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

She was about two minutes from pulling the face, and Jayden turned entirely away from her to do the tea. He could do this. He had to do this.


“We still visiting your old man next week, love?” Dad asked, halfway in the fridge, and slowly the parental chatter built back up around Jayden’s back, and he willed himself to calm down. It would be fine. In the long-term. Even if they were upset, they weren’t going to do anything to him, and in the long-term, they’d adapt. They’d get used to it. It would be fine.


“…don’t know why you put up with the old bastard, I would’ve…”


Jayden’s phone buzzed in his pocket. When he slid it out, tuning out the usual half-argument, half-complaint from Dad about visiting Granddad Moore at the hospice, Darren’s awful command of English instructed him to get on w/ it bet u havnt yet xxx


“I need to tell you something,” Jayden mumbled.


Chapter 58