He put his hand on my back - does he like me?

What does this mean? I'm in HS, and my friends always pick on me and put me down. I'm I'm kinda the black sheep of the group, it hurts when they do that but I don't have any other friends and sometimes they're nice, but yeah that's an entirely different issue. I think it's b/c I'm quiet and shy, and a little naieve about life (sp?) according to them. Anyway there's this guy that we all like who is kind of friends with our group. I didn't think he liked me b/c they said I'm not his type at all, but Friday at school he came by to chat with us at lunch. My friends started making fun of me in front of him and I was sooo embarassed, it seemed like they were trying to get him to join in. But suddenly I feel someone touching my back and I looked and saw that he put his hand on my back. He kept it there the whole time he was chatting with us. he never joined in with my friends and never told them to stop, but he kept trying to turn everything they said about me around into a positive thing. Its hard to explain. But what does it mean?? Could he like me? I've been thinking about it all weekend and can't come up with an answer for sure!!