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

“Well, I wanted to experiment with breaking the fourth wall a little, you know, let him see things on the stage or in the audience that others can’t, because he’s mad, you know, but the lights are kind of blinding here and you can’t really see the audience, so I was maybe thinking he could see the props like props, but that’s not great for the rest of the scenes or the other actors, and then…”


“Sorry. I, um…well, I’ve never used music in a play before because we don’t have an orchestra pit here and hiring a musician would be too expensive and none of the actors play, and…”


“You want me to play for your…play?” Darren asked and winced at the poor phrasing.


“Sort of. I, um… Can you play and walk around at the same time?”


“Yes,” Darren said flatly. “At least, the violin, because I bloody hope you didn’t just ask me to lift a piano.”


Chapter 13