GUY FRIEND GETS TEASED BY GIRLS

Dear Jellybean,

I have a guy friend and he's in my French class. He's nice, cool, and he always tries his best in whatever he does (like he's always optimistic). Whenever I'm feeling sad, he always talks to me and tries to help me out. Anyway, there are these girls that are kind of his friends, like they talk to him and they make fun of him in a playful way. But whenever they get mad at each other, he only argues his point, while when they try to make him feel bad, they're always saying, "Well, it's because you have such a big nose and you look so weird!" It's so mean, isn't it? Then after that, they're all back talking to each other again. Usually when those girls say that to him, he ignores it. But today, when they said that insult again to him, he put his face behind my desk and was touching his nose, like he wasn't confident of himself anymore. I mean, his nose shape fits him and he's not ugly at all. But whenever he does that, it always hurts me because I know exactly how it feels when somebody calls you ugly, and then you don't want to show your face to anyone. What can I do to make him feel better? I want him to feel better about himself because whenever my friends have poor body image, I feel so bad for them that I don't even say anything. I have even been in that situation where somebody has called me short and weird-looking, but for me, it's worse when somebody talks to my friend like that. What should I do?
-Feeling Bad

Dear Feeling Bad,

There are two things you can do. First, let your friend know that you think he looks amazing. Tell him, "Those girls are crazy, you look like (insert hot celebrity's name here)" or "You have a great nose, they are so wrong." Make a point of complimenting your guy friend, not just after he's been insulted, but at other times, just out of the blue. Guys love compliments (and who doesn't really), and your positive comments could go a long way towards shoring up his faltering self-confidence.

The other thing you could do is, tease those girls right back on his behalf. The trick is, you don't want to act like you're standing up for him, because he won't do it himself. The difference between that, and being a great friend, is all about humor. Meaning, don't get all serious and angry when those kind-of friends insult him. Just laugh right in their faces and say, "Oh please, you'd be lucky to date a guy half as hot as (your friend's name here)." Or, "With that arm hair, I wouldn't be making personal insults!" You get the idea.