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

“I don’t know anything,” he whispered, taking the hand back and squeezing it. “I just…Scott called me in the middle of night, asking when you left, and then you were here, and your parents hate me and…”


Jayden coloured. “Um. You’re not in the closet anymore.”


“I just…Scott called saying the police said they found you and they put two and two together and you were here and…”


“Okay.” Jayden took a deep breath and calmed himself. It was done now. He just had to say that. “The night you were brought in, Scott had called me asking where you were. And eventually he rang again saying you were here, so Mum and I came here. I mean, you could have been…Okay, well, your mum arrived and was all ‘who the fuck is that’ and I was just…I was upset and I was scared and I wanted to know what was going on because your dad’s an arse and wouldn’t say anything with me around…”


Chapter 99