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

“They guessed,” Jayden admitted. “I mean…Charley knows-knows. I told her. And I told Darren.”


“The musician Jayden worked with on the Christmas play,” Mum said.


“What, the St. John’s kid with the crazy hair who was round the other week?”


“Yeah,” Jayden said. For a half-second, he toyed with the idea of finishing this confession, of telling them about him and Darren, but then he realised that firstly, he’d cry all over again, and secondly, Mum would immediately insist on having Darren over to meet him formally, as her son’s boyfriend, and Darren would probably implode at the mere thought of it.


And oh God, what if she wanted to meet his parents?


That sealed it. Jayden kept his mouth shut. He’d have to talk to Darren about that first.


“Why?” Mum asked. “You only met him in September.”


Chapter 59