How to i earn respect from friends?

I'm nice its not like im mean to them.

my friends are nice and all but seem to not take me seriously because they think im the guy whos ok with being "insulted" cause im too nice to be mean to anybody. Im sick of that, and it feels like they wont have it any other way, almost like they r afraid to see me rise up and take their spots, so they try to deny and put down any good stuff ppl say about me and try to replace it with sh*t which is not even true half the time. I know ur gonna ask, "why are these jerks ur friends?', well cause they are most of the boys in my class so i kinda have to stick with them or ill be a loner. so just for this year how can i just get them to respect me and actually take me seriously?

I get this feeling that they r afraid of me getting respected cause my parents and all my teachers said i'm a leader, now whenever anyone talks about being a leader it pisses me off cause i keep getting this thought in my head and its terrible.

Please help me. Thanks :)))))

P.S.: I've tried talking to other ppl and stuff, if its a girl they'll instantly start shipping me w/her and its really bad. the same thing will happen if i use sports to get higher in the ranks cause they'll start saying "oh u prob spend the whole game on the bench, right?" and im like nah im the best player(which is actually true) and they downplay it which makes it look to other ppl like im trying to brag. So if u thought of that thanks,but it wont work.

Thank you so much for helping :)