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

It had happened to his mother. She’d been eighteen years old and had fallen for a gorgeous college student. A photographer. After eight months, she told him she was pregnant. He promptly told her he was seeing someone else, and that was that. And okay, Jayden couldn’t exactly do the whole pregnant-and-alone thing, but…


Darren actually laughed. Not much, but he did: a low snort of laughter that had him ducking his head and hiding behind his hand until the broad grin eased. Something about it released a little of the tension in Jayden’s chest. “Yes,” Darren said, “because I have lines of boys outside my door just waiting for me to give them the time of day.”


“Get real. No, I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m not that crass.” Darren started outright shredding the label. “I’m not…I don’t…”


Chapter 32