A short story by Joyce Carol Oates, set in a small town, the main character is a 15 year old girl named Connie. Connie is a beautiful girl who always argues with her sister and mother. She knows she's beautiful, but she still wants validation from others. She tries to appear as if she is older and wiser than others when she is not. She always listens to music about love and boys, her head is full of daydreams about boys and love. When evidently she actually knows nothing about it except that she has to be pretty to get their attention. At the beginning of the story, Connie's mother argues with her because she wants Connie to be more organized and responsible like her older sister June. Her sister June was Connie's older sister and her opposite. He was a little overweight for his age, 24 years old and still living with his parents. She is plain and boring and is also her parents' favorite child because she obeys them and does her chores, unlike Connie. While Connie does nothing but go out or stay in her room fantasizing about boys and listening to music. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Since her sister June went out with her friends at night, their mother also let Connie go out too. Connie and her friends go to a restaurant as usual and meet guys. One night Connie goes out with her friends and a boy named Eddie meets her, Connie left her friends to be with him. As they were walking to Eddie's car, Connie looked around and saw a gold-painted convertible, with a black-haired man looking at it. He pointed at her and laughed and said, "Gonna Get you, baby" (Oates 1) She hurried, while Eddie didn't notice anything, that night they stayed together for a couple of hours in that restaurant eating burgers that in an alley , until she returned to her friend. On Sundays Connie ends up washing her hair rather than going out into the yard and bathing in the sun until her hair dries. Her family tried to convince her to come to the family barbecue but she wasn't interested, so her family left her home. “Her parents and sister were going to a barbecue at an aunt's house and Connie said no, she wasn't interested, rolling her eyes to let her mother know what she thought. 'Stay home alone then,' her mother said sharply.” (Oates 2) As Connie lay with the sun beating down on her, she was dozing daydreaming about boys. After a while, he went back inside and put on one of his favorite radio stations called "XYZ Sunday Jamboree", the station played one hit after another. She was distracted by the music because she didn't hear a car pull up in the driveway. He was anxious when he heard the car, he looked out the window and saw a golden convertible, he knew it couldn't be his father coming back soon. Immediately he wondered how bad it must be, as the car stopped it beeped about 4 times signaling that they were there and that Connie needed to get out. Connie ran into the kitchen, looking out the screen she recognized it as the man she had seen the other night with Eddie. He asked if he was late while Connie asked who he was. He gets out of the car and points to the side with the words "Arnold Friend", showing her his name. Connie realized there was also another man in the car behind. Arnold asks Connie if she wanted to go on a "ride" with him. He tried to play down the situation by saying he had “things to do”. Connie realizes that the music coming from her car was the same radio station she was listening to. She was distracted by him and the music. He saw,.