FIFY.
I'm glad there weren't fights where you grew up. I witnessed plenty of gnarly battles. Boys vs boys, girls vs girls, girls vs boys, didn't matter when it was go-time. I wasn't in many scrapes myself, but one in particular involved the biggest kid in our class. He was sitting behind me on the bus and was giving me hell, saying nasty things, flicking my ear, etc. After about 15 minutes of it, I got up, turned around, and wailed him in the face as hard as I could. I figured I would get my ass kicked, but it would have been worth it. Didn't happen. He never said another word. CSB.
No clue what happened in this case, but it sure seems that kids are much more volatile these days. Hopefully all parties learn something from it.