Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Teacher of the Year
"Hi Nicky." Jackie said as she walked in the door.
"Hi, are you ready for tonight?" He asked.
"No, I'm exhausted, I wish they would have had the banquet tomorrow instead of tonight."
Jackie had been nominated for teacher of the year and the banquet to find out the winner was on a Friday night.
What made this even more fun was the fact that along with Nick, all of Jackie's coworkers were coming to support her, and Sue Anderson, Jackie's very good friend and teaching partner (she was also Houston's teacher) was also nominated, although Sue didn't know it yet, she thought she was just going to support Jackie, and Jackie and all of Jackie's other coworkers couldn't wait to see the look on Sue's face when she finds out, although they all knew that there was a very good chance that Sue would murder them all for not telling her.
"Hi Jane." Jackie said as she dropped her purse on the table.
Jackie took a couple steps to the fridge to grab a bottle of water before she realized what she just said she spun around.
"Jane, what are you doing here?" She asked as she raced over to her mentor and threw her arms around her.
"Ask your husband." She replied.
Jackie turned toward Nick.
He had a sly grin on his face.
"I figured that since you were nominated for teacher of the year the person that was most responsible for you becoming the teacher you are should be here, surprise."
"Thank you." She said as she let go of Jane and went over and threw her arms around Nick.
"You're welcome." He replied.
They visited for a bit and then got ready, the kids were staying with Jackie's parents for the night.
"Nervous?" Nick asked her as they walked into the banquet hall later that night.
"A little, but I'm more excited to see the look on Sue's face."
Nick chuckled.
After a very fancy dinner was served the moment that everyone had been waiting for arrived.
The MC for the evening went up to the podium.
"All teachers deserve recognition and the upmost respect for their dedication to our children. The three nominees tonight have demonstrated their drive and willingness to go above and beyond what is expected of them. Each of the three nominees will receive a very nice prize tonight. The third-place winner will receive a $250 check to spend in their classroom. The second-place winner will receive a $500 check for their classroom as well as a $250 coffee gift card to a very popular coffee shop here in town, and the first-place winner will receive a $500 check for their classroom as well as an all-expense paid week-long vacation to Hawaii to be taken this summer."
The room erupted in applause.
"I want that coffee card." Jackie whispered to Nick.
Nick laughed softly, her and her mocha's!
"I'm now going to call the nominees to the podium, and these are in no particular order." The MC announced.
A hush fell over the room in excitement.
"The first nominee tonight is Grace Samuels from Davenport Elementary School." The MC said.
The room erupted in applause as Grace Samuels went to the front of the room.
"The second nominee is Jacqueline Stokes from Kent Elementary School."
Jackie's friends went crazy as she went up and joined Grace Samuels up at the front.
"The last nominee is Sue Anderson, also from Kent Elementary School."
Once again Jackie's friends went crazy.
Sue looked stunned, she looked around as if her ears were playing tricks on her.
"What? No, I wasn't nominated." She stammered.
"Yes you were, get up there." Carol Tully, a second-grade teacher from Jackie and Sue's school said with a big grin.
Sue numbly went up and stood next to Jackie. Sue had never in her life been in complete shock but she was now, no doubt about it.
Jackie smiled broadly at her.
Jackie linked her arms with Grace Samuels and Sue, partly to show good sportsmanship but also she thought Sue very well might faint and she wanted to do her best to catch her if she did.
"The third place winner is….." The MC started but paused for dramatic effect. "Grace Samuels from Davenport Elementary School."
The crowd cheered for her as the young woman hugged Jackie and Sue and then collected her check from the MC before she sat back down.
"The second-place winner is Jacqueline Stokes from Kent Elementary School."
Jackie threw her arms around Sue.
"You did it, congratulations!" Jackie said with nothing but sincere happiness for her friend in her voice.
Jackie thanked the MC before collecting her check and coffee card and then she sat back down at her table.
Nick gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and a huge smile.
"Second place isn't so bad, we are going to coffee tomorrow and you're buying." Jane whispered in her ear with a bright smile on her face.
"It's a date." Jackie promised as she returned Jane's smile.
All of Jackie's friends congratulated her before turning their attention back to the MC.
"And that means that the teacher of the year is Sue Anderson from Kent Elementary, let's give her and all the teachers a huge round of applause.
Jackie's entire table jumped up and started cheering wildly with Jackie leading the cheers.
After the event was over Nick, Jackie, and Jane started driving home.
"Want to stop and get a coffee?" Nick asked jokingly.
He'd only been kidding, but Jackie immediately shouted yes in the backseat where she was sitting with Jane talking about different students they'd had over the years.
Nick laughed as he pulled into a drive through of a coffee shop.
"Oh, hon, this is the wrong coffee shop, my gift card isn't for here." Jackie told him.
"Oh, I didn't know, that's ok though, I'll get these." He responded.
When they got home they visited, drank their coffees, and then headed to bed, it had been a fun day but also a long day.
The next day Jane and Jackie went to lunch, then coffee, then they stopped by Jackie's classroom for a while so Jane could see how she'd rearranged things recently.
While they were there Jane also helped Jackie hang some stuff on the walls of her room since Jackie was so short and couldn't do it herself.
"Maybe if you were taller and could do this by yourself you would have won teacher of the year instead of taking second." Jane told her jokingly as she hung up the last art project on the wall.
"Maybe." Jackie responded with a laugh.
"How's that?" Jane asked as she stepped back and stood next to Jackie so she could see how things looked.
"Great, and thanks so much for doing that, Nicky will be grateful too, it will save him from coming here and doing it."
"Sure, no problem." Jane told her.
"What do you want to do now since it's your last night in town?" Jackie asked her.
"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to go see that new resort on the strip that just opened, you know the one that was being built the last time I was here."
"Oh sure, I actually haven't seen it either and I've been wanting to."
"Alright let's head over there then." Jane told her.
"I'm so glad you came this weekend, it means so much." Jackie told her as they sat in traffic.
"I wouldn't have missed it." Jane told her sincerely.
"I just wish you could stay longer."
"Yeah, but it actually worked out well, I only had to miss one day of work and so sub plans didn't take that long, and I'm coming back for a week in July, don't forget."
"That's true." Jackie said brightening.
After parking the car Jackie and Jane strolled through the huge resort, it was gorgeous, the architecture was amazing, and the pool looked so relaxing although they couldn't use it because they were not staying at the hotel.
"What do you say we hit some of the small boutiques on the second floor?" Jackie asked her as she nodded at a sign that said shopping and pointed at the escalator.
"Sure." Jane replied.
"This is a really cute purse." Jane said as she held it up for Jackie to see.
"Yeah it is, are you going to get it?" She asked.
Jane looked at the price tag and nearly choked.
"Uh, no." Jane replied as she showed Jackie the $213.00 price tag.
"Yikes." Jackie said.
They went to several other shops but the prices there were just as outrages so they didn't buy anything.
"Those donuts look heavenly." Jackie said as she eyed a small donut shop in the food court.
"Yeah they do, and we can actually afford them." Jane quipped.
Jackie laughed.
Jackie ordered a maple bar and a coffee and Jane ordered a classic glazed donut and also a coffee.
Both women dug out their credit cards.
"I've got it." Jackie insisted.
"I can get it." Jane argued.
"You spent all that money to come here, I've got it." Jackie told her.
"I didn't spend it, Nick did, I tried to pay him back for my plane ticket but he wouldn't let me, he insisted it was part of his birthday present to you."
"Still, I've got the donuts and coffee." Jackie told her firmly.
"For Pete's sake." Jane mumbled as she put her credit card back in her purse.
"These are heavenly, I wonder how much it would cost to buy the store?" Jackie asked jokingly.
"Probably more than a teacher makes, even the second-place teacher of the year." Jane replied with a grin.
Jackie laughed so hard she nearly choked on her coffee.
On the way out of the hotel the two women strolled through the casino. Jackie dug a twenty dollar bill out of her purse and sat down at a machine. Jane gave her a stern look as if Jackie was one of her six-year-old students instead of an adult.
"Let's play together." She told her mentor.
"I will not play with your money." Jane told her.
"Alright, then you can play with your own." Jackie responded.
"No way, I've never stuck money in those things and I don't intend to." Jane told her.
Jackie refrained from rolling her eyes.
Jane was still giving her a dirty look but after Jackie had taken a couple turns Jane did sit down on the stool next to her.
"I'm down to my last turn, you take it." Jackie offered.
"I'm not hitting the button, if I lose you'll be mad at me."
"Yeah, I'd be furious." Jackie replied sarcastically with a grin.
"You're done." Jane told her sternly, which is word for word what she often told her students when they were misbehaving.
"Come on, at least hit the button with me, just put your hand over mine, please?" Jackie asked.
Jane sighed but she finally agreed to it, more so they could just get the last turn over with and get out of there.
They hit the button and pretty soon the machine started making noise.
"What happened?" Jane asked as she yanked her hand away as if the button was a hot stove.
"We just won $500." Jackie replied with a grin.
"Wow, good job, we didn't win anything, you did." Jane told her.
Jackie hit the cash out button and collected her ticket.
"Now what do you do with that, how do you get your money?" Jane asked.
"We have to find a ticket redeemer machine, come on." Jackie told her.
Jackie led them over to a ticket redeemer machine and stuck her cash out ticket in it.
Jane watched fascinated as money came out, Jackie put the money back in to get smaller bills, she did this twice.
"Here." Jackie said, handing Jane $250.
"No, I'm not taking that, I didn't put any of my money in the machine."
"Take it."
"No, are you crazy?"
"We hit the button together when we won, take it."
"Absolutely not, I only hit the button because you made me."
"Take it or you'll walk home." Jackie threatened.
Jane gave her a glare but she knew she was going to lose the argument so she took the money.
"This machine looks fun." Jane said as they made their way back through the casino.
Jackie was so stunned she nearly fell over. Jane realized what she just said and her eyes got as wide as saucers.
"These are fun, and it's Vegas, live a little." Jackie encouraged with a wicked grin.
"Alright, but just $10." Jane told her.
Jackie smiled at her.
Jane stuck in her money.
"Can I get you ladies something to drink?" A cocktail waitress asked.
"I'll have a diet soda please." Jackie responded.
"Me too please." Jane answered.
Jackie dug in her purse for some dollar bills so she could tip the cocktail waitress when she came back but she didn't have any.
"Hey Jane, I hate to ask but do you have any one dollar bills?" Jackie asked.
Jane dug in her purse and pulled out a pile of ones that equaled at least 15 dollars.
"I'm glad you want those, I've been wanting to get rid of them, it's hard to fit them in my wallet."
Jackie laughed.
"I only want a couple." She told her as she took what she wanted and handed the rest back.
Jane hit the button on her machine a couple of times with no luck but the third time she pressed the button her machine jingled a noise.
"What was that? Sorry, I don't know what I'm doing." Jane asked.
Jackie smiled at her.
"You just turned your ten bucks into 40." She told her.
"Cool, I want to quit."
"Well right now you have a cash balance on your machine at $43, if you quit now you'll have three more ones to add to your pile, which is fine but you were the one just complaining about your stack of ones."
"Ok, but I only want to play it down to $40 even, how do I know when I have that?"
"It says it right here, and I'll help you." Jackie promised as she pointed to where it says how much money was on the machine.
"Here you go ladies." The cocktail waitress said as she returned with their drinks.
"Thank you." Both of them said at once as they took their drinks.
Jackie handed her the one dollar bills she had just taken from Jane.
"Thank you ladies, good luck."
After the cocktail waitress walked away.
Jane hit the button on her machine a few more times and didn't hit anything.
"Alright Jane, you get one more turn and if you don't hit anything you'll be at 40 bucks even." Jackie told her.
"Alright, thanks for paying attention because I haven't a clue what I'm doing."
Jackie chuckled.
Jane hit the button again and won 42 more dollars.
She beamed at Jackie with a sparkle in her eye.
"Alright now watch me, I don't want to go below $80, I want to take my winnings home." She told Jackie.
"That's smart, if you quit at $80 you'll be $70 dollars ahead."
"That might not sound like a lot to people who win thousands of dollars in Vegas or win cars and such but I'm more than happy with it." Jane said with a huge smile.
"It's good!" Jackie told her, returning her smile.
Jane hit the button some more.
"One more turn before you're at 80 bucks even." Jackie said, keeping a careful eye on the machine's balance just like she'd promised.
Jane hit the button one last time and didn't win any more.
"I'm done. How do I get my money out of it?"
Jackie reached her hand up but Jane grabbed it.
"I don't want to hit the button anymore, I want to get my money out of it."
"I know, you have to hit the cash out button." Jackie told her.
"Oh sorry, I thought you were going to hit the play button again."
Jackie collected the ticket and handed it to her.
"Alright, let's go to the redeemer machine." Jackie said grabbing her soda and leading the way.
Jane stuck her ticket in the redeemer machine but it spit it out again, she frowned and tried it again but it spit it out again.
"Jackie, help."
Jackie hadn't been paying attention, she'd been waving at an infant who was sitting in a highchair at a nearby sandwich shop.
Jackie turned around to face Jane.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Look, it keeps spitting it out at me." Jane replied as she stuck in her ticket and once again it spit it out.
"Here, you've got to turn it around." Jackie told her as she did it for her.
"Oops, I didn't know, I've never done that before." Jane said as she turned slightly red.
Once she had her money Jane tried to hand $40 of it to Jackie and split with her like Jackie had done earlier but Jackie flat out refused to take it.
The two women then started strolling through the casino again.
"Oh these machines are so fun, and they are hardly ever open to play, would you mind if I stick in $20? We have to finish our soda's anyway." Jackie asked.
"Sure, go for it." Jane told her.
Jackie stuck in her money and on her very first turn she won $700.
"Wow, that's awesome! Now you should quit." Jane told her, giving her sound advice.
"Ok, let me play it down to an even $700 and we'll head out."
Jackie managed to get the machine up to $720 and she cashed out with that.
Jackie got her money out of the redeemer machine and offered some to Jane but Jane squinted hard at her.
"Don't even think about it."
Jackie shrugged and then stuck her money in her purse, she knew arguing with Jane wouldn't do any good whatsoever.
"Hey Jackie, can we run in her really quick, I'd like to buy my grandkids some souvenirs with my winnings." Jane said as she spotted a kid's store, maybe the kids' store wouldn't be as expensive as the clothing and other stores she and Jackie had gone to earlier.
"Sure." Jackie agreed.
The store normally would have been expensive but they were having a sale.
Jane picked out something for each of her grandkids.
"I'll buy these for your kids, I know how much they love blowing bubbles." Jane said as she eyed a four pack of bubbles for only $2, she grabbed 2 so she'd have 8 packs, one for each of Jackie's kids.
"You don't have to buy anything for my kids." Jackie told her.
"I know but I'll just consider it their birthday present.
"You've already bought them a present for their birthday." Jackie told her.
"Alright then, consider it a gift for becoming a big brother or big sister." Jane said with a grin.
"I'll get it for them." Jackie told her.
"Nope."
Jackie rolled her eyes and then gave up.
Jane laid everything on the counter.
"Can I pay for these separately?" She asked.
"Sure." The cashier replied.
She gave the woman 4 dollar bills from her huge pile of them.
Jane looked at Jackie and Jackie laughed.
Jane then bought the souvenirs for her own grandkids.
The two women then headed back to Nick and Jackie's house.
When they got home, Jackie discovered that Nick had ordered pizzas for dinner.
After they had eaten Jane gave the kids their bubbles and they loved them, everyone spent over an hour on the patio watching the kids laugh and giggle as they blew bubbles and then sometimes chased them.
As Jackie drifted off to sleep she smiled, it had been a fabulous couple of days, she still wished that Jane could stay longer but she knew July would come fast!
The End!