SUMMERTON - Keysean Prince and Jordan Prince thought they were just going to a school dance Friday.
The boys, students at St. Paul Elementary School in Summerton, were two of hundreds that attended the school's annual Valentine's Day Ball.
But they got special treatment when their mother, U.S. Army Specialist Gloria Lakisha Jones surprised them by coming home from Afghanistan.
Clarendon School District 1 Superintendent Rose Wilder and St. Paul Principal Rosa Dingle surprised the boys, having Jones come out before the festivities.
"It's really exciting," said Keysean, 8, a third-grader at the school. "I'm always glad when she comes home."
Jordan, 10, a fourth-grader at the school, agreed.
"I had no idea," he said. "No idea."
Jones said she got home Wednesday, and that it was excruciating waiting two days to surprise her boys. Oldest son, Jovan Rose, 13, an eighth-grade student at Scott's Branch Middle School, knew the secret and said it was hard to keep it from his younger brothers.
"It's hard being away so much," said Jones, who has been stationed in Afghanistan since August 2011. She says she expects to be home permanently by August of this year. "My mother, Glorine James, does a good job of taking care of the boys."
Jones, a Sumter resident, joined the Army in 2003 and says her boys live with James, a Rimini resident, during her time out of the country.
"It was hard not going Wednesday when I got home and surprising them," Jones said. "I couldn't go to the house, I couldn't call the house, I couldn't do anything."
Dingle and Wilder both said they were happy to be a part of the surprise.
"It was totally their idea," Dingle said. "But I thought it would be wonderful. These boys miss their mom so much during the year, and she's doing a great service for our country."
Wilder agreed.
"We are always hearing on our news about the conflicts in this world, and the United States is one of the powers that always helps out," Wilder said. "I'm so pleased and proud to be able to present one of those individuals, and to have this special treat for her children."
James said it wasn't hard for her to keep the secret.
"You just don't ever let them know so they don't catch on," she said. "It wasn't hard. I knew the surprise would be worth it."
Jones said she will be home until Feb. 16.
"I'm just going to spend as much time with them as possible," she said. "Make it enough until I come home for good."
