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

Standing in the kitchen destroying the cookie, Jayden was forced to admit the other reason he didn’t want to tell Charley about Darren: her complete lack of sense. If he told her that Darren was not only cute but had put his hand on Jayden’s knee and then cracked a sex joke, she’d march right over to The Brightside on Tuesday afternoon and tell him about Jayden’s crush. And not having a problem with gay people was completely different from being okay with one of them crushing on you. One hundred percent different. He’d run a mile, and Jayden wanted someone to talk to who didn’t hear all the things he got called at school, and didn’t care if he was gay.


Even if that someone was too attractive for Jayden’s own good. 


“There you are. Ooh, chocolate chip. Now,” Charley snapped, muffled a little by the cookie. “Come on. This isn’t on. You’ve gone and had a summer romance, haven’t you? While I was in Madrid for three weeks, you went and found yourself a cute Johnny boy, didn’t you?”


Chapter 12