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 shoved me into a locker and called me a lady-boy and a queer,” Jayden said evenly. “So I hit him.”


“It’s homophobic discrimination,” Jayden said carefully.


“…is hardly an appropriate reaction,” Mr. West spoke over him determinedly.


“Seems plenty appropriate to me,” Dad said, sitting forward and bracing his elbows on his knees, glowering at Mr. West under his eyebrows. “My wife and I have sat right here several times in the last few years demanding you do something about these kids bullying my son, that little shit included.”


“You haven’t done shit. And now my kid finally stands up for himself and smacks a kid who fucking deserves it, you’re going to punish my son?”


“Seems acceptable when it’s the straight kids, but not when it’s the gay ones.”


Mr. West went white; Jayden stared at his father, stunned by both the defence and the genius of his approach. “Mr. Phillips, I assure you, my reaction is…”


Chapter 94