Against All Wheels | ✓

[Wattys Shortlist 2025]

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆?

Sereia Reuben. Top of her class. Renowned overachiever. Everything she touched turned to gold-until one tragic moment shattered it all.

The accident left her in a wheelchair. In its wake came stares, pitying glances, and a haunting question: What good is a girl with dreams, if she can't even stand?

She withdrew from everything that once defined her. Frustrated. Bitter. Humiliated. Her pride dragged through the mud, her spark snuffed out by pain and silence.

Until one afternoon at the mall. Dragged out by a friend for the first time since the accident, Sereia finds herself suddenly wheeled to a table-his table. Theodore Prescott. Her academic rival, her constant annoyance, the boy she'd sworn to despise.

And yet, he doesn't flinch. Doesn't hesitate. Doesn't treat her any differently.
And that's where it begins

About the girl who couldn't walk, but who learned to stand tall again-even while seated.

And the boy who, against all odds, saw her before she could even look in the mirror.

This is a story not about sudden miracles, but slow rebuilding. About pain, rage, and fragile hope. Of breaking down, healing slowly, and finding strength-and love-in the most unexpected of places.

Highest Ranking:
#1 in crippled- July 25th 2025
#1 in wheelchair- August 4th 2025
#6 in clean- September 27th 2025
#5 in resilience - September 29th 2025