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

Scott interrupted a YouTube recording of Vivaldi’s Winterby hammering on Darren’s door, interrupting both the music and Darren’s attempts at rearranging the score. Mr. Weber had decided, after a wave of complaints from his students, that they wouldn’t do Vivaldi for the summer recital. Strictly speaking. Instead, each string section would elect a soloist and play the proper movement as an accompaniment to the soloist’s edited version.


Darren had hated the idea the moment it had been voiced, and sure enough, the other violinists had instantly dropped him in it. So what if he was the best violinist in the orchestra? That didn’t mean he wanted to spend hours creating a new twist on Vivaldi’s work. The Four Seasons was boring enough as it was—give Darren Tartini or Paganini any day. At least they were technicallyinteresting.


Chapter 29