. >> for erica freeman, the academy was a special place. >> i met people from all over the world actually really interesting, and they had a lot of opportunities academically but i don't think you would get an average high school. >> erica was smart, upbeat, and pretty. she loved everything from skydiving to shakespeare and in her sophomore year, she caught the eye of a cute guy in class. pedro. >> he was a big clown, a kind of a funny guy around people. he was making jokes. >> the act out and glass kind of guy? >> not act out in class. but he would go as soon as class was over, and it was just to get a cold laughing and isn't that. >> pedro was a fellow rock solid student with an artistic flair. his journals were full of artistic totals that friends thought had real talent. >> he could draw anything you wanted. >> robert lopez was a friend and classmate. >> so anything from graphic comments up until picture art? >> yeah. he was very gifted in that sense. >> erica and pedro quickly became an item. teenage lovers. but with adult dreams. >> we were a pretty serious relationship, we were a l