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

“If I said yes, I’m not joining your am-drams group.”


“And I can’t be coming to every rehearsal. I don’t have time for that.”


“That’s fine. I mean, nobody else would need to rehearse with you, just Pete, and you wouldn’t need to be here to practise your music, not really, so…”


“And it would be a one-off. I don’t do acting.”


“But you perform in your orchestra.”


“Yeah, sitting down, amongst thirty other people dressed in the same uniform and not moving around. You’re lucky if your own parents can pick you out in the middle of that. I don’t do getting up and performing in front of crowds.”


“Okay. Okay, just this play, that’s fine—I mean, I haven’t even thought about what I’m going to do for the summer performance, so…”


“Yeah.” Darren shrugged. “I guess so. Couldn’t hurt.”


Chapter 14