Also, she was pretending to be this mature old lady, but when Arnold Friend started sexually flirting with her, she was scared and so "sick with fear that 'she couldn't do anything.' but listen to him - the phone was clammy and very heavy and his fingers groped for the dial but were too weak to touch it. She started screaming into the phone, she cried for her mother" (431) However, when Connie started to call her, no one was there to help her. She even called for help from her mother as a child does, but she received no help At that time she felt so weak and the only safe place she saw in front of her was Arnold Friend's. Connie's experience with Arnold Friend places her in the adult world where she discovers she is alone.