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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39999
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39999
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Give him a talent. Make him a musician, or singer. Let him have a sense of fashion. Let him win some talent contests and awards with this talent. I'd say even a comic, but writing that dialogue could easily fall flat. I will note that many professional comics freely admit they were cowards in school, but people loved hanging with them because the comic made them laugh.

This could even be low-contact sports, a basketball player doesn't have to be a tough guy to have the highest shooting average on the team, the same goes for the shutout pitcher on the baseball team.

Pick a talent that impresses his classmates; or just the same for the writer, write his classmates as people that are fans of his talent.

He doesn't have to be brave in a physical confrontation in order to have the confidence to get on stage (or on the field) and **_deliver._** Just like comics may run from or cower before bullies but still have the self-confidence to make an utter fool of themselves on the stage, to elicit laughter.

Ensure his classmates are impressed. Bullies may still come, but he can also be welcome amongst friends that protect him from said bullies, because they enjoy and admire what he does. They might even think he's going to be a frikkin' star someday.

Original score: 3