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

“Done,” he announced, and Jayden’s phone beeped in his bag. “You can look at it later. Right now, I worked on some of that stalking-acting thing you want me to do, so you play Cooper and I’ll start pissing you off. Okay?”


Jayden pushed the last of the fury and the sadness away, and pulled Darren back up on the stage by both hands. “Deal,” he said.


When he went home that evening with Mum, blazer-less, he checked his phone in the car. Wasn’t goin 2 say it but btw ur hair looks better natural. Skip hairspray Tuesday ;)


Darren smirked. Yep deal w/ it! he replied and slid the phone back into his pocket. Miss West wouldn’t have noticed if he’d had his phone on the table, but at least if he kept pocketing it, Paul couldn’t read it and get involved. And Darren liked keeping a secret from Paul and his partner in crime, even if it was only for a while.


Chapter 18