I had an OLD Valiant I think when we first lived in Florida in 1979-1980. Pale blue, and if I remember right, it had push buttons to shift it, but I could be confused...
I was never bullied, not sure why as I was definitely an outsider. Like you, I was bored to death, and spent my last year in the art room when I was on independent study for the rest of my classes. I never graduated and never did higher study. I was so sick of school!