He denied liking me, but still stares?

Anonymous
So, I've known this guy for a few years. I'm close with a lot of his friends and we used to be friendly too. I know for a fact, just under a couple years ago he used to like me. Over the past year, we've been on and off friends but he kept staring at me and showing signs of liking me.

Now, my friend and I confronted him about this about a month ago, and he rudely denied it, saying stuff like "I don't even stare at you, stop flattering yourself!"

Onwards from that, he would refuse to look at me and we were quite awkward, but now we're back at school I keep catching him staring again, and it's really bugging me. He doesn't seem to want to be friends and I KNOW he doesn't like me although he has on and off in the past.

Why do you guys think he's doing it? I'm seriously confused. He still kind of refuses to look at me, but multiple times today I have turned around and his eyes were locked onto me. It's really bugging me :/

(An overview on his personality if this helps: He's clever, quite nerdy but also popular. He's very cocky but hasn't ever had a long lasting relationship. As far as i know, he's been rejected in the past a lot too.)
He denied liking me, but still stares?
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