Summerlost by Ally Condie Read Free Book Online

takes money and checks into the bank.
    â€œCars shouldn’t get to have all the fun,” he said. He put the twenty-dollar bill in the container and put it back in the tube, where it shot through to the teller. She looked up from her spot at the window at Leo and said, “Can I help you?” in a tone that actually said,
What do you think you’re doing?
    â€œI’d like to change this twenty into two tens,” he said. “Please.”
    I thought for a minute she wouldn’t help us, and she never did smile, but when she sent back the two tens there were also two lollipops inside the container. One red, one butterscotch.
    â€œWhich one do you want?” Leo asked me as we walked away.
    â€œI’m too old to get candy at the bank.”
    Leo raised his cartoon-devil eyebrows and started opening the red lollipop. He handed me the butterscotch one and I put it in my pocket to give to Miles later.
    Leo gave me one of the tens and kept the other. He also kept the five, which meant he got fifteen dollars and I got ten. Which seemed fair, since he’d done more of the work and planning.
    â€œWhen you start talking more on the tours, we’ll split it evenly,” he said. “And maybe we should have some shirts made. Those ones the ladies had on were genius. I bet we could sell a bunch.”
    â€œYou love making money, don’t you,” I said. Then I wished I hadn’t because he also obviously liked people. It wasn’t totally about the cash.
    But Leo didn’t mind at all. “Oh yeah. I love money. And I want to have a lot of it.”
    â€œWhat is it
you’re
saving up for?”
    â€œI’m saving up for a plane ticket to England.”
    I should have known.
    â€œAnd I have to earn the money
soon
,” he said. “I need to be in London in two months, and plane tickets are going to start getting more expensive the closer I get to my departure date.”
    â€œWhy do you have to be there in two months?” I asked. “That’s right during school.”
    â€œBarnaby Chesterfield is playing Hamlet onstage in London,” Leo said. “And I need to be there to see it.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œHe’s the greatest actor alive,” Leo said. “And I’m going to be able to say that I saw him do Hamlet
in person
. It’s going to change my life.”
    Barnaby Chesterfield was a famous actor. Like Lisette Chamberlain, he had been a stage actor before hitting it big on TV and in the movies. And even though I might not know everything about Lisette Chamberlain, I did know a lot about Barnaby Chesterfield.
    My dad and I used to watch
Darwin,
the show where Chesterfield got his big break, together. We both loved it because we loved science fiction and science and alternate realities, and
Darwin
was about a brilliant scientist who lived in the future. My mom and the boys weren’t into it like we were, although sometimes Ben would stop and watch for a few minutes because he liked the sound of Barnaby Chesterfield’s verydeep voice. Ben always liked different sounds, things that had resonance.
    â€œHow is it going to change your life?” I asked Leo.
    â€œI’ll be in the presence of greatness,” he said. “I think I was born for greatness too.”
    I wanted to laugh at him, but the truth was I used to think the same thing. Just a tiny bit, in my heart. I felt like there had to be something special for me to do. But lately I didn’t think that anymore. And even when I had, I never said it out loud.
    â€œWhat kind of greatness?” I asked.
    â€œI’m still not sure,” Leo said. “But I have ideas.”
    â€œThat
Hamlet
has been sold out for months,” I said.
    â€œHow did you know that?”
    â€œIt was in the news,” I said. “It sold out faster than any other London stage show in history.” It made headlines in the weeks after the accident. Every time I saw