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

Darren hesitated. When did you stop being one? When could you say you didn’t? And what counted?


Jayden flinched, but didn’t let go. “Do you…cut yourself?”


Darren calmed himself in the rhythm of the questions. This was okay. Answering questions was okay. “August.”


“Have you..done anything else since? Um, you know, like…burned yourself?”


“I never did that,” Darren murmured, and with a flash of gallows humour: “Don’t smoke.”


Jayden made a noise like he wanted to yell at him again; Darren didn’t need to look to know the tight, angry expression he’d be wearing. But after a moment, he seemed to brush it off and said, “But you hurt yourself, don’t you? If you weren’t, you’d just say you weren’t.”


Chapter 49