The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School (2022) is the debut young adult novel by Sonora Reyes. This contemporary coming-of-age story follows 16-year-old Yami Flores as she navigates a new, Catholic school while trying to keep her sexuality hidden, protect her brother from trouble, and embrace her Mexican American identity within a predominantly white space. The novel explores themes such as Finding Self-Acceptance Despite External Judgment, The Importance of Supportive Communities, and Identity Formation in the Context of Intersectional Oppression. 

Reyes’s debut received significant critical acclaim, becoming a National Book Award finalist, William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist, Pura Belpré Honor Book, Walter Award Honor Book, and a National Indie Bestseller.

This guide refers to the 2023 Balzer + Bray paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, antigay bias, child abuse, bullying, suicidal ideation, mental illness, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet “Yami” Flores quits her job as a barista when Bianca, her ex-best friend, enters the coffee shop. At the end of sophomore year, Bianca outed Yami as gay to their friends, leaving Yami humiliated and feeling unsafe at Rover High School. After punching and breaking her vanity mirror in frustration, Yami’s academically gifted younger brother, Cesar, checks on her, and they discuss the new school they’ll be attending in the fall, Slayton Catholic High School. Their mother, Maria, can only afford half the tuition. Cesar has a scholarship, and Yami must work to pay her share. Yami has insisted on attending with Cesar to protect him from the fights he frequently got into at Rover. As a consequence of losing her position at the coffee shop, Maria grounds Yami until she finds a replacement job.

To earn money, Yami revitalizes her mother’s Etsy shop, which she renames “JoyeriaFlores,” where she sells handcrafted Mexican jewelry. Yami updates the shop’s social media accounts and takes professional photos to help attract customers. Her father, Emiliano, who was deported to Mexico six years earlier, sends money for listing fees. Orders pour in, and Maria is overwhelmed by the simultaneous demands of a full-time job and a suddenly thriving online business. She initially orders Yami to close the shop, but she relents after Yami’s father intervenes. 

On her first day at Slayton Catholic, Yami meets white classmates Jenna, Karen, and Emily, who wear matching blue ribbons in their hair. The girls seem eager for Yami to join their friend group, and Yami is pleased to have some potential new friends, even though Karen deliberately mispronounces her name as “Yummy.” In language arts class, Bo Taylor, a Chinese American girl, presents a pro-choice speech that impresses Yami. Bo wears rainbow sneakers and khakis instead of a skirt, and Yami hopes she is gay. When classmates make racist comments about Yami, she confronts them and earns lunch detention and a zero grade. During break, Cesar quickly makes friends with senior Hunter, while Yami struggles socially. In detention, Yami and Cesar pick up trash while wearing green vests. Later, when Karen and Jenna call Yami’s hoop earrings “ghetto,” Yami isolates herself at lunch, eventually finding companionship with Bo; Bo’s best friend, Amber; and their friend David.

As September progresses, Yami balances school and work, filling jewelry orders each night with her mother. At Slayton, students participate in daily prayer and say the Pledge of Allegiance, making Yami uncomfortable. In language arts, Mrs. Havens assigns a debate on marriage equality. Bo refuses to participate, arguing that people’s fundamental rights should not be up for debate, and is sent to the principal. Yami becomes increasingly upset and anxious during the debate; later, she cries in the bathroom, where an unknown student offers her toilet paper under the stall. She hopes that her unidentified helper is Bo. 

Cesar continues receiving detentions for sleeping in class. To explain to his mother why he is always late leaving school, he invents a lie about making the football team. On Wednesdays, Maria works late, so Bo gives Yami and Cesar a ride. Yami doesn’t want Bo to see where she lives, so she asks her to drop them off at the light rail instead of taking them home. The jewelry business that Yami runs with her mother thrives, eventually earning enough to cover her half of the tuition.

At home, Yami catches Cesar kissing his friend Jamal, a boy. When their mother comes home unexpectedly, Yami pretends that Jamal is her boyfriend to cover for Cesar. Later, Cesar comes out to Yami as bisexual, and she comes out to him as gay. Yami and Jamal go out on a fake date to convince Maria that they are dating.

During homecoming week, Yami and Bo grow closer while waiting in the cookie line. When Hunter formally asks Yami to homecoming, Amber rescues her by claiming that Yami has other plans. Karen dares her friend Jenna to publicly ask Bo to homecoming as a joke. Bo is humiliated, and Yami, Amber, and David encourage her to skip class and go to the movies with them to take her mind off Jenna and Karen’s cruelty, cementing their friendship. 

Yami and her mother attend the homecoming game. They cheer for number 24, which Cesar told his mother is his number. In reality, David is player number 24, and he has agreed not to take his helmet off for the duration of the game so that Cesar’s mother won’t see that he is not Cesar. After the game, Cesar borrows David’s jersey and goes to meet his mother and sister, pretending to be tired and sweaty from playing. 

Bo and Yami hang out and watch horror movies at Bo’s house while others attend the homecoming dance. Just as they’re starting to become closer as friends, Yami becomes worried that Bo can tell she’s attracted to her and blurts out, “I’m straight,” offending Bo. She apologizes but fears that their friendship has been irreparably damaged. 

Yami attends the homecoming afterparty and accidentally comes out to Hunter, who promises secrecy. She drunkenly texts her father that she’s gay. She also leaves a voicemail for Bo in which she admits that she’s gay and confesses her feelings for her. Later, Bo calls and then picks Yami up when she realizes that Yami is too drunk to drive. She spends the night at Bo’s house, and in the morning, she realizes that Bo hasn’t listened to the voicemail. When she asks Bo about it, she starts to play the message, but Yami wrestles with her and manages to delete it. Bo’s parents tell her that she made the right choice by calling Bo rather than trying to drive home. 

When Yami’s father doesn’t respond to her text, she hides her mother’s phone to prevent him from revealing her secret. Meanwhile, Yami and Bo begin talking nightly, and their relationship deepens. During Thanksgiving, Jamal stays with the Flores family after being kicked out by his stepfather for coming out. Jamal, Cesar, and Yami walk to a convenience store to buy snacks and are accosted by a group of bullies in a truck, who yell anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at them. When they run away, the boys chase them in the truck, nearly hitting Yami. Cesar pushes her out of the way at the last second, risking his own safety to protect her. 

Cesar and Jamal break up, and Cesar claims that Jamal went to New Mexico to stay with a cousin. Meanwhile, to earn more money, Yami sells jewelry at the weekend market. After an initially disappointing Saturday, a second attempt with Cesar’s help brings significant success, earning enough for an apartment security deposit, just in case their mother learns about their LGBTQ+ identities and disowns them. When Bianca texts, “I miss you” (206), Yami blocks her. Maria and Cesar fly to Chiapas to visit Emiliano, but Yami doesn’t want to go since her father hasn’t spoken to her since her coming-out text. She tells her mother that she has to stay home to work on a school project. Yami stays with Bo for winter break, and they grow closer. 

Yami’s birthday falls on Valentine’s Day, and her friends arrange to skip school with her to celebrate. At the last minute, Amber and David get caught, leaving Yami and Bo to celebrate alone. Their time together turns into a date, and at the end, Yami confesses her sexuality and her attraction to Bo, and the two kiss. Just as Yami is at her happiest, she gets a call from Jamal: Cesar has been experiencing suicidal thoughts and has been hospitalized. After a brief stay in the hospital, Cesar is admitted to the Horizon Behavioral Health Facility. Consumed with guilt, Yami punches the mirror she cracked in the novel’s first scene and bloodies her fists. During hospital visits, Yami brings Cesar’s favorite Takis chips. After he is released, the siblings reconcile as Cesar admits his shame and agrees to see an LGBTQ-friendly therapist.

Yami plans to publicly ask Bo to prom through artwork. Ms. Felix, the art teacher, supports Yami’s plan, admitting that she is also part of the LGBTQ+ community and is not out at school. At the art show, Bo’s finished portrait of Yami moves Maria to tears. Yami reveals her rainbow painting with “PROM?” taped in white. Bo accepts with a kiss, receiving cheers from many classmates. However, Principal Cappa updates the school code to explicitly ban same-sex couples at prom and assigns them detention. When Yami and Bo report for detention, 40 students fill the detention hall in solidarity with them. At home, Yami comes out to her mother, who surprises her with acceptance and organizes a celebration with rainbow pan dulce (a sweet Mexican pastry) for her and Cesar. When Yami reveals that her father refuses contact because of her sexuality, Maria confronts him by phone and cuts ties.

In response to the school’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies, Bo announces an “anti-prom” at her house on the night of the official dance. Many students pledge to attend. Cesar plans to attend with Jamal, and Cesar plans to wear the promise ring that Jamal gave him. On prom night, Karen and Jenna appear at Bo’s house wanting to apologize for their earlier bullying and accidentally tear Yami’s purple dress when she refuses to let them in. Bo lends Yami some casual clothes and changes into casual clothes of her own to match hers, and they host the event anyway. Many students attend in solidarity. Yami and Bo dance to music by Selena and declare their love for each other. Cesar and Jamal attend as friends, with Cesar planning to rekindle their relationship. In the closing scene, Yami dances with Bo, expressing self-acceptance and solidarity.