Short stories

So I have recently read the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates. It's a pretty interesting story mainly because I have no idea what's going on. There is a girl, her name is Connie and she is the type of girl that is pretty and knows she's pretty. She is constantly looking at herself in the mirror, trapped in this vanity. Her mother has pretty much no interest in her because when her mother looks at connie she sees a young version of herself. She was once young, once beautiful but that eventually faded away with time and age making her plain and ordinary, she cares more about her other daughter, June. June was never really beautiful she skipped that phase and went straight to the plain and ordinary and her mother loves that about her, because she knows that June will never be trapped in vanity . But without her mothers love and affection, Connie goes else where to find it. She meets Arnold Friend and his friend Ellie later on in the story. Here's where it starts to get confusing. First off Arnold just shows up at her house, he knows that her parents aren't home, what they are doing and when they will be back. He starts to rattle off numbers; 33, 19, 17. What do they mean ? Arnold calls out to her telling her that she should go on a ride with him but he doesnt ask her in a normal way one would ask someone out he says, "Connie you ain't telling the truth. This is your day set aside for a ride with me and you know it (Oates 472)" he says it as if he came for her like this is her doom day and he is the collector. Another interesting thing in the story is the fact that the whole time that Arnold is trying to get Connie to come outside to be with him, as he gets increasingly more aggressive, he never goes inside the house , he tellers her that he promised he won't go inside as long as she doesn't try to pick up the phone, but it's almost as if the phones is a barrier that separates to different worlds the house being the actual human world and the outside where Arnold is this other world like an afterlife. It is described as a vast land with light as if the place outside isn't even of this world, when she picks up the phone, like the last thing in her "battle" against Arnold, she tries to dial for help but then she says how it felt like she was being stabbed repeatedly but the thing is Arnold never came in side the house. Connie seemed to be having and outter body experience and then she goes outside and runs to Arnold, her soul has lost the fight against Arnold and is giving itself to him. But then this brings up questions; was she really killed? What Arnold real or a made up figure? What is Ellie's purpose in the story? because he doesn't actually contribute to the story he just listens to the radio.