Tommy Lomax

Tommy Lomax is the main protagonist of the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger. He is a student at McQuarrie Middle School who develops a habit of creating case files that study the seemingly magical Origami Yoda finger puppet owned by Dwight Tharp.
== History ==
=== The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda ===
In the first book, Tommy is given advice from Origami Yoda regarding his crush Sara Bolt. Since Tommy is unsure about whether he trusts Origami Yoda's advice, he decides to create a case file to prove or disprove whether Origami Yoda is real or a hoax put up by Dwight. Tommy asks around with his classmates and has them write stories about their experiences with Origami Yoda. Tommy, along with his friends Harvey Cunningham and Kellen Campbell, contributes a few chapters for the case file while making notes on the other stories.
The story Tommy contributes revolves around Origami Yoda's first appearance at one of the school's Fun Nights. Tommy is contemplating whether to ask a girl named Hannah to dance, and Harvey and Kellen, along with the other students that sit with them, are encouraging him to do it. However, Dwight comes in with Origami Yoda, and Origami Yoda tells Tommy that "Rush in fools do." Tommy and his friends (except Harvey, who doubts Origami Yoda's supposed Jedi powers) interpret this advice to mean that Tommy shouldn't rush in and ask Hannah to dance. Moments later, another boy comes in, gets together with Hannah, and kisses her. Tommy realizes that, if he had rushed in to ask Hannah to dance, then Hannah would've turned him down, and when her boyfriend came in moments later, Tommy would've looked like a fool. This incident leads Tommy, and many others, to start taking Origami Yoda's advice.
Throughout the book, Tommy's comments on his classmates' stories seem to indicate that he wants to believe Origami Yoda's apparent Force powers are real. However, there are a few occasions where Harvey tries to find the "logical explanation" behind the weird things that happen, and Tommy admits to his points.
Towards the end, the backstory behind the case file's existence is revealed. Tommy had been asking Origami Yoda why Sara doesn't like him, only for Origami Yoda to reply with "Says she does not like you who does?" When Tommy asked Dwight what Origami Yoda meant, Dwight refuses to give him a straight answer. The next day at lunch, Tommy continued to ask Dwight what Origami Yoda meant, but to no avail. Frustrated, Tommy called Dwight a loser. In response, Dwight crumpled up Origami Yoda and threw him away. Seeing all this go down, Harvey decided to download instructions on how to make his own Origami Yoda that was better than Dwight's. When Harvey showed it to Tommy and Kellen, they asked if Sara liked Tommy. Harvey made his Origami Yoda tell Tommy that Sara hated him and laughed about him with her friends. At that moment, Dwight returned with a new Origami Yoda finger puppet. Dwight's Origami Yoda told Tommy that Sara liked him. When Harvey started making fun of Dwight's Origami Yoda, the two of them decided to have a bet: at the following Fun Night, Tommy will ask Sara to dance. If Sara says yes, then Dwight's Origami Yoda was right, but if she says no, then Harvey's was.
At the fun night, Tommy is nervous to ask Sara out, so he goes to Dwight's Origami Yoda for consolation. Dwight reveals that, not long before Tommy asked Origami Yoda about Sara, Sara asked Origami Yoda if Tommy liked her as much as she liked him, and Origami Yoda had told her to come to tonight's Fun Night to find out. Tommy proceeds to ask Sara to dance, and she says yes. This chain of events proves that Dwight's Origami Yoda is indeed real, and that he really can predict the future.
=== Darth Paper Strikes Back ===
In the second book, Tommy, Kellen, and their other classmates are entering seventh grade. Now that they are on good terms with their crushes, they think that this school year will be a pleasant one. But on the first day of school, Harvey comes with his new Darth Paper origami puppet and declares that he and Darth Paper will now rule the school. When the girls call Darth Paper cute, Harvey gets mad and leaves. Afterward, the girls start talking with their other friends, leaving Tommy, Kellen, and Lance Alexander alone.
Later, when Jen comes to ask Origami Yoda for advice, Origami Yoda tells her in a scary voice "Zero hour comes. Prepare to meet your doom!" Jen is freaked out by this "advice" and leaves. Later that day, Dwight is sent to the office, and he doesn't come back. Tommy and Kellen go to the office after class and find Dwight and Origami Yoda outside. Origami Yoda tells them that Dwight has been kicked out of school, and that Tommy and Kellen need to create a case file to save Dwight. Before he can tell them any more information, Dwight's mom comes out of the office to take Dwight home. When she leaves, Principal Rabbski takes Tommy and Kellen inside her office and lectures them about how they had "contributed" to Dwight's behavior problems. However, she refuses to divulge any information about Dwight's expulsion.
That afternoon, Tommy emails Dwight and finds out that, in light of Jen's affair with Origami Yoda, Principal Rabbski decided to go to the next school board meeting and request them to transfer Dwight to the Correctional and Remedial Education Facility (CREF), a school that's meant for the really, really bad kids. Tommy knows that, since Dwight isn't really a bad kid, he and his friends have to make a case file to convince the school board not to send him to CREF. So he and Kellen start asking around their classmates again and collecting stories about how Dwight and Origami Yoda have helped out their classmates at school.
During this time, it is revealed that, after Dwight and Origami Yoda left, Tommy's relationship with Sara started to take a turn for the worst, since he has no classes with her and she has a class with a popular boy called Tater Tot, who Tommy suspects she might like. Tommy tried to impress Sara by getting her a graphic novel called Robot Dreams for her birthday, but Tater Tot showed him up by getting her a fancy Elvis teddy bear. Tommy later heard that Tater Tot and Sara were going miniature golfing together, much to his dismay.
When Tommy and Kellen have finished gathering their classmates' stories for their case file, Harvey approaches them and tricks Tommy into giving him the case file. Harvey later gives him the case file back, and Tommy finds that Harvey has written comments on the case file that counteract the good points that it raises. Tommy tells Harvey that he won't show his comments to the school board, only for Harvey to tell him that he will go to the school board meeting and read them his comments himself.
Tommy decides that the only source he can go to for help is Origami Yoda. Since Dwight hasn't been responding to his texts, emails, or phone calls, Tommy goes over to Dwight's house in person so he can talk to Origami Yoda. Dwight tells Tommy that his mom took Origami Yoda away, but he can make a five-fold "Emergency Yoda." Tommy tells Dwight's Emergency Yoda about the situation with Harvey, and Emergency Yoda tells Tommy that it's difficult to be right when no one believes you. Before Tommy can ask any more questions, Dwight's mom takes away Dwight's Emergency Yoda and sends Tommy home.
The next day, at school, Sara brings Tommy, Kellen, and Harvey an envelope that Dwight tossed to her from his bedroom window. The envelope contains the original Origami Yoda and a letter for Harvey to read aloud. Harvey takes the letter and reads it, and the letter says that Harvey is right about Origami Yoda; he isn't really using the Force, and it's all just a hoax Dwight made up. While Harvey celebrates, Tommy is distraught that Dwight seemingly gave up.
At the school board meeting, Tommy goes to the school board and presents his case file to the school board members. When he is done, the school board members thank him for expressing his viewpoints, though Tommy doesn't believe that they'll really take his opinions into account. Right after Tommy goes, Harvey gets up and reveals that, even though he was the one who convinced Jen to report Origami Yoda's "Zero hour comes" speech to Principal Rabbski, he later figured out that Origami Yoda was trying to warn her that if she got a zero on one of her assignments, then she'd get kicked off the squad, and Jen had misinterpreted the warning. Tommy, who had been expecting Harvey to make good on his promise to shoot his points down, is shocked to hear this.
After Tommy and Harvey are done making their public comments, Dwight's mom gets up and tells the school board that Tommy and Harvey have proved that Dwight doesn't deserve to go to CREF. The school board tells her that they'll consider what they've heard, but Dwight's mom declares that she won't conform to what they want, and that she'll send Dwight to a school of her own choosing. She and Dwight then leave hastily.
When Tommy and Harvey are leaving the meeting, Harvey reveals that he and Darth Paper hadn't intended to get Dwight kicked out of school. They'd only wanted to get him to break down and admit that Origami Yoda was a fake. Therefore, when they accomplished that goal, they decided to try and save Dwight.
The next day, Tommy gets an email from Dwight saying to come to his house and bring Origami Yoda. The email also contains a carbon copy of a message from the school board saying that they voted in favor of Principal Rabbski's request to transfer him to CREF. However, when Tommy brings Origami Yoda to Dwight's house, Dwight reveals that his mom had disregarded the school board's decision and transferred him over to Tippet Academy, where Dwight's crush Caroline goes to. When Dwight takes Origami Yoda back, Origami Yoda reveals that he had pretended to be Dwight and wrote the letter to Harvey, knowing that it would get him to stand up for Dwight.
Right then, Sara comes up to Tommy and invites him to go out with her. She reveals that she'd fallen out with Tater Tot, and that Dwight's Emergency Yoda told her that Tommy would be there that morning for her to take out go get breakfast. Tommy gladly accepts her offer to get chocolate chip pancakes.
=== The Secret Of The Fortune Wookie ===
In the third book, Tommy, Kellen, and Harvey are bored without having Dwight at McQuarrie Middle School. However, one day, Sara comes to school with the Fortune Wookie (a modified paper fortune teller/cootie catcher) that she tells them she received as a gift from Dwight. She tells them that the Fortune Wookie can give them fortunes in the form of Wookie growls that Han Foldo can translate. Principal Rabbski sees this and opts to ban origami from the school, as she sees it as a disruption to the learning environment. However, the librarian, Mrs. Calhoun, persuades her to allow origami in the library. With this rule established, Sara lets Tommy, Kellen, Harvey, and the rest of their classmates know that she'll be in the library with the Fortune Wookie every morning if they ever need advice.
Shortly thereafter, when the Fortune Wookie helps protect Lance from embarrassment about his private ballet lessons, Tommy, Harvey, Kellen, and the rest of their classmates hold a poll to determine who the weirdest kid at McQuarrie Middle School is with Dwight gone. Tommy observes that many of the participants take this as the chance to insult someone else, which wasn't what he had in mind. However, the poll leaves him curious about how Dwight is doing at his new school. Tommy asks Sara, who lives next door to Dwight, to visit him and ask him how he's doing. Much to Tommy's surprise, Sara discovers that Dwight seems to be fitting in much better at Tippett than he did at McQuarrie.
Meanwhile, Tommy collects more stories from his classmates about their experiences with the Fortune Wookie. In the process, he discovers that Remi has a secret crush on Kellen. Tommy is surprised to hear this, because Kellen has had a not-so-secret crush on Rhondella Carrasquilla for many years, to the point that Rhondella is growing tired of his affections. But the fact that Remi likes Kellen gives Tommy a ray of hope for his friend.
When Sara hears that Dwight is better behaved at Tippett Academy and has stopped bringing Origami Yoda to school, Tommy is freaked out by Dwight's sudden change in behavior. He goes to one of his older brother's swim meets and talks to Kendall, who is in Dwight's class at Tippett. Kendall tells Tommy that, when Origami Yoda tried to give the Tippett students advice regarding their homework assignments, they were dissatisfied with what he had to say and chose to deal with the problem their own way. Tommy deduces that the Tippett students don't really believe in Origami Yoda, hence why Dwight stopped bringing him to school.
The day after Thanksgiving, Tommy decides to go visit Dwight in person. Though Dwight doesn't open the front door for him, Tommy enters through the doggy door. He thanks Dwight for sending the Fortune Wookie to McQuarrie Middle School, but Dwight says he doesn't know what Tommy is talking about. Tommy shrugs this off as Dwight playing dumb and asks to see Origami Yoda. Dwight brings Tommy to his room, where he has framed Origami Yoda in a photo frame on his wall. Tommy tries to strike up a conversation with Dwight, but Dwight gives him mostly one-word answers, until he tells Tommy that he's starting to like Tippett Academy. Tommy is unsure what to make of his statement, but he decides to leave.
The next day, Tommy exchanges emails with Dwight's almost-girlfriend Caroline about how Dwight's personality seems to be drastically changing. Caroline tells Tommy that she suspects Dwight isn't really as happy as he says he is. Tommy says he doesn't know what things are really like at Tippett, so Caroline agrees to write a chapter for his case file explaining what things are really like and why she doesn't think Dwight is really happy.
Meanwhile, Tommy continues to collect evidence about the Fortune Wookie and the advice it gives to his classmates. One day, Tommy is given advice from the Fortune Wookie himself; the day before, during an assembly, Harvey had been folding an origami snowtrooper, only for Tommy to blow his nose on it, causing Harvey to flip out and get him, Tommy, and Kellen sent to the office. Sara, the Fortune Wookie, and Han Foldo tell Tommy that he should apologize to Harvey for the incident, which he does. However, Harvey does not accept his apology.
Eventually, Harvey connects the dots between the evidence he, Tommy, and Kellen have been collecting and confronts Sara in the library. Harvey asks Sara's Fortune Wookie a question, and when he gets an answer, he declares that, even though a cootie catcher only has eight flaps, the Fortune Wookie's answer to him was the ninth different answer it gave. Harvey gets in a tussel with Sara and tears the Fortune Wookie in half. Though Mrs. Calhoun breaks up their fight, Tommy is intrigued by Harvey's claims. He has Harvey write down all the evidence he pieced together, then goes to confront Sara with it in a private interview. Sara confesses to Tommy that she did not receive the Fortune Wookie from Dwight; she made it herself. Sara's friend Rhondella had been growing tired of Kellen's romantic attentions and wanted to get Origami Yoda to tell Kellen that he didn't have a chance with her. But, since Dwight was gone, Sara, Rhondella, and their other friend Amy had decided to create a new origami Star Wars character to break it to Kellen that he wasn't going to get Rhondella (the Fortune Wookie and Han Foldo had told Kellen exactly this before Harvey ripped the Fortune Wookie in half, much to Kellen's dismay). Though Tommy knows he has to keep the Rhondella issue secret, he adds another chapter to the case file declaring that Harvey was right about the Fortune Wookie being a fake.
Caroline provides her chapter for the case file, and it tells him the whole story: at Tippett Academy, Dwight isn't treated as a normal person, since the Tippett kids blindly worship him as part of the school's "Understanding Each Other's Differences" regime. As a result, Dwight no longer behaves like a normal person, in turn robbing himself of what made his friends at McQuarrie like him. Tommy is unsure of what to do about this, but Han Foldo advises him to go and convince Dwight to transfer back to McQuarrie Middle School.
Tommy goes back to Dwight's house and breaks Origami Yoda out of his photo frame. Origami Yoda tells Dwight that, though life at Tippett seems easier, it isn't what's really right for him. Tommy gives Dwight a mini-case file that he and his classmates made telling Dwight how much they miss him at McQuarrie. Dwight willingly takes Origami Yoda back and assures Tommy that he'll persuade his mom to transfer him back to McQuarrie. At first, Tommy is happy to hear this, but Origami Yoda tells him that there will be big changes at McQuarrie, and that they'll need him to help deal with those changes.
After leaving Dwight's house, Tommy visits Sara at hers and tells her what Origami Yoda said. Sara shows Tommy a letter that Principal Rabbski sent to the McQuarrie Middle School students' parents. The letter states that, starting next semester, all the school's elective classes will be cancelled in favor of Funtime, a program meant to help the students study and review for the Standards Of Learning tests. Tommy and Sara realize that these changes are what Origami Yoda was referring to.
=== The Surprise Attack Of Jabba The Puppet ===
The book opens with Tommy stating that, since Dwight is coming back to McQuarrie Middle School, he knows that weird stuff is going to happen, and he's ready to make a case file about it. Tommy also expresses his worry about the Funtime program and how Origami Yoda and Dwight will help Tommy and his friends fight it.
On the first day of the new semester, Tommy is assigned to Mr. Howell's classroom for the Period devoted to Funtime. Tommy, along with Kellen and their classmates, discover that the Funtime program consists of basic worksheets and a series of educational videos hosted by Professor Funtime and his singing calculator named Gizmo. The kids find the videos and worksheets to be extremely torturous, and they are horrified to learn that this is what every day of Funtime will be like.
Later on, at lunch, Tommy goes to the lunch table to meet with Dwight and Origami Yoda. Kellen, Harvey, Sara, Rhondella, Amy, Lance, Mike, and Quavondo also join to hear what Origami Yoda has to say. Origami Yoda tells them that they will have to start a rebellion against Funtime. Since the Funtime program was introduced to help bring the school's average Standards Of Learning test scores up, the rebellion's objective is to purposefully fail the tests and in turn prove that the Funtime program isn't accomplishing its goal. Each rebellion member is given a job and paper to make their own magic origami finger puppet. Tommy is made the leader of the rebellion and given paper to fold Foldy-Wan Kenobi.
Tommy and the rest of the rebellion members begin to recruit their classmates to help them purposefully fail the tests. When they have recruited enough students to cause the school to attain a failing average test score, Tommy writes a letter to Principal Rabbski demanding to cancel Funtime and restore the electives, otherwise the rebellion members will purposefully fail the tests. Principal Rabbski calls Tommy, Dwight, Harvey, Kellen, Mike, and Sara to her office and tells them that, if they fail the test, then they will get held back a grade. As they leave Principal Rabbski's office, the kids are distraught at their defeat. However, Origami Yoda tells them to hold another rebellion meeting at Fun Night that evening to discuss what to do next.
At the Fun Knight, the rebellion discusses their options, and they decide to take a different approach: the rebellion leaders will recruit even more members to join and, rather than failing the tests, deliberately get the minimum grade required for each student to pass. Although they will need many more members to accomplish this goal, it will still have the effect of bringing the school's average down far enough to fail.
After the rebellion meeting, Tommy decides to ask Sara to dance, only for her to decline. When Tommy sees Sara talking to Tater Tot again, he is worried that he might be trying to get back together with her. However, Sara writes a chapter for the case file stating that she was merely telling Tater Tot about the rebellion, and that he accepted the offer on the grounds that the rebellion will add the revival of JV sports (which were also cancelled) to their demands.
Tommy and his friends have various misadventures while they continue to recruit rebellion members. Eventually, they hold a rebellion meeting where they summarize what they've done so far. But after the meeting, Sara is telling a girl named Meghan about the rebellion when Principal Rabbski overhears her and learns of the rebellion. Rabbski decides to put on a pizza party to convince the students not to rebel against the school and send those unwilling to join to watch a special Funtime episode. Initially, Tommy and his friends are unsure of how to fight back, but Quavondo suspects that the party won't be as fun as Rabbski claims. He is proven right when the party serves low-quality pizza boats and has Mr. Good Clean Fun for the "entertainment." In the aftermath of the pizza party, the McQuarrie Middle School students are unhappy with the school and willingly join the rebellion. Before long, the rebellion has enough members to bring down the school's average test scores.
After Tommy sends another letter to Rabbski telling her how much larger their rebellion is, Rabbski calls him, Dwight, Harvey, Kellen, Mike, Lance, Sara, and Amy to her office again. She tries to convince them to give up their rebellion, but the kids refuse to do so. Rabbski gives up and ops to call their parents. Though Dwight is frightened into giving up, the other kids firmly reiterate their devotion. Rabbski sends them away as she calls their parents and arranges a parent-teacher conference where she will tell them about Funtime and the kids' attempts to sabotage the program.
At the parent-teacher conference, Rabbski explains the situation to the kids' parents, but in the midst of it all, the TV in the room is unexpectedly turned on, and a Funtime episode plays. Rabbski tries turning off the TV, but it continues to turn back on and play the Funtime clips. Rabbski suspects that Tommy is responsible for this, but he refutes her claims. The kids' parents see how bad the Funtime show is and realize that this is why the kids are rebelling. Rabbski reluctantly tells them that she will relay their feedback to the school board and see if she can change anything.
The next day, at school, Tommy and Kellen find out that Mr. Howell was the one who had turned on the TV at the parent-teacher conference. Mr. Howell has made an origami Jabba The Puppet for himself, and he hates Funtime just as much as the kids do. The book ends with the kids holding another rebellion meeting, where they celebrate their victory, but recognize that their war with Funtime is far from over.
=== Princess Labelmaker To The Rescue ===
The fifth book starts with Tommy creating a second case file about the rebellion's battle against Funtime. Tommy says that Origami Yoda is encouraging them to consult Principal Rabbski for help, but Tommy doubts this advice.
Aside from fighting Funtime, Tommy takes up another mission. After Principal Rabbski called Mike's parents about the rebellion, Mike's mom grilled him about Origami Yoda and came to the conclusion that, by following Origami Yoda's advice, Mike was worshipping an idol. Since Mike's mom felt strongly about her son following the Ten Commandments, she confiscated Mike's Star Wars collection and banned him from talking to Origami Yoda or any of the other rebellion members. Since Mike was the rebellion's designated "Holocron Keeper," Tommy opts to find a way to convince Mike's mom to change her mind.
Tommy asks Origami Yoda how he and the other rebellion members can get Mike back, and Origami Yoda tells them to buy Mike's preacher, Pastor JJ, a Star Wars-themed tie. At church the following Sunday, Mike's mom observes Pastor JJ's tie and mentions that she isn't sure if Star Wars is a good thing for Mike. Pastor JJ convinces her that Star Wars, and by extension Origami Yoda, are not connected to the occult or any anti-religious themes. Mike's mom gives him back his Star Wars collection and allows him to return to the rebellion.
Tommy also gets involved in the unofficial school play put on by Cassie Dillon. Cassie had been part of the school's Drama class, and she was cast as the titular character in Olivia Twist (a genderswapped version of Oliver Twist). But, since the school cancelled its drama class, the play ended up getting cancelled as well. Despite this, Cassie and the rest of the play's cast members got together and planned to put on the play during lunch one day, with Tommy being their curtain manager. When the kids put on the play at lunch, the kids in the cafeteria do not notice them at first. However, Rabbski notices them and rigs up the stage's microphones and speakers so the kids in the cafeteria can actually hear the play. Thanks to Rabbski's help, the play ends up being a success.
Eventually, Principal Rabbski sends out a letter to the students and parents saying that she did manage to change up the Funtime program; however, the school board decided to present the school with an updated version of Funtime, rather than cancelling it entirely. Tommy and the rest of the rebellion members gather to discuss what to do next, but none of them can figure out a solution. They go to Origami Yoda and ask him what to do, but Origami Yoda tells them to give Rabbski the secret case file. Every rebellion member refutes this idea, knowing that the case file could very well get them in trouble.
The next day, at school, Tommy finds that the case file has been stolen. He, Harvey, and Kellen try to figure out who it was, but they fail to do so. The following day, Rabbski calls Tommy, Harvey, Kellen, Sara, Lance, Mike, Amy, Murky, and Remi to her office to meet with a representative from the school board, who the kids refer to as Suit Guy. Rabbski tells the kids that she was given their case file and an origami Princess Leia by an unknown person who called themselves Princess Labelmaker, as they had typed out notes to put on the case file using a labelmaker. Rabbski says that she read the entire case file and realized that Funtime just wasn't right for the rebellion members. Suit Guy tells the kids about a special program called AR-GAP, where exceptionally gifted students can have access to the activities that the elective classes offered. Initially, the rebellion members are excited about this class. But when Tommy realizes that the class is only for select students, he tells Suit Guy that they want to win back the electives for everyone. Suit Guy refuses to scrap the Funtime program, insisting that the school's test score averages have to come up, and the kids are a part of that. Rabbski realizes that the conversation isn't headed anywhere, so she adjourns the meeting. However, she asks Tommy to stay behind so she can have a talk with him.
Initially, Tommy is afraid to confront Principal Rabbski by himself. But Rabbski tells him that she was impressed by his courage to stand up for all of his classmates. She admits that even she dislikes Funtime, and that she will help the rebellion convince the school board to cancel it. Rabbski later meets with the rebellion to arrange their plan of attack: they will go to the next school board meeting and present their desires to end the Funtime program. Tommy prepares a brief speech about why the students want their electives back.
At the school board meeting, Tommy prepares to give his speech, but he is cut off when an official from the Funtime company, who the kids refer to as Dr. Edu-Fun, comes to show the school board members a presentation about Funtime. The presentation informs the school board members about Funtime and presents it as an educational tool to help kids do better on the Standards Of Learning tests. By the end of the presentation, the school board members start to become convinced that they should purchase the upgraded version of Funtime.
After Dr. Edu-Fun's presentation, Tommy, Rabbski, and the gathered rebellion members speak up and tell the school board that Funtime isn't at all like the presentation. Mr. Howell sneaks onto Dr. Edu-Fun's computer and uses it to play a series of clips from the Funtime videos, showing the school board what Funtime is really like. One of the school board members shuts off the computer, but the kids continue to contradict Dr. Edu-Fun's statements about Funtime and how the upgraded version is supposedly better. Though the school board is unhappy about the interruptions, they reluctantly allow Tommy to step forward and give his speech.
Tommy holds Foldy-Wan Kenobi on his finger and prepares to give his speech. However, one of the school board members comes up and snatches Foldy-Wan off of Tommy's finger. For a moment, Tommy is worried, but he hears Foldy-Wan's voice in his head encouraging him to trust his feelings. Tommy tells the school board that, even though the electives and sports may not mean anything to them, they mean a lot to the kids, and the kids are willing to purposefully fail the Standards Of Learning tests if they don't get their electives and sports back. When Tommy finishes his speech, his fellow rebellion members cheer for him.
One of the school board members starts to tell Tommy that he can get held back if he fails the test, but Rabbski speaks up and reminds him that she's the one who has the power to hold her students back, and that she won't be holding any of the rebellion members back. She also makes the statement that she will permanently suspend the Funtime program and get the kids' electives and sports back. The school board decides to table the upgraded version of Funtime, "pending further review." Tommy and the rest of the rebellion celebrate their success at abolishing the Funtime program and getting their electives and sports back.
After the electives are restored, Tommy is put back in his Lego robots class with Sara. One afternoon, when he and Sara are working on their robot, they almost kiss each other. They are interrupted when Rabbski enters the room and gives them a letter about the school's upcoming field trip to Washington D. C.
=== Emperor Pickletine Rides The Bus ===
At the start of the book, Tommy discovers that Principal Rabbski has made the decision to not allow origami on the school's field trip, and that everyone has to have a "bus buddy." Tommy asks Sara if she wants to be his bus buddy, but Sara declines, as she had promised to be with Rhondella. Since Harvey is the only person left without a bus buddy, Tommy ends up signing up to have Harvey as his bus buddy. Tommy and Harvey are put in a group with Kellen, Dwight, Mike, Quavondo, Lance, and Amy., with Mr. Good Clean Fun as their chaperone.
On the day of the field trip, Tommy and the rest of his group discover that Harvey has snuck on board Emperor Pickletine, an origami version of Emperor Palpatine with a pickle for a face. Fortunately, Dwight has brought a bag of fruit roll-ups that he uses to make Fruitigami Yodas to help give advice like the regular Origami Yoda does. Fruitigami Yoda tells Tommy and the others that they can use their snacks to make Star Wars food puppets, which they do.
During the bus ride, Mike introduces a game called "Made You Look," which involves the kids exclaiming that they see something crazy in an attempt to fool their friends into looking at whatever they say is there. Tommy and his friends eagerly engage in the game, except Harvey, who is smugly resisting falling for the "Made You Look" jokes to make himself seem superior to the others. Eventually, Amy sees a Johnny Appleseed statue for real and gets in an argument with Harvey over it, forcing the kids to cancel the "Made You Look" game for the rest of the trip.
When the kids get to Washington D. C, they go inside the Air And Space Museum where various planes and spacecraft are on display. Lance suggests throwing paper airplanes in the room, which the others agree to. When Dwight goes off, and Quavondo and Mr. Good Clean Fun go to find him, Tommy, Kellen, Harvey, Lance, and Mike all fold paper airplanes out of the worksheets they were given to take on the trip. When Tommy, Kellen, and Lance throw their planes before Harvey is finished with his, Harvey gets mad and throws his unfinished plane over the edge of the balcony. The plane lands directly on top of Mr. Howell, who is directly below them.
Meanwhile, Tommy watches Kellen's plane as it hits one of the support cables and lands on the Bell X-1 plane. Mr. Howell, along with a museum security guard, also see this and accost the kids. The museum guy starts to fill out an incident report, but Dwight comes back with Fruitigami Yoda, who uses the Force to push the paper airplane off of the Bell X-1. Seeing this, the museum guy decides to let the kids go on their way, while Mr. Howell orders Mr. Good Clean Fun to take over chaperoning Mr. Howell's group of kids while Mr. Howell takes over chaperoning Tommy, Harvey, Kellen, Dwight, Lance, Mike, Quavondo, and Amy.
On the way back to the bus, Quavondo, Mike, Amy, and Dwight pool their money to buy $150 worth of astronaut ice cream from the gift shop, per Fruitigami Yoda's advice. Mr. Howell then takes the kids back to the bus where Principal Rabbski's group (which contains Sara) later meets up with them. On the way back, the bus gets a flat tire, forcing everyone to wait for the tow truck to come. During the wait, all of the kids and adults are angry at each other for all the drama and embarrassment, until Quavondo decides to share his astronaut ice cream with everyone, cheering the kids and adults up and making them less hostile toward one another.
Later, the bus groups stop at Wendy's for dinner, where Tommy and Sara both sit together. When the song "The Twist" comes on, Tommy takes the chance to dance with Sara once again. However, Harvey sees this and is angry. When they get back on the bus, Harvey goes on a rant about how he suspects Dwight rigged the whole thing, as well as all the rest of the miracles Origami Yoda and Fruitigami Yoda have performed. Sara notices Tommy is stressed by Harvey's raving and sends Rhondella to ask Tommy to come up to her. Sara gives Tommy a kiss on the lips to make him feel better. When Tommy returns to his seat, Harvey realizes what happened and punches Tommy in the nose. Tommy screams out in pain, attracting the attention of Principal Rabbski. Tommy is tempted to tell on Harvey for what he did, but Dwight produces one last Fruitigami Yoda to tell Tommy to "search your feelings." Tommy thinks about the situation and realizes that Harvey is in love with Sara as well, and decides to show mercy on him. When Rabbski asks him what happened, Tommy says that he tripped and fell when he snuck up to see Sara. Rabbski orders the bus driver to take a stop so they can take care of Tommy's bloody nose. After the stop, Harvey apologizes to Tommy.
The next day at school, Tommy, Kellen, Harvey, and Lance realize that they have to turn in their worksheets, but they no longer have them because they used them to make the paper airplanes. Tommy goes to Dwight to ask Origami Yoda for advice, but Dwight does not have Origami Yoda. Instead, he has an origami Force Ghost Yoda, which he'd folded from his own worksheet. Tommy takes the Force Ghost Yoda, unfolds it, and makes photocopies of the worksheet for himself, Kellen, Harvey, and Lance. Later, when he asks Dwight about what happened with Origami Yoda, Dwight offers to write a chapter for Tommy's case file. Tommy eagerly accepts his offer.
Dwight's chapter for Tommy's case file reveals that on the field trip, Dwight met another boy named Micah and got his address. Origami Yoda, who had sensed that Micah needed his help and told Dwight to find him, had Dwight prepare the Mail-ennium Falcon for him to get into and fly to Micah's house. Tommy is in shock and disbelief about Origami Yoda's disappearance, but he soon comes to realize that he and his friends have come really far with Origami Yoda's help, and now they can make it through the rest of middle school and high school on their own.
Category:Love Rivals
Category:Kids
Category:Insecure
Category:In Love
Category:Leaders
Category:Teenagers
Category:Book Heroes
Category:Loyal
Category:Lawful Good
Category:Pessimists
Category:Pacifists
Category:Rivals
Category:Male
Category:Non-Action
Category:Narrators
Category:Misguided
Category:Merciful
Category:Deal Makers
Category:Truth-Seekers