I experienced this phenomon in several different ways. In the earliest years it was the really dumb, vicious kids who attacked me. About half-way through middle school it changed radically. The dumb guys and the normal guys were great buddies. We just sort of accepted each other even though we didn't hang out in the same crowds. I know it sounds conceited, but I when I talked with these guys, they would sometimes act like they held me some kind of awe. This was particularly true in high school when I was an upperclassman talking to lowerclassmen. The real pressure at that time came not from people who were dumb or average, but from people who were "almost smart," most of whom were extremely popular football types. But it wasn't a really clear thing. Some of the cheerleaders and football players were extremely decent people. But the pool of almost smart antagonists was drawn exclusively from their number.
I, too, went through puberty about this time - I was the only person on both the speech team and the wrestling team. I was also president of the post chess club and member of the math and latin teams. I wasn't a great wrestler. I was good, but did not have the instinct to really hurt anyone - except by accident. I broke two different people's collar bones at two different schools - in damn near the same place - by using an illegal throw. I really felt terrible about it in both cases - all I can say it's difficult to keep all the stuff in mind at the same time. There's a lot more thinking in wrestling than most people suppose. Anyway, when I switched high schools from fairbanks, ak to ft knox, ky I hadn't joined the new wrestling team yet - and I immediately became friends with the one of the weakest guys in school. He was a real target and an absolute victim. Two bullies started picking on us and I threatened to rip the top off a desk and bash their fucking brains out when a teacher intervened. They kept crowing, but they never screwed with me again - and they didn't screw with him when I was around. Chickenshits. Bullies really are chickenshits. I'm not even going to get started on the "teachers are liars" thing or the "pseudo-intellectual morons have taken over the school systems" thing. Suffice it to say I was shocked to find out my redneck step-father was right and the lying teachers were wrong - ignoring bullies is a seriously bad idea, and going to a teacher is a SERIOUSLY STUPID THING TO DO in some circumstances.
The real thing is this: there are alphas, betas, and gammas. Most, but not all, really smart people are gammas - they're just interested in other things besides making other people happy. Unfortunately the cost of marching to one's own drum is more than just unpopularity. If there is a way, the idiot contingent could very easily start screwing with you - physically.
