Even though they went to the prom together, and even though they never dated anyone else, you couldn't really call Raenale Kamahoahoa and Kenneth Ho high-school sweethearts.

At least Kamahoahoa wouldn't.

The two met in 1978 over citizens band radio. She was in eighth grade and he was a sophomore at Waipahu High School.

As in today's Internet chat rooms, CB conversations were quick and superficial.

Her call name was "8-80 Lady" — she ran track — and his was "Kokomo."

That's all they knew about each other.

The next year, Kamahoahoa entered Waipahu High as a freshman. The two still hadn't met. But Ho had found out who Kamahoahoa was through a mutual CB friend, and he knew she was an avid roller-skater. Kamahoahoa spent every Saturday night at Skate World in Waipahu.

So he went, too, and introduced himself by his CB name.

"He invaded my territory," said Kamahoahoa, 42, laughing. "He was interested (in me) from the start."

She watched the awkward teenager in corduroy pants try to balance on a pair of four-wheeled skates. She wasn't impressed.

"He was like a fungus, a mold growth," she said, teasingly. "I couldn't get rid of him!"

Kamahoahoa rarely spoke to Ho at Skate World, though they continued to chat over CB.

Whenever she spotted him on the rink, she'd duck into the arcade to play Space Invaders or foosball. (She got really good at it.) She still didn't know his real name.

Then one night in February 1979, Kamahoahoa was waiting for her mom to pick her up at the skating rink. Ho pulled up in his pumpkin-orange Volkswagen bug and told her he would take her home.

"He told me to get in and that my mom asked him to pick me up," Kamahoahoa recalled. "I was just dumbfounded."

Ho drove her home — they lived just 20 houses apart — and the two barely said a word to each other the entire drive.

The next weekend, Ho took Kamahoahoa home again, this time stopping at Jack in the Box for a midnight snack.

This went on for months.

"That was our routine," Kamahoahoa said. "My mom would drop me off, and he'd take me home. But we still didn't talk."

Not then or at school.

"We couldn't be seen together," Kamahoahoa said, explaining that they were part of different cliques back then. He was on the math and debate teams; she belonged to the Hawaiian and drama clubs.

The next year, in April 1980, Ho did the unthinkable: He asked Kamahoahoa to his senior prom.

"I really didn't want to go," Kamahoahoa said. "My mom said I should go, just for the experience ... But I was dreading it."

Ho picked her up in his VW bug wearing a maroon tuxedo that matched her prom gown. An inch taller than her date, Kamahoahoa had to wear flats instead of heels.

They hardly talked the whole night. On the way home, they stopped off at Jack in the Box and ordered their usual.

What about romantic feelings?

"There was nothing," Kamahoahoa. "I was still looking for my surfer dude."

With his graduation a month away, Ho gave Kamahoahoa two tickets to attend the ceremony. She decided to go with her mom, who had grown fond of Ho.

After the ceremony, Kamahoahoa went up to Ho to give him a lei. Instead, she got something unexpected back: a kiss, right on her lips — and right in front of his parents.

"It was so not right!" Kamahoahoa said, laughing. "I was mortified!"

Still, she agreed to go with him that night to Mokule'ia Beach, where their mutual friends were camping. By the time they arrived at the campsite, it was past 1 a.m. Kamahoahoa crawled into a tent and fell asleep.

The next morning, Ho drove her back home to Waipahu. This time, he kissed her again. And this time, Kamahoahoa didn't mind.

"I thought, 'OK, this is pretty fun,' " she said. "That's when I felt OK with it."

Kamahoahoa realized that Ho was a standup guy, someone she could trust and feel comfortable around. And to her, those traits went a long way.

"He'd always open and close doors and walk with me. He was just so chivalrous, such a gentleman," Kamahoahoa said. "He made me feel special, and that's what grew on me."

They started seeing each other every day. They hiked and bodyboarded.

Kamahoahoa had no idea how much they actually had in common.

"He was my diamond in the rough," Kamahoahoa said, "all covered up in corduroy pants and kamaboko slippers."

Then in 1985, the couple got unexpected news: She was pregnant.

"When I told him, he was so happy," Kamahoahoa said. "He looked like he was ready to cry."

In December, she gave birth to their first daughter, Kayleigh.

Ho's parents, who initially disapproved of the out-of-wedlock pregnancy, bought the couple a townhouse in Salt Lake. Ho wanted to get married. But Kamahoahoa wasn't ready yet.

That changed in 1986.

On their way to pick up their baby at Kamahoahoa's mother's house in Waipahu, the couple was struck head-on by another car that had drifted into oncoming traffic when its driver had an epileptic seizure.

Kamahoahoa was in a coma for about three weeks. Ho lost part of his left foot, and steel rods held his body together.

Kamahoahoa's mother, who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, died soon after Kamahoahoa emerged from her coma.

"That really changed me," she said, quietly.

Ho spent two years in rehab; Kamahoahoa spent one. During that time, Ho's parents took care of the couple's daughter.

"That changed our relationship," Kamahoahoa said. "Definitely for the better."

By now the couple was talking seriously about marriage.

"We stuck it out this long, and he stayed by my side," Kamahoahoa said. "I thought, 'Why not?' "

On Aug. 8, 1988, they were married at Kawaiaha'o Church, with a reception four days later at the Honolulu Airport Hotel.

Their paths — and priorities — changed since the accident. Ho now works at O'ahu Transit Services. Kamahoahoa, who suffers from traumatic brain injury, is back in school at Windward Community College, studying counseling.

They both make the most of their lives together, going on picnics or scouring garage sales.

A big part of their lives now is involvement with Toys for Tots. Every year they spend thousands of dollars on toys for Christmas.

"It's our way of giving back," Kamahoahoa said.

About five years after the accident, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Hau'oli, and moved to Mililani.

"(Marriage) is definitely better than I had expected," Kamahoahoa said, smiling.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.