After they met the two girls became inseparable taking the likes of each others lifestyles. While Nel preferred Sula's chaotic wooly house, Sula preferred the "oppressive neatness" of Nel's house. They grew to understand each other's thoughts and found relief in each other's actions. Nel was always calm and in control, while Sula was uncontrollable. Nel wanted to follow the rules and Sula wanted to make them. One time as they walked home from school a few neighborhood boys began to bother them. Sula then took out her pocket knife and cut off the tip of her finger to show the boys she was not to be messed with. There was also and incident where Sula was swinging a young boy by the name of Chicken Little, and accidentally lost grip of his hands which resulted in him flying into the water and drowning. While Sula began to panic, afraid that someone had saw, Nel remained calm trying to convince herself that it wasn't real. Once they grew older, Nel decided to take the more conventional path by marrying a popular guy by the name of Jude while Sula decided to go away to college and explore the city life. While Sula was away she became more independent by focusing only on herself and not wanting to conform to the social expectations of the Bottom. When Sula returned to the Bottom, the two girls were almost as opposite as their mothers were to each other. Nel is now a mother and a wife, while Sula is too involved in herself to even consider a family. Eventually, Sula's actions caused her to be labeled as evil. She placed Eva in an old folk's home, slept with Jude, and had casual sex with other women husbands as much as she could. The people of the town began to have a strong hate for Sula, blaming her for everything wrong in their community. When in all actuality, her actions subliminally made them better people. It had been three years since the two friends had talked due to the fact that she slept with Jude when Nel went to visit Sula on her death bed.