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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42710
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42710
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **It doesn't need to be much.**

Being a bully doens't actually mean that everyday of school you are pushing people into lockers, smoking cigarettes in the bathroom and carving death threaths on school desks. While those things surely give the right impression, they are not necessarily the norm.

_Reputation_ and _attitude_ do the trick.

Having a **reputation** for being dangerous, unruly, and violent actually goes a long way; consider that it's way easier to impress kids rather than impress an adult. A 14yo smoking just outside school ground may appear as doing something cool and rebellious to a fellow teenager, but it probably won't impress an adult. For the same reason, having been in a fight once or twice in a semester may not be a big deal per-se, but may help building a fearful reputation, considering how those kind of stories tend to inflate. So, it's not about punching people everyday.

**Attitude** is the other key component. Again, consider this through the eyes of his fellow teenager or younger kids. A bully will seem strong, imposing, and often provoke fear in his victims. Who are his victims, again? You can have the cliché bully that hunts on the perceived weak and has a preferred target. This does certainly happen, but again it doesn't have to be the case. Some bullies may just hit occasionally on random targets. Some are triggered by very specific conditions.

So, for a younger kid to be scared of a bully you wouldn't even need them to be hitting them. Bullies can be bullies just by placing mean jokes and snarky comments at the most appropriate time. A lot of bullying is done by humiliating a weaker person - keep in mind, that in most cases, that the bully is the one who physically makes the joke, but there is always a supporting crowd cheering and laughing. Are they all bullies? Probably not. But children can be mean.

Also, the limits of what is considered bullying can be a grey area. In the schools I've been, male students often gave each other strong slaps on the back of the neck when possible. Was it a game? Yes. Was it done in a friendly way? Rarely. Yet not everybody could be considered a bully, even if the enviroment was surely a toxic one.

**TL, DR:** You bully character may be famous for having done some fist-fights or having shoved someone aside. He may be feared for his imposing looks, or known for being able to make fun of other insecurities. He may be the first to laugh when someone does a mistake, maybe during P.E.. All those little details might have built a **reputation** for being a bully without him having done something illegal, out-of-scope or exaggerated.

From his POV, you may show how he despises his victim or how he justifies himself (maybe just because he feels angry all the time). From other POV, you can show the suspicion and fear caused by his **attitude**.

Original score: 5