Alchemy

Mindblowing novel from multi-awardwinning author, Margaret Mahy. Roland has everything a young man could wish for - good looks, enough money, a cool relationship with his mother, ready wit, intelligence, a sexy girlfriend, a perfect school record. So the fact that he committed a petty crime and that, somehow, one of his teachers knows about it is something he can hardly explain to himself, let alone anyone else.
The teacher, Mr Hudson, uses this knowledge to blackmail Roland into befriending the school misfit - Jess Ferret. The reason he gives is concern for her wellbeing, but even Roland finds this rather far-fetched. And when Jess doesn't respond to his confident advances, he becomes intrigued with the girl for his own reasons. Roland discovers Jess's dark secret and also finds that he has one of his own.