After his near-death experience, Lucas decides he made the wrong choice in girlfriends. He breaks up with Brooke & secretly rekindles his romance with Peyton. However, the truth is revealed after he is rushed to the emergency room again, & the girls come face to face in the hospital. Meanwhile, unable to pay his mortgage because he had to cover Lucas' hospital bill, Keith puts his business up for sale. ...

Nathan must choose which parent to live with after Dan & Deb's divorce. Dan forces Nathan to make the decision by threatening to reveal Deb's (recurring guest star BARBARA ALYN WOODS) darkest secrets in court unless Nathan chooses him. Meanwhile, Lucas meets a beautiful stranger who challenges his perceptions of life since Lucas' car accident. Grammy Award winner SHERYL CROW guest stars as herself & performs her song " The First Cut Is the Deepest" in Karen's Café. ...

The gang hits the road to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a basketball game & an annual cheerleading competition that squad leader Brooke is determined to win. When one of the teammates gets sick, Brooke's fellow cheerleader Peyton begs Haley to join the squad for the competition. Meanwhile, after Whitey assigns Lucas & Nathan to the same hotel room, tempers flare, & Haley is caught in the middle. ...

Lucas, Nathan, their teammate Jake (recurring guest star BRYAN GREENBERG) & the rest of the Raven basketball players are auctioned to the highest bidder in the annual " Boy Toy" charity auction, & the evening leads to surprising developments. Meanwhile, having missed out on the auction, Brooke ends up with offbeat Mouth (recurring guest star LEE NORRIS) & gives him the night of his life. ...

While Nathan looks for an after-school job to pay his rent, Haley hosts a party at his apartment--but she panics when the situation gets out of control. After jilted Brooke realizes she was not invited to the festivities, she decides to attend the party anyway, along with her new friend, Nicki (recurring guest star EMMANUELLE VAUGIER
- " Smallville").
...

Lucas is shocked to learn that Dan once asked Karen for joint custody of him when he was a baby. Meanwhile, Peyton panics after her friend Nicki (recurring guest star EMMANUELLE VAUGIER) kidnaps basketball player Jake's (recurring guest star BRYAN GREENBERG) baby while baby-sitting. ...

Lucas & Nathan bear the brunt of Dan's abuse as he coaches them into the playoffs, pushing both of them to their emotional breaking points. Haley is stunned after Dan threatens her, causing her to reconsider her relationship with Nathan. Meanwhile, Whitey finds out that his medical condition may be more serious than he first expected, & Dan learns a shocking secret from Deb. ...

After a particularly spectacular basketball game, Lucas quickly supplants Nathan as the team's most popular player. Sexy cheerleader Brooke immediately sets her romantic sights on the new star athlete. Frustrated by Lucas' success--and goaded on by Dan--Nathan rallies his teammates & begins a hazing campaign against Lucas, including trashing the outdoor court where Lucas practices. The pranks escalate until Nathan & the guys abduct Lucas & order him to quit the team before something terrible happens to him. But one player, Jake (recurring guest star BRYAN GREENBERG), defies Nathan & supports Lucas. Nathan seeks the ultimate revenge on Lucas by attempting to seduce Lucas' best friend, Haley, persuading her to tutor him & then flirting relentlessly. Haley agrees to help Nathan with his homework only if he will stop harassing Lucas, but even she finds it hard to resist Nathan's charm, & she keeps the entire arrangement secret from Lucas. ...

Haley convinces Lucas to go with the team to a party at Nathan's beach house, hoping that the guys will become friendlier. When Lucas sees the wealth that is denied him, he finally confronts his mother about why she lets Dan ignore them. Meanwhile, when Nathan's mother, Deb Scott (recurring guest star BARBARA ALYN WOODS), returns home & tries to deal with her angry son, she turns to Karen for advice. ...