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

And now here he was, and Jayden was nervous all over again, as if something had changed.


“Hey,” he said, grinning like an idiot, and Darren smirked back, that half-smile that twisted at the edges. Jayden wanted to kiss it, but he wasn’t mad.


“Hey yourself,” Darren returned easily. “Any reason for the summons?”


Jayden shrugged. “Just…Mum’ll go to The Brightside after work, and Dad just watches the sports news when he gets home, so…”


“So effectively, a house to ourselves,” Darren said and grinned. “Nice thinking.”


Jayden flushed at how it sounded, but nodded anyway, clutching his bag strap with both hands and wishing things were different so he could hold Darren’s hand instead. Wishing he could kiss him outside school. Wishing it would make him normal and right, like all the other guys who had girlfriends in his year.


Chapter 42