In the hours before she died, Cresile Sabado called her cousin and best friends hoping to get a group together to go out, her friend Ashley Aguilar said yesterday.

The 15-year-old Waipahu High School sophomore had recently broken up with her boyfriend and was eager to socialize, she said. But no one could make it out Saturday night, so Sabado hooked up with 19-year-old Jocelyn Plunkett-Ka'aihue, her neighbor the past three years, and a 16-year-old male friend.

By 6 a.m. Sunday both young women were dead and the boy was in critical condition at The Queen's Medical Center after the rented car Plunkett-Ka'aihue was driving apparently sped through a dip in a road and crashed into a utility pole in Wai'anae.

Cresile's mother, Tess Sabado, said the girls were coming home at about 5:30 a.m. when the accident occurred.

"My daughter is a sweet girl and everybody knows that she had her life going," Tess Sabado said. "She was in the medical club at Waipahu High School and she wanted to pursue nursing. This summer she was supposed to enroll at Leeward Community College to take college prep classes. Her friends and family come first before herself, no matter what.

"She puts other people first before her, she's very strong and she knew she would succeed in life."

Tess Sabado said her daughter received four A's on her recent report card and was rewarded with $80, $20 for each A. Sabado was the eldest of four siblings. Plunkett-Ka'aihue's parents rented the car for her because her car was being repaired, Tess Sabado said.

Plunkett-Ka'aihue, a graduate of Kahuku High School, and Sabado had been friends since the Sabado family moved into a new subdivision in Royal Kunia two doors down from the Plunkett-Ka'aihues in 2003.

Lisa DeLong, principal at Kahuku High School, said Plunkett-Ka'aihue was well-liked by faculty and students. She said her staff constantly works with students to reinforce the need to drive safely and obey the speed limit.

"It's always a tragedy and the losses are always intolerable," DeLong said.

Aguilar, 17, was friends with Sabado since the eighth grade and said Sabado always liked to "make jokes and laugh."

"She told me once that she wanted to go to college and she said she wanted to be a doctor or a nurse. She was the kind of person who always did more than she needed to," Aguilar said. "She wanted to show her parents that she could do it."

Aguilar said the news of Sabado's death was all the buzz among the sophomores at Waipahu High School yesterday.

Police traffic investigators believe the 2004 Nissan Maxima being driven by Plunkett-Ka'aihue was speeding along Pa'akea Road. They said they believe it went through a dip and became airborne before striking a wooden utility pole near 'Apana Road.

The medical examiner's office said yesterday Ka'aihue died from internal injuries resulting from the crash and Sabado died from head injuries. Toxicology tests are pending.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.