Kate is another of the novel’s main characters and first-person narrators. The poems titled with her first name are written from her perspective and depict episodes from her personal life, and they offer insight into her private emotional experience.

Kate is a round, dynamic character who changes over the course of the novel as a result of her experiences and relationships. At the start of seventh grade, Kate is ready to be who she has always been: the perfect, normal, pretty, high-achieving cheerleader, daughter, and friend. Because her mom is constantly pressing her to do and be better, Kate is always striving for more. Over time, however, her mom’s expectations become too much for Kate. She doesn’t want to be the cheer captain; she doesn’t want to only spend time with the girls from the squad; she doesn’t even want to attend the MisDirection boy band concert. Despite these feelings, Kate struggles to come out and express what she wants. She hides the truth about being the Falcon mascot, acts as if she doesn’t like or care about Tam, and pretends to love MisDirection even though her tastes and feelings are changing. Her behaviors show her fear of being rejected. Kate believes that to be happy, she has to make everyone else happy. She does not think that she is allowed to identify and chase her desires first, because she is terrified of disappointing others.

Kate’s relationships with Tam and her sister Jill usher her toward change over the course of the novel. With Tam, Kate discovers that it is okay to be different. Her feelings for Tam make her realize that she is interested in girls and is, in fact, queer. Tam gives her the time and space to explore these aspects of her identity, but she also challenges Kate to be honest with herself and stop manipulating her character to please others. When Jill returns to town after four years away, she emerges as an unexpected mentor and guide in Kate’s life, too. Jill is there when Kate needs someone to listen to her, and she offers her advice and direction. Jill urges Kate to tell their mom about the mascot, Tam, and her sexuality, and reminds her that she is never going to stop loving her—no matter who she loves.

Kate finally comes out to her mom and her friends at the novel’s end. When she throws up at the MisDirection concert after her confrontation with Tam, she realizes that she can no longer keep hiding her true self. Admitting who she is and how she feels is the first step to embracing her identity.

Tam’s mom is a secondary character. She remains unnamed throughout the novel and appears most often in Tam’s poems. Tam’s mom is loving, excitable, energetic, and enthusiastic. She loves her daughter and is thoroughly supportive of her identity, her goals, her feelings, and her relationships. In most scenes where she and Tam are interacting, Tam’s mom is talking rapidly, joking with Tam, or badgering her with questions about her school and friends. Although Tam knows that her mom’s behaviors come from a place of care and concern, she often feels overwhelmed by the intensity of her mom’s love. She will repeatedly tell her mom to “stop” when she is teasing or talking, or she will retreat to Frankie’s house or to her own room when she feels like her mom is being “too much.” Over the course of the novel, however, Tam begins to change how she interacts with her mom. She starts seeking her out when she feels lonely, upset, or confused. She discovers that her mom just wants her to be herself and to feel supported in her identity; this is marked in comparison to how Kate’s mom regards Kate. Tam’s mom is a static character; her lack of change is the result of her constancy and dependability rather than her refusal to grow.

Kate’s mom is another secondary character, and she also remains unnamed. Kate’s mom features in both Kate’s and Tam’s poems but most heavily in Kate’s. Kate loves her mom but receives little to no maternal warmth from her. Instead, she understands that it is her responsibility to make her mom happy by doing and being everything she says. When her mom tells her to invest in dance, to quit the mascot, to stop talking to Tam, or to talk to Becca, she listens. She is afraid of rebelling against her mom, because when her sister did the same thing, it created marked family tension. Kate thinks that if she can appease her mom, she will be happy. Over time, however, she finds that trying to meet her mom’s expectations is both impossible and destructive to her emotional and mental health.

Kate’s mom has antigay biases that intensify Kate’s fear of coming out. When she does initially tell her mom she is gay, her mom insists that this can’t be true because she is “too young” and because she is “normal” (270, 271). Her mom is afraid of Kate being someone other than she expects her to be, and so she denies the truth and demands that Kate do the same. By the end of the novel, however, Kate’s mom softens to Kate and begins to create more room for her daughter’s self-exploration. While she is not a traditional antagonist, she does create narrative tension throughout the novel. She is constantly pressuring Kate to be someone she isn’t and withholding her warmth when Kate fails to comply; she also judges and rejects Tam, which makes Tam feel afraid of spending more time with Kate.

Jill is another of the novel’s secondary characters. She is Kate’s older sister. At the start of the novel, Jill resurfaces in Kate’s life for the first time in four years. Because Jill is several years her senior, Kate remembers little of her sister from before she left town. Most of what she does recall are fights between Jill and their mom. Jill did not want to be the girl their mom told her to be; finally, tired of pretending for their mom’s sake, Jill left town and joined the Navy. She has just finished her four-year stint and is back in town, restarting her life.

Her return inspires her reunion with Kate, and she offers her younger sister the guide Kate needs as she comes of age. Jill is still a young woman, but she has more experience than her younger sister. She is naturally more rebellious than Kate and urges her sister to be bolder. She sees Kate for who she really is. Jill listens to her sister’s stories, experiences, and feelings and offers her advice. She does not put Kate into unsafe situations, but she does challenge Kate to challenge herself. She wants Kate to be happy on her own terms. Kate comes to trust and rely on her older sister throughout the novel. Jill offers Kate the love, support, and listening ear she needs to process and explore her feelings throughout her Journey Toward Claiming Queer Identity.