I understand your predicament man, as both of my best friends have had the same problem with jack*sses in the not too distant past.
In the first situation a kid who was probably tougher than my friend but much more of a p*ssy at heart decided he wanted to fight my friend. After several minor confrontations (which involved the bully asking to fight my friend and my friend turning him down each time as he was scared to get in trouble) my friend got sucker punched in the eye while taking a drink from the water fountain. Charming hey?
This just goes to show that by ignoring him and running away from the situation is
not going to make it go away. My friend could have done other things asides from giving into a fight that would have resulted in a different outcome but he chose the way that a lot of people, who are scared of getting in a fight, choose. This doesn't work because it only puts the bully in the drivers seat and he thinks he's got you on the run and if he confronts you now, he thinks you'll be even more of an easy opponent.
The next instance happened just at the end of last school year when a very big and very tough looking kid decided to challenge my other best friend who could be described as tall but skinny and more of your friendly computer type guy. Anyways to make a long story short, the bully confronted my friend 6 f*cking times in public, at school, pretty much wherever they met and the bully would always challenge my friend to fight with my friend eventually getting out of it due to their being a teacher in sight or him having a much marger crew backing him up. On the 7th time he did this I was standing beside my friend and told him to just flip out on the guy. Well let's just say the computer kid worked over the bully with the baggy clothes and bad*ss attitude in like 5 seconds. Believe it or not the bully kid was crying. The whole time he had been bluffing!!!
Bluffing is an all too common method of intimidating kids and it makes you out to be much tougher than you really are. If you're a scrawny kid and you bluff, most people will call you on it. If you're big and you bluff most people don't wanna take a chance and assume you're for real.
Me thinks the kid you have on your case is your sterotypical bluffer/sucker-puncher and I've seen more than my fair share of these.
I find they're big, spoiled kids who have always had a tough, older brother looking out for them as their level of ****yness skyrocketed and like to pick out the pretty boys or the kids who wouldn't stand up for themselves if put on the spot as victims. Pretty much this backs up everything they portray and they don't have to lay a finger on anyone. If the kid won't run away then he'll make threats of pounding them into the ground that would sound believable to even the most skeptical. And odds are when put in this position you'd rather slink out of a beating with your dignity than stand up to a notorious bully on the off chance he's really a p*ssy.
Personally, I won't label any kid as "tough" and make a mental note not to f*ck with him until I see him
take a beating and carry on, not just give a beating. It's much easier to punch a kid then it is to be punched and go on to win the fight.
If you call him on his bluff he's liable to up the bluff. And trust me they get pretty good at sounding convincing so that you'll even second guess your original thoughts about these kids. If you are cornered and they initiate a fight and you manage to follow a few basic fighting techniques (see:
fighting tips ) you'll do a lot better than anyone would have suspected.
However if confronted your primary objective is to avoid a fight at all costs. They're ugly, dirty and just get you in a heap of trouble over f*ck all.
Mr. Latte or Cloud-UK can you share any strategies or tips you might have about avoiding fights by talking? I'm not doubting you could if confronted, just would love to see some examples in writing to give me and others an idea of one way we could go about bailing ourselves out.
Also if you do manage to embarass this kid and you two don't get in a scuffle, keep an eye out as they are prone to sucker punch you the next time you pass in the hallways as a last resort.
In response to some of the other posters, don't let these pricks make you feel like any less of a man. Stand up to them if it continues. Get a strong gathering of people to support you and to break it up if something does go down. Make sure he knows you're not just another loner chump he can shake up. Re-read what Slickdon said, he was right on all points.
Nothing would be more cowardly than if the bullies, who already outnumber you, had to go bring in more thugs. If you hear any word of this tell the bully straight up that if he's got a problem with you that it should be between you and him, NOT you, him and his older cousins with baseball bats.
Don't feel the need to become his best friend but don't escalate the situation by talking sh*t about him. Not a good way to put an end to the whole ordeal.
If it does go down and you're taken to the office or whatever this is your chance, as a DJ, to shine. This happened to me and I got the other kid damn near expelled whereas I got off scot-free not being the provoker and having my facts straight.