a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of the chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

one could say that 15-year-old jungkook is the catalyst, and the chemical reaction is the deterioration of what his family has become.

it's a friday night, and once again, he has given his siblings the slip and snuck out at nine p.m. to go meet up with his friends. outside, sungjae, junhong, junhoe, and donghyuk wave at him from inside junhong's car. jungkook glances back at the house to ensure no one has noticed him, and then slips into the car.

"glad you made it," sungjae jokes. "your siblings are really smothering you, huh?"

"yeah," jungkook rolls his eyes. "it's hard to get away from them sometimes."

sungjae and junhoe nod sympathetically. "well, you're here now," junhoe adds.

"where are we going, anyway?" jungkook asks. all donghyuk had texted him was "party".

"junhui and soonyoung are throwing a party," sungjae explains. "from what soonyoung told me, a lot of the sophomores and juniors will be there. yeoreum, seolhyun -- they're cute. sanghyuk, seungyeon, chanhyuk -- they're all really cool."

"awesome," jungkook nods his head. "drinks?"

"no ," donghyuk laughs and slaps jungkook on the back. "what kind of party would it be without them?"

"good point," jungkook acquiesces.

"how much longer 'til we're there?" junhoe complains.

junhong sighs. "couple more minutes. don't get your in a twist."

while waiting, the boys joke around, teasing each other about girls they think are cute and how much they'll drink. for the entire time, jungkook never thinks about his siblings at home. he's all but forgotten they exist.

"we're here!" junhong declares, pulling the car up to a street that's cluttered with even more. already, jungkook sees people hanging around in the front yard, holding red solo cups in their hands and chatting. even though the party has barely started, trash litters the ground and people run around spraying each other with silly string.

"hey," junhui opens the door immediately after sungjae knocks, a girl named chanmi hanging off of his arm. he lets the group file into the quickly-filling house, where people are dancing on tables and the music is so loud that jungkook can barely hear himself think.

"ing a--" donghyuk says, catching the eye of a sophomore girl named sujin and splitting from the group. meanwhile, jungkook takes a detour to where a small crowd has formed around a game of beer pong. it's sanghyuk and seungcheol against twins youngmin and kwangmin. sungjae hands him a beer and they join the raucous cheering, screaming whenever sanghyuk and seungcheol score. a girl named hyejin sashays up to him, and pulls him away.

all the while, his phone rings over and over in his pocket.

it's two a.m. when junhong drops him off at home. even though jungkook had had a couple drinks too many, he sobers up right away once he notices the light in the kitchen is shining through the window. a sinking feeling arises in his stomach as he realizes that he'll have to face the wrath of all seven siblings (although, to be fair, it's not likely that jimin and taehyung will do anything more than stare at the floor awkwardly). grimly awaiting his fate, he knocks quickly on the door.

to his surprise, there's only aimee standing there. even though the light in the kitchen is on, the rest of the house is dark. jungkook's fear is replaced with relief. even though aimee can be scary, it's better than being screamed at by the entire hyung-line at once.

"it's two in the morning," she purses her lips and lets him in reluctantly.

"i'm going to bed," jungkook states, and turns to head up the stairs.

"don't you dare, jungkook," she snaps. "we need to talk first."

"i'm drunk and tired," he complains. "let me sleep."

upon hearing the word "drunk", however, aimee's eye twitches. "drinking?!" she hisses. "you're 15!"

"so?" he retorts. "i'm still doing fine in school."

"it doesn't matter, jungkook," aimee sighs. "if you get caught, you'll lose all of that."

"i won't get caught," he snorts. "let me take a shower or something."

"no. we're having a talk in the kitchen. right. now." without another word, she whirls around and marches into the kitchen. reluctantly, jungkook follows just to get it over with.

"what?" he snarls. "what do you want to talk about?!"

"you," aimee replies, leaning against the countertop. "all you've done for these past months have been sneak out, drink, be rude... and the list just goes on and on. what's going on?"

"nothing," he retaliates. jungkook crosses his arms. "there's nothing i want to talk to you about."

her lips press into a thin line. "even so, this is not okay. have you thought about the rest of us, jungkook? about your future, anything? what mom and dad would think?"

at that, jungkook balls his fists up. "shut up," he spits. "don't bring mom and dad into this."

"you weren't like this before they died," she reasons. "what's wrong? i'm your sister, you can talk to me about it."

"what if i don't want to?"

"jungkook, just hear me out. i'm always worried sick about you. it's tearing the family apart