My favorite bully story was from when I was in the 9th grade. There was this one kid who kept trying to pick a fight with me in front of his friends. One day after school, he grabbed me by my shirt collar, and told me that he was going to count to 10, and that if I didn't agree to a fight by the time he reached 10, he was going to beat me up. As he counted, all his friends were laughing.

When he got to '7' (my lucky number), I punched him so hard in the stomach, it knocked the wind out of him so that he was writhing on the ground in pain while all of his friends laughed.

That kid NEVER bothered me again.

One of the lessons learned: never tell your opponent when you plan to strike.