Joyce Carol Oates- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

This story was so weird and so creepy.  Reading it made me want to get under the covers with my stuffed animal and never speak to men again.  Arnold Friend was SO CREEPY! Everything that he would do in this story would make my skin crawl. I knew the minute when she met Arnold on her little movie date with that other guy that he would try to rape/kidnap her.  I thought it was weird that Connie didn't realize that Arnold did not have good intentions until she realized how old Arnold and his buddy Ellie looked.  They way he was first introduced just made him seem creepy: "It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold.  He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin.  Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was till watching her.  He wagged a finger and laughed and said, 'Gonna get you, baby'" It was at that moment that a red flag went up in my mind.  When Arnold was at Connie's house the day after they had their first encounter, Arnold would say things like, I know everything about you and shit like that and Connie was still so clueless that he was not a good person.  The biggest red flag in this story was how Arnold knew Connie's name and where she lived!  Connie didn't even question how she found where she lived she only wondered how she knew her name.  I did not like the ending because I have no idea what happened to Connie. 

The song that captures the mood of the story for me is the theme song to jaws:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4w