How do I deal with a popular girl?

So there's this girl at school, right? She is one of the prettiest girls at school. And to go along with that she's nice, good-natured, laughs at all of my jokes, (even the sucky ones) and smart. There haave already been football jocks and lax bros that have asked her out and failed. Alot of these guys are huge, meaty dudes that scare the living crap out of me, the skinny kid with the skater outfit and emo haircut. To make things worse, she likes me, and she follows me in the hallway always trying to talk to me. These guys are always watching her and have grown hostile towards me. I don't want to tell the girl off, because I'd like to potentially date her when I'm older, but I don't want to die before I make it to High School. What do I do?