Eight-year-old Angelo Gore stood confidently in front of thousands of people, microphone in hand, somehow matching the energy of soca superstar Machel Montano on stage as if he had been preparing for that moment his entire life.

To the crowd, he looked fearless.

But long before Machel nicknamed him “The Mighty Mouse,” Angelo was quietly fighting a very different battle inside the classroom. Small in stature but enormous in personality, Angelo’s rise from bullied schoolboy to one of Carnival’s newest young sensations has become more than just a viral moment.