make Brad and Dulcie jealous, he agrees to her scheme and they both agree to have an easy out clause in the relationship, so it can end at any time with no hard feelings. Nicole gives Chase a makeover so that he fits in better with her friend group and takes him to events where he becomes friends with the popular kids, all while insisting to his old friends, Dave (Mark Webber) and Ray (Kris Park), that the whole thing is just a scam and that he hasn't really changed, though it's clear to them that he has. Dave especially resents that Chase has successfully been accepted by the in-crowd where his own attempts constantly fail. While Chase does all the activities Nicole asks him to with little resistance, he eventually points out that everything they've done is for her benefit. Nicole agrees to do whatever he wants, and they go to a club he used to frequent with Dulcie, where Nicole has a good time and begins bonding with his friends. Chase has a run in with Dulcie and her new boyfriend, Nicole comes to his aid and kisses him, which makes Dulcie jealous. Nicole and Chase begin to fall in love but don't admit their feelings, to each other or themselves, and continue their ruse. Nicole apologizes to Chase for abandoning him as a friend. When Nicole's vindictive best friend, Alicia (Susan May Pratt), seduces Chase at a party (by making him see that Nicole is pursuing Brad and has no interest in him), making sure Nicole would see them together, leaving Nicole heartbroken. Chase calls Dave to pick him up, since he is too drunk to drive, and angers Dave when he says that "everyone" was at the party, which Dave says is not true because he and Ray were not there, reminding him they used to be his friends. Chase retorts that he is merely jealous because he has never gotten into the cool clique whereas Chase has. Meanwhile, Brad and Kathy break up due to lies spread by Alicia, and Dulcie also ends things with Joshua. Chase attempts to talk to Nicole about what happened with Alicia, but she rebuffs him, reminding him of the easy out clause, she also ignores his calls. Chase eventually makes up with his friends and gets back together with Dulcie. Brad finally asks Nicole to the dance. Despite getting what they both wanted from the beginning, Chase is unhappy with Dulcie and Nicole rejects Brad. The night of the dance, with no date, Nicole calls Ray, who had offered to take her earlier, and goes to the dance with him. While Chase is out with Dulcie, she realizes he doesn't want to be there, or be with her. Ray and Nicole have fun together at the dance, but he leaves when Chase arrives, knowing that despite their claims that their relationship was never real, Chase is the one she wants to be with. Chase asks Nicole to dance, she asks who they're trying to make jealous now, he tells her everyone. Chase and Nicole come home early the next morning and Nicole walks Chase to his door, they kiss then find her mother Mrs Maris with his father Mr Hammod (William Converse-Roberts). Their parents tell them that they're also in a relationship and are going to move in together. Nicole suggests she and Chase discuss the new living arrangements in the tree-house they used to play in as children. They hold hands as they walk into Nicole's backyard, then hug and kiss under the tree-house.