Trying to Find a Mid-2000s UK YA Novel About a Girl and an Alternative Boy Called Wolfie/wolf
I’m trying to remember a young adult book I read in the mid-2000s, probably around 2005 or 2006. It was set in the UK and followed a shy, awkward teenage girl in secondary school who falls for an alternative older boy, possibly called Wolf or Wolfie.
He had dreadlocks or a generally hippie/alternative look. He hung around with a small group of friends, mostly girls, who were seen as weird or alternative by everyone else. I think they spent time in a café.
He was vegetarian and very into animal rights. There was a scene where he released animals (possibly chickens or goats) because he thought keeping them was cruel. The main girl ate meat, but he never judged her for it.
Later, the boy goes abroad on a gap year/volunteering trip, probably to Africa, and dies in a car crash.
Does this ring any bells for anyone?