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 had no idea what he was going to say.


He ramped up the volume on his laptop and opened up his unfinished English essay, but let it sit there. He didn’t care about the sexual references in Othello. He stared at it, left it to stare out of the window, and ended up pacing absently around his room in circles. What was he going to say?


There wasn’t a manual for this. Until Darren, he’d never really thought about telling them because…because why? He’d always thought that it was something everyone worried about too much. He’d figured that once he had a boyfriend, he’d tell them. You know, maybe once he was in his twenties and had a job and a flat and didn’t have to actually rely on them for anything. Maybe then.


Well, he had a boyfriend now. So much for thinking that through.


Chapter 56