KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. – Nice, caring and a smile you couldn't ignore. Those are just some of the attributes friends say best describe Shane Savoy.
Family and friends said their final goodbyes Thursday to the 18-year-old who's being called a hero.
Savoy was hit by a truck on his way to his school bus stop last Friday on County Road 214. Before the crash, he moved his friend, Elin Cornett, out of the way away so she wouldn't get hit. Savoy died a few hours later.
Karla Casas lit up when reminiscing Thursday about the time she threatened to shave her head and Savoy refused to let her do it.
"He took all of his lanyards, because he loved lanyards, and he put the hat on my head and he wrapped the lanyards around so I couldn't take it off," Casas said. "I was like, 'So I guess I have your hat now,' and he's like, 'No it's your hat now.'"
Those were the good times, but what happened Friday was something friends said they never expected.
"This can't be real. Are you joking with me. Are you fooling me?" Nicholas Petrie said of his reaction to the news. "It didn't seem real."
"It doesn't surprise me that he saved her, but why did it happen, is what I wonder," family friend Johanna Hires said.
Casas recalls that very morning. She had spoken with Savoy before she got on the bus, a few hours before the accident.
"He called me in the morning and said, 'Hey, are you awake?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm awake,'" Casas said. "He's like, 'Good, 'cause I couldn't stand losing another friend. I got on the bus and I was really mad: 'Ugh, why was the bus late?'"
Savoy had been walking to the bus stop with Cornett that morning. Friends said he had switched sides with her and was walking next to the street to keep Cornett safe just in case anything were to happen. A few minutes later, deputies said, Savoy was hit by a pickup truck and died later that day.
"Even though he's gone, he's still with us," Casas said. "I feel him right now. He's just here watching. He's probably telling me how stupid I look because this was his hat."
Friends said they plan on spreading Savoy's legacy and helping others because that's how he lived his life, always wanting to help and comfort other people.