Pg. 117 when Lily is talking about how much she hates Quince
Quince had just finished up messing around on the Wavemaker-a seriously impressive piece of technology. Between the mermaids, the royalty, the underwater food, everything, this whole world just beneath the ocean, like Lily explained with the coquinas, was unbelievable. He'd never imagined anything like this could exist, much less with these advancements and civilization. Saltwater was so harsh on nearly everything that humans made, rusting out cars and drying out human skin. Yet, here he was, breathing water like it was normal and riding an underwater golf cart. Life would never be the same for him, even if he didn't remain bonded to Lily. A big part of him was already considering the possibility, though, wondering what a life underwater would look like.
He'd started paddling back over toward where Lily and her other friend-Peri, was that her name?-were chatting, and he drifted over, listening to Lily venting.
"-about the time he spent a week following me to and from school on his motorcycle-never said a word, just rumbled along ten feet behind me the whole way. And that he slams my locker shut every time he walks by. And how he always manages to ruin every possible moment of progress with Brody. I mean, don't you think he's just the worst slime to ever sink fin on the ocean floor? He's just so mean and rude and-"
"Floating right behind you," her friend interrupted, her eyes still trained on the anemones she was picking through.
Quince swallowed nervously, his chest pinching at her speech. He wanted to defend himself, tell her that it was dumb, he shouldn't have followed her home. Originally, he'd planned to try to talk to her, offer her a ride home, but it got out of hand. And he still just loved to see the fire in her eyes, the way she argued with him and didn't just let him push her around. He wanted to admit that he did these things because he enjoyed her reaction, but it wasn't like that was going to earn any points for him with her. And ruining progress with Brody, well, she wasn't ready to hear the reason for that, either.
"Talking about me, Princess?" he inquired, using her formal title.
Lily had to take a moment to prepare herself before she kicked her fin to spin to face him, "Quince, I-"
"No harm, no foul," he dismissed her, accepting her vent. Why would a girl like those kinds of things? Just because he thought it was fun, doesn't mean she did. Now he knew. It hurt, but maybe he wouldn't be such an ass, or at least he could give it a second thought. "That wakemaker is some piece of power," Quince said, attempting to change the subject. He couldn't keep thinking about Lily's complete disdain for him, or his own past behavior causing that.