Out-and-regretting-it comprehensive attendee Jayden Phillips turns his cast-iron plans for life upside-down by falling in love with private-school violinist Darren Peace, a sardonic boy with the craziest hair Jayden's ever seen.<br><br>But all is not what it seems, and Jayden's bullying problem becomes meaningless when he is confronted with what the music does to Darren. How do you stop a dangerous depression rooted in the same thing that makes someone what they are? Dark moods, blank apathy, and the undertow of self-loathing all simmer beneath Darren's dry and beautiful veneer, and Jayden feels powerless to stop them.<br><br>Then a mugging gone wrong takes the music forcibly away, and Jayden is finally given the chance to change Darren's life -- and, quite literally, his mind.

Vivaldi in the Dark

“Me? No. God no. I barely…I mean, I can’t even read sheet music. I think I did the recorder when I was, like, six, and I was awful and I never did it again.”


He talked a mile a minute. Framed by the stark light of the corridor, he had for a brief second looked like some third-class angel, not so much the Archangel as the winged clerk at the heavenly reception desk, but Darren was fairly sure that if there was a God, he would have equipped his celestial waiters and hangers-on with a shut up function too. This Jayden didn’t seem to have one. Oddly, Darren found himself not minding too much.


“So are you…I mean, you must be allowed to be here, Dwayne’s not deaf, so are you…part of the orchestra, or…?”


“Yes,” Darren said flatly. “Every Tuesday and Thursday, three ‘til four.”


“You never used to,” Jayden blurted out. “I would have remembered seeing you before.”


Chapter 4