17. Spirit in the Night

The gang hits the road to Charlotte where Brooke is determined to win first place at the annual cheerleading competition to one-up a nasty rival cheerleader. But when one of her squad falls ill, Peyton begs Haley to step into a cheerleader's shoes for a day. Mouth helps Brooke to create an all-new routine with Peyton's musical skills. Karen must cancel a date with Keith to chaperone the trip. Dan becomes an unreasonable boss forcing Keith to quit and give him the garage. Whitey assigns Lucas and Nathan to the same room after failing to make them closer through practice.

Karen and Peyton's dad chaperone the trip and begin flirting with each other. Lucas grows upset with Haley, feeling she has no time for him and not liking her being so close with Nathan. The boys sneak out past curfew and accidentally go to a male strip club. The girls perfect their team and sneak away to the hot tub which turns into a pool party with the guys. The girls do not win the competition, but Brooke wins a special award. The boys win the game and Whitey's 500th game.

Lucas apologizes to Haley and tries to be cordial to Nathan. Taking Nathan's advice, Lucas later powers through the pain and tries to practice. Peyton thinks that she and Brooke are mending fences, but Brooke says they were just caught up in the weekend and that they aren't friends anymore. Nathan moves into his own apartment. This episode is named after a song by Bruce Springsteen.