DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

A/N: I'M CONTUNUING!! Sorry, just felt I better announce that. After a long wait, which a lot of you got a little bit angsty about towards the end, the next chapter of 'Out Of My Element' is up!! Which means the stories going to continue!! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with updating three stories, all with different tones and characters. I'm actually going to try and update a day after the last, so tomorrow, hopefully, 'Dangerous Fascination' will be updated!! Enjoy the long awaited chapter of 'Out Of My Element'!!

Out Of My Element

CHAPTER 10

NORMAL COUPLE

Gabriella felt a light kiss on her shoulder and ignored it. She was too warm and comfortable to move. She shuddered slightly as she felt Troy nip her earlobe and then murmured something incoherent and rolled over and snuggled into his side. Troy chuckled as he watched his girlfriend burrow herself deeper into the crook of his arm. Gently he ran a hand across her bare back and tangled his fingers in the ends of her hair. For a moment he gazed at her, she looked so innocent and beautiful. With the hand that wasn't wrapped around the girl sleeping beside him, he carefully pushed the curls that had fallen into her face behind her ear and kissed down the side of her face.

"Brie…" He sang softly in her ear when he reached it and Gabriella groaned and kissed his arm sleepily.

"Go away Bolton." She muttered and Troy laughed softly. Tugging the ends of her hair tenderly, Troy kissed behind her ear gently and then half-way down her neck.

"I can't, mom's got the camera and if the blankets come off she's going to know why we went to bed early." He replied and Gabriella's eyes shot open. Her head snapped up from its resting place and she stared at him, her eyes still glazed with sleep. Troy laughed at the look on her face and then untangled his fingers from her hair. Catching her chin in the hand that once rested in her hair, Troy pulled her lips down to his and kissed her gently.

"Good morning," he said when he pulled away. Gabriella looked at him, not exactly sure what had just happened and then she blushed and reburied her face in his shoulder. Feeling him press his lips to her shoulder again, Gabriella looked up and rested her chin on his shoulder instead.

"Good morning, how long do we have till we have to be at school?" She asked and Troy shrugged, his eyes moving from his content girlfriend's face to the alarm clock that sat next to his bed. The brightly glowing numbers read five past six and Troy's looked down at Gabriella again and smiled when he discovered that she had drifted back to sleep. Leaning down he brushed his lips over her forehead.

With gentleness that would surprise some, Troy unwound Gabriella's arms from his body and slipped out of his bed. She whimpered slightly at the sudden loss of warmth, and he bent down and placed his lips on her head again as he pulled the blankets up and covered her properly. Quietly, he found the boxers she'd discarded the night before and pulled them on. As quietly as he could, he found some clean clothes and underwear before slipping into his bathroom to shower. As he closed the door, he glanced back and caught sight of Gabriella, the smile on his face formed without him knowing and when he locked the door, Troy found himself thinking that he was going to wake up from a really long dream one day and turn around to find that Gabriella was never such a complete part of his life. The very thought of not having Gabriella there made Troy pause and unlock the door just to make sure she was still there. Even as he did it, he berated himself for thinking something like that. She wasn't going to disappear, no matter how much he got to her. Shutting the door again, Troy turned on the shower and stripped down. Stepping into it, he closed his eyes as the water pounded against his back.

God, it felt so good to be able to do something like this. It felt great to wake up next to his girlfriend, be able to kiss her in greeting and then know that when he got out of the shower she was still going to be there. It was like they were a normal couple, a couple that didn't have arguments that ran in circles, that exchanged kisses that didn't have to be anger or even hate-filled, that could cuddle on the lounge or in his bed without the increasingly sexual tension that they were known for. Troy frowned slightly as the last thought left his mind; he wondered what the rest of the school would think if they saw the way he and Gabriella acted when they weren't at school. He had a feeling it would make the rumors and attitudes at school even worse than they already were. He knew she thought that he hadn't been paying attention at school, least of all the comments about them being together, but Troy was more than aware of the comments that were being made about their relationship, not to mention the uproar that the callbacks had caused. It was easy to ignore the remarks when people he didn't even know where making them, but when his best friend was the one that was saying it, it was slightly harder to ignore.

Turning off the shower, Troy opened the shower door and grabbed a towel. Drying himself, Troy had to wonder what exactly had gotten into his best friend. He'd been fine before the callbacks and than, out of no where, he was telling Troy that Gabriella was one of the worse things that had ever happened to him. At first Troy had thought that it had something to do with him and Taylor taking a break, but as the days had passed, Chad had grown increasingly aggressive in his attitude towards his relationship. Pulling on his jeans, Troy rubbed a towel through his hair and sighed. Chad was driving him absolutely insane with his comments and the more his friend talked, the more Troy found the idea of doing the callbacks, something he knew was so important to Gabriella, a very, very bad idea. Making an attempt at placing the towel on the rack, Troy rolled his eyes as it crumpled to the ground and unlocked the door. Walking out into his room, he grinned when he saw Gabriella curled around a pillow. Moving over to her, Troy leaned down and brushed his lips up against hers gently.

"Brie, baby, wake up, you can have a shower now," Troy whispered in her ear and Gabriella murmured something even as Troy pressed his lips to her shoulder. Her arm wrapped around his neck and she made an attempt at pulling him down to her. "Gabi, wake up, come on, you might get breakfast if your up." Troy whispered and Gabriella's eyes opened sleepily. Smiling slightly, she leaned up to press her lips to his. Troy smirked slightly, before pulling away from her and watching as she groaned.

"Tr-oy," she groaned and he laughed.

"No kisses until you're showered and down in the kitchen," he whispered and Gabriella pouted as he pulled on a shirt and avoided kissing her as he moved away from the bed. He looked back and grinned at Gabriella's face as he walked out of his room.

Running down the stairs at breakneck speed, Troy skidded into his kitchen and nearly fell over when he saw his mother standing next to the bench, sipping coffee as she watched her son grab hold of the bench to keep himself upright.

"Jeez Mom, do you practice doing that or what?" Troy gasped as Joanne placed her coffee down and folded her arms across her chest.

"No. You just always freak out when I'm awake at the same time you are," Joanne replied and Troy shrugged.

"So? Why are you awake?" He replied and Joanne smiled, wondering slightly if she should embarrass her son this early in the morning or not. Seeing no harm in it, Joanne smiled and watched as his eyes became wary.

"Oh you know, your sister was awake at all hours of the night," lifting up her cup, Joanne watched Troy over the rim. "So where you by the sounds of it." Troy went bright red at his mother's words and found something very interesting about the bench.

"Um, you heard?" He asked bashfully and Joanne laughed at his face and tone, very rarely did she try and torment her son but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"Troy, your room is right next to your sisters, I would have to be deaf not to hear some of the sounds coming out of it." Troy went even redder at his mother's words and his hand flew to rub the back of his neck.

"Uh, Mom, did you…are you mad?" Troy asked and Joanne burst into laughter at the look on his face, he looked like the five year old who didn't know if she was furious with him or not. Shaking her head, she walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Troy, if I was mad, I would have interrupted," Troy's eyes widened at her words and he looked at her. "No, I'm not mad. I've known for quite a while what you and Gabriella do behind closed door and as your father pointed out to me, your seventeen, soon to be eighteen, and if you weren't doing what I know you were doing last night, with your beautiful girlfriend, than there's something wrong with you." Troy's mouth dropped open at his mother's words and he stared at her wordlessly, completely unable to believe that those words had come out of his mother's mouth and even more mortified that she was completely fine with it.

"Okay, Mom, this is slightly embarrassing." Troy said and Joanne laughed at the look on his face as well as his choice of words.

"Just slightly? I remember when your father and I were your age, my mother was very aware of what I had done in the back-" Troy interrupted Joanne before she could finish her sentence.

"Mom, no offence or anything, but I really don't need to hear about yours and Dad's early sex life. It's disturbing enough that you're okay with what Gabriella and I did in the house last night. And that you heard us." Troy added as an afterthought and Joanne just smiled. Picking up her coffee cup, she patted her sons cheek and would have pressed a kiss to his forehead had he not looked so disturbed about the conversation they'd just had.

"I'm going to get your sister and we'll wake up your father, I'll see you in a little while." Joanne told him and left the kitchen with an air of content amusement as Troy stared after his mother with a stunned expression. Turning back to the kitchen, Troy felt like curling into a ball and pretending the conversation had never happened. Instead, he began to move around it, getting out a mug and pouring himself a cup of coffee. Hearing a noise behind him as he raised the coffee to his lips, Troy turned around and grinned at Gabriella even as the coffee scolded his tongue.

"Feel more awake?" He asked as she walked over to him and took the mug off him. Nodding her head as she sipped from the cup, she made a face at the strong taste and then leaned up to kiss him.

"Much better now," she replied and Troy kissed her nose.

"Good," he said and got out a bowl from the cupboard. Gabriella settled against the bench as he poured out some cereal and got out two spoons, knowing full well she'd prefer to eat from his bowl than her own if he got her one. Watching as he poured the milk over the cereal, Gabriella sipped the coffee and then made a sound of protest as he took it off her.

"Hey! I was drinking that." She snapped and he shot her a grin that made her melt on the inside.

"I know, and I can't deal with a hypo Gabriella if I haven't had my fair share of the coffee." Troy replied and Gabriella glared at him.

"I do not go hypo from coffee!" Gabriella shot at him even as he lifted his spoon to her mouth and slid it in.

"Sure you do, do I really need to remind you of all the times you've had coffee and gone off?" He asked, accepting her own spoon and watching her face as he chewed on the cereal. Gabriella glared at him for a moment, before pouting.

"That's not fair Troy; you have too many good stories about me and coffee." She said and he laughed at her words as he fed her more cereal.

"That's because you only drink coffee when I'm around you, because I drink it," he said and she rolled her eyes, annoyed at the fact that she had lost the argument and even more annoyed that he'd been so cute when he was doing it. Sliding closer to him, Gabriella slipped her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Troy's own arm wrapped around her shoulders even as she accepted more cereal from his spoon.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?" Gabriella asked her voice lazy and content. She felt that way too, so content to just be snuggled into his side that her temper didn't spark when she heard his surprised chuckle.

"Not recently, you have mentioned how I manage to drive you insane, though." Troy said and Gabriella grinned at his words.

"I thought I hadn't," moving her head to see him clearly, Gabriella reached up with her other hand and touched his cheek, turning his face to hers. "I love you so much Troy. I love everything you are and nothing will stop me from loving you the way I do." She said, fighting an urge to blush and an unfamiliar sweep of shyness and uncertainty at the dark storm of his eyes. Before she could make an attempt at taking the words back, Troy leaned in and covered her mouth with his.

Feeling his hand lift and run through her hair, Gabriella cradled his face in her hand on responded to the kiss. She felt dizzy even as his mouth lifted from hers, her eyes remained closed as he rested his cheek against hers.

"I love you too, you're my everything Brie and nothing will ever change that." Troy said and Gabriella's lips curled into a smile that was for him and him alone.

HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM

Walking into school, Troy's arm draped comfortably around her neck, blissfully unaware of the odd looks they were receiving as they walked down the hallway, Gabriella barely realized she was looking for Sharpay even as she found her. She waved at the blonde and smiled as Sharpay sent her a smile and wave back. As soon as Sharpay had acknowledged her, Gabriella turned her attention back to Troy and didn't see the blonde's look of utter disbelief as she watched the couple continue to walk down the hallway. She'd been so sure she'd seen something flash in Gabriella's eyes when she'd mentioned her and Troy's relationship the day before. Turning back to her locker, Sharpay checked her hair in the mirror before shutting the door and heading off to Gabriella's locker.

Gabriella giggled as Troy's arms wrapped themselves tightly around her waist as she opened her locker and placed her bag inside. Leaning back against him, she made no protest as he kissed her neck.

"Troy, you have to go to your locker before homeroom." Gabriella said after a moment and Troy kissed behind ear gently.

"I know, but you have to come with me," he said and Gabriella turned around to look up at him.

"Nuh-uh, you have to go, otherwise I'll get the wrong books for the first two periods," she said and he laughed at her words.

"You will not, just come with me." He said and Gabriella shook her head and pressed a kiss to his jaw.

"No, go by yourself; I'll see you in homeroom I promise." She said and Troy rolled his eyes at her words before nodding. Leaning down he kissed her quickly and left with an air of reluctance that made her giggle. Gabriella leaned against the locker next to hers and watched him go.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the Gabriella we all knew?" Turning her head at Sharpay's voice Gabriella just shook her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said and Sharpay rolled her eyes at Gabriella's words.

"Sure you don't, yesterday, you wanted to snap Troy's neck and now you two are acting like," Sharpay searched for something to explain them. "Like a couple who only just discovered their love for each other, with the kissing, and the giggling and holding. What happened? You guys reached your locker without an argument, that's never happened before." Sharpay said and Gabriella shrugged at her words.

"We haven't argued all morning actually. I don't know what happened, we're just acting like we do whenever we're at his place, or mine for that matter," seeing the look on Sharpay's face, Gabriella let out another giggle. "Don't get me wrong Sharpay, Troy and I'll be arguing by this afternoon, but this morning I think we're just going to be a normal couple." She said and Sharpay nodded at her words. Before she could say anything, Gabriella had shut her locker door and linked their arms.

"Um, okay, you guys are just going to act like a normal couple for this morning." Sharpay said and Gabriella nodded.

"Uh-huh, a completely normal couple, don't look so worried Shar, it's not the end of the world." Gabriella said and Sharpay laughed at her. Unable to stop herself from enjoying Gabriella's company and liking the fact that the nickname only her brother and parents were allowed to use, rolled off Gabriella's tongue.

"It might be, but if you guys are going to act like a normal couple for once, the least I can do is try and not laugh." Sharpay said and Gabriella nodded, patting the blondes hand.

"That's all I ask," she said and Sharpay smiled.

"Alright, now let's get to homeroom so you can be a 'normal' couple with your boyfriend." Sharpay said and Gabriella laughed as the two girls began to walk towards their homeroom, chattering aimlessly, as comfortable with each other as close friends.

A/N: Okay, that last bit with Sharpay is really important; it'll come into play later in the story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that!! It felt so good to write this again!! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and don't worry, Troy and Gabriella will be back to their normal fiery selves in the next chapter!!