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

He didn’t know if he could handle this.


“I get it.” Darren shrugged, but his face was loose as if all the strings holding him up had been cut. “If this is too heavy. I do get it, you shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of shit. Not a month in with your first boyfriend. I’m not going to throw this coffee in your face if you want out.”


“I…” Jayden bit his lip. He couldn’t just dump him because he had problems. What kind of person did that?


But then, he wasn’t sure he could handle…that. Depression. Suicide. What if Darren killed himself? Jayden could barely handle being shoved into walls and locked into the bathrooms at school. How was he supposed to handle Darren having…being like that? What was he meant to do? What could he do?


“I need to think about it,” he found himself saying, and Darren nodded. Jayden felt like an absolute bastard.


Chapter 33