Questions: Family & Friends

I'm working on changing my nice guy habits don't get me wrong, but yet I got friend zoned again and I have zero desire to be friends with this girl in school. I rather either be her boyfriend or nothing at all.

However she's been texting me a lot lately, should I even reply back? Or just reply but with something short?

Got friend zoned by a chick because she's been "Talking" to another fellow for quite some time now and they're going to be official real soon. For the past couple weeks I've been acting like just a friend to her, and she really enjoys texting me and my company.

Heard from a mutual friend "he was supposed to meet up with her to make it official, but he keeps pushing it off and acting weird", and I still have feelings for this girl, so now I want to change up my game.

I'd consider me and her to be good friends, not exactly best friends though. Should I try and get closer with her to form that "emotional friendship" bond(with some flirting) then pull away and make her miss me?

Or just pull away now? My only fear is that because me and her aren't that close, she won't really care and won't really miss me ya know? So I'm not sure which option to do

And yes I do really like this girl, that's why I'm not nexting her yet. We're both 18 btw

Would you all say there's a difference between them? Personally I think LJBF is a light rejection while the FZ = point of no return

Made up LJBF made up scenario:

Suppose a creepy looking guy starts to go to this bar and begins to hit on a cute waitress. After weeks of creepin he makes a move and asks her to do something outside of work and she says "Let's just be friends" to reject him. Then she avoids him, because she's not actually interested in friendship, just getting him off her back

Made up FZ Scenario:

This NICE guy meets this really attractive girl and they really hit it off in getting to know each other. After a whole MONTH of the guy not giving her ANY indicators of interest, the girl is so comfortable with the guy's presence she begins to use him as an emotional pillow and talks about how rude that one cute guy was, or if he could accompany her in shopping.

Alternate FZ Scenario:

Assume the same FZ scenario as above but after she begins to treat him like a girlfriend he decides to ask her out, she says "ljbf", and then she goes back to treating him like a girlfriend if he decides to stick around

In all honestly I really do believe there IS a difference between them. One is a form of saying "not interested" other is a form showing and ACTING "not interested"

My crush rejected me for a guy she knew longer(understandable, but still sucks) and told me we could just be friends. I kinda ranted to one of her best friends about how being a friend would be painful and hurt too much.

Me and my crush were texting last night and here's how it went:

Her: "...(her best friend) said you didn't want to be friends anymore"

Me: (No response to text)

I decided to talk to her in person at her work and tell her the truth. She was on register with a customer and I just walked over to her and said

"yeah I'm uncomfortable with just being friends" and I walked off

she replied "oh, ok" in a neutral tone

I felt bad about it because she's shown signs of liking me, despite picking this guy, so I figure she could consider me in the future. So I texted her

"I'm sorry, I expressed how I was feeling way wrong. I obviously don't look at you as a sack of meat, I just need some distance, I hope you understand!"

And she replied

"it's OK, I understand"

---Do you guys and girls think I might a accidentally hurt her? She didn't seem phased but maybe she was hiding it? She has a boyfriend now as I said so maybe she doesn't care? Idk!

I'm 18, she's 17 btw