A/N: This is going to be a series of one-shots, inspired by the songs on Avril Lavigne's album - "The Best Damn Thing". The title of each of the one-shots is one of the songs.

Some of the lyrics are within the stories... those are copyright to Avril Lavigne, as well as the song titles, yessum.

Keep Holding On

“Keep holding on.” I smiled at the simplicity, yet obvious sincerity of the note. The hiding place where it had been just moments before now seemed bare, and with this in mind, I delved into my pocket, pulling out another folded piece of paper to take his place. I made sure nothing looked too obvious, though the note wouldn’t make sense if some stranger picked it up. We made sure we never used names on our notes, just in case.

If you’re thinking that the notes are some romantic garbage to make our lives exciting, then you are very wrong. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, I wish we could be together, like a normal couple. The notes are the thread of hope that I hold onto – they keep me sane He knows that… he knows me so well. He knows what will make me smile for the rest of the day; he knows what will keep me on cloud nine. With a content sigh, I gently folded his note and put it in my pocket, so that I could add it to the rest later tonight. With my morning routine complete, I walked out of the park, with a new spring in my step. He managed to make me the happiest girl alive with nothing but a bit of romantic note-passing.

He’d come up with the idea after my father had given me the ‘inappropriate boyfriend material’ lecture. He wasn’t inappropriate boyfriend material – I loved him, and that made him very appropriate. But apparently love wasn’t enough for my father. Nothing was ever enough for him. And so he had warned me never to see the guy again. I think he just wants me to become a nun or something… maybe that would be enough for him. Or maybe not.

I reached the gate to my garden and stopped for a moment, glancing up at the ominous building that I called ‘home’. I had so many good memories of this place… but quite a few bad ones too. And I was just about to add another to the growing collection…

“Evangeline!” My name was being called in such a panicked tone that I quickly pushed the gate open and jogged through the garden towards the front door. Stood on the door-step, looking wide-eyed and very frightened, was one of the younger maids of the house, a friend sixteen year old called Marcia. The fear in her chocolate brown eyes immediately made me uneasy. A sharp feeling of anguish began to develop, starting with the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach.

“Evangeline! Thank god I found you! Your father… he realised you weren’t home and stormed into your room… he came out clutching a pile of paper and asked you to see him as soon as you got home… I’m sorry Evangeline!”

I took a deep breath and threw her a smile of encouragement, even though the thing I really wanted do at this moment was to run away as far as possible. If my father had found the pile of paper that I thought he’d found… but we hadn’t used names, so there was no problem… right? So why had it become so hard to walk into the house? Why did my feet feel like cement? Why couldn’t I breathe properly?

“He’s in his study.” Marcia whispered and wandered back into the house, leaving me on the door-step trying to think of some kind of excuse. I’d found the notes? They were from a different guy? He’d know I was lying straight away… he always did. There was nothing to do but be honest. I faced the entrance to the house, straightened my back, held my head high and walked briskly, with determination, to my father’s study. Without knowing, I opened the heavy oak door and stepped inside.

But what I saw inside made me stop.

My father was sat behind his desk, and as I watched from my frozen state, he picked up one of my beloved notes, read the words, and let out a chuckle, before tearing it into tiny pieces and letting each piece float to the floor. The last piece caught my eye and I watched it silently fall to the pile that had already accumulated. My eyes darted back to my father, who caught and held my gaze. My heart shuddered and… ached. He looked down and picked up another piece of paper.

“I wish you were here?” He read out loud and laughed, pulling himself up and taking a step in my direction. I swallowed abruptly. “Care to explain, daughter?”

“I…” I blinked furiously, trying to keep my tears at bay. “I haven’t seen him since you told me not to. It’s just notes!”

My father took three long strides and suddenly he was in front of me, holding the note centimetres from my face. I held my breath, feeling my entire body tense. And when he tore the piece of paper in half, I felt my heart crack… and when he continued tearing it into tiny pieces, his steel blue eyes getting darker and darker with fury, I felt my heart shatter into tiny pieces and fall to the floor alongside the torn pieces.

“So you thought you’d try and get smart with me, eh?” My father spat. When I shook my head quickly and opened my mouth to tell him that no, I wouldn’t dream of disobeying him, I felt a surge of pain ring out from my left cheek and staggered to one side, lifting my hand to the stinging area. Through blurred vision, I saw my father red-faced and breathing heavily, with his hand raised high. “Don’t ever get smart with me, bitch.”

And with that, he brought his hand down for a second time, this time with so much force that I fell to the side, hitting my head against the wall. I looked up at him, the metallic taste of blood strong in my mouth. My whole face seemed to be on fire, and yet, all I could do was stare up at him. I think it unnerved him a little, as he lowered his hand and turned away. His movement snapped me out of my shock and I jumped up, backing out of the study.

“Evangeline? Are you… okay?”

I briefly saw Marcia’s shocked expression and heard her whispered words, before turning and running out of the house. I could hear her calling after me, but ignored her, hoping that she wouldn’t follow me. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. As I ran down the street, I quickly realised that it had begun to snow, as something wet touched my sore cheek. The cooling sensation made me stop and look around. It had been snowing on and off for the past few days, resulting in a covering of ice on the ground… and it was bloody cold. I pulled my jacket tighter around myself and set off walking again, with my head low. There weren’t many people out today, and-

My thoughts were cut off by the ring tone of my mobile. I pulled it out and looked at the display, tears springing to my eyes as I put the phone to my ear. “Evangeline?” His deep voice reached my ears and I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

“D-Dante…” I could only get that one word out before I collapsed into sobs. My face hurt, my lip stung, I had a pounding headache… and my father was a complete stranger to me.

“Evangeline? Angel, what’s happened, where are you?” His voice was full of concern and… panic. I hadn’t meant to worry him! I had to tell him that I was fine! Stupid tears… why wouldn’t they stop? I couldn’t let Dante see me like this! He’d guess what had happened and all hell would break loose… I couldn’t let him get hurt just because I hadn’t found the best hiding place for the notes I had kept. Finally, I did the only thing I could think of, and hung up on my beloved, before turning my phone off. I’d sort myself out and then I’d let him know that I was alright. I sighed and put my phone back, wiping my tears away and looking around. I was in front of the park – the place with more happy memories than I could count. It was this park where Dante and I had first met… and had continued to meet. Our hiding place for the notes was here, as well as the bench where we had shared our first kiss, and the lake, where we stargazed and shared secrets through countless nights. That was the place where Dante had first told me he’d loved me.

He didn’t need this. He needed a normal girlfriend, a girlfriend with family who he could have dinner with, who would at least try and like him. I made my way into the park, glad to see that it was deserted. My gaze was drawn towards our hiding place – the missing stone of a wall provided the perfect spot for our note-trading to take place… and Dante had already had the chance to swap notes, I noticed. With a small smile, I reached in and took the paper, unfolding it to read the masculine handwriting. It was longer than normal.

“I believe nothing’s going to change destiny. I will fight and defend… for us. We’ll stand together forever, my Angel.”

My smile faded and I let the note fall to the ground, before stepping over it and walking towards the lake. Another girl should be here, reading his notes… not me. I was holding him back… I didn’t deserve him. And yet, now I couldn’t even go back home. What was I going to do? Perhaps there was only one place I could go now…

I glanced down at the frozen like. There was only a thin covering of ice on top of the water, but it appeared as though the entire lake was frozen solid, as though I could step out onto it and it would bear my entire weight. That could be my excuse, couldn’t it? I thought the ice would support me. I lifted my foot to the stunted wall and hoisted myself up, wobbling slightly. The ice glared up at me from below, hard and cold. It would only take one step to bring the ice closer to me. I hung my foot over the edge and closed my eyes-

“Evangeline! What the hell are you doing?”

The voice startled me and I started to bring my foot down, but felt my arm being grabbed. I was pulled from the wall and into his arms. As he crushed me to his chest, I felt him breathing heavily, his breaths broken by sniffs and whimpers. It only occurred to me that he was crying when he held me at arm’s length and I saw his tears.

“What… what happened? Your face…” He lifted his hand to my cheek but I winced at his touch, even though the majority of my face had turned numb from the cold. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that when I opened them again, Dante wouldn’t be there. It didn’t work. “He did this, didn’t he?”

I tried to shake my head, but it hurt too much. Dante pulled me close, allowing me to share his body heat. He wrapped his arms around me and guided me away from the lake. I turned my head and watched the lake become smaller and smaller as we walked away. I couldn’t help but wish I was back on top of that wall.

I just wanted it to end.