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

Jayden squeezed his hand. It was returned almost as powerfully. “What if…”


“If,” Darren interrupted, “they say no, then there’s always next year. You are going to get good grades wherever you do your A-levels, and your writing for Stars is going to get you into a good university with those grades.”


“But St. John’s…I need St. John’s for Cambridge.”


“But you don’t need St. John’s for a good university. It just helps if you want Cambridge,” Darren insisted. “And if they say yes, then you’ve got that chance and you are going to make the best of it because I know you.”


“What do you know?” Jayden whispered.


“I know you’re ridiculously dedicated, and you’ll stop at nothing to get—and keep—what you want,” Darren said quietly, and Jayden flushed lightly, getting the distinct feeling that Darren wasn’t talking about the scholarship.


Chapter 106