Search Results: having courage

I've been in school with this girl since kindergarten. Her name is Rachel. But i barely know her. This year, i don't have ANY classes with her. But i discovered that i have a MAJOR crush on her a while ago. But anyways, i feel as if i should get to knoe her better before i make a move. But now, after not having any classes with her, i may have found an opening. I recently became part of a new circle of friends that is a combination of a few of my guy friends and a few girls. My friend Gavin linked with his GF, Hailey's, friend group. So now it consists of me, my best friend Kenny, Gavin and Hailey, her best friend Macy, Rachel, and a few other people. I've started to get more comfortable around Hailey and Macy, but whenever i hang out with them all, Rachel is really quiet. I've never had a direct conversation with Rachel, only group conversations in which she was involved. She also will intentionally avoid eye contact with me. Why? I have no idea. I thought maybe its because she is embarrassed to look at me... but that might just be wishful thinking :/
Anyways (sorry for ranting), i have to options:

Option 1: I try to remain friendly with Rachel, and get to know her better by hanging out with the friend group more often, and hopefully working my way up to getting her number and having one-on-one conversations. The only risk with this is that she may think that i have no interest in her, and that i only see her as a friend, and completely dissmiss the idea of us being together and ruin my chances.
Option 2: I can be an obvious flirt, by staring at her and maybe smiling, and complimenting her, and making it obvious that i like her. The only risk with this is that it may seem as if I'm coming on too strong, because again, i don't know her that well. She might think I'm a creep for flirting since we barely know eachother. Also, it may be hard for me to work up the courage to do these things.

So girls, which do you think i should do? Which would get me better chances with her?

So I know this wonderful and gorgeous girl for almost 3 months now because of an organization we are a part at my school. I would love to ask her out but I want to know if she have some sort of interest in me first before I muster up some courage to ask her out. The problem I am having is differentiating whether or not she is being friendly to me or is she actually flirting with me!! So I broke down her actions and behavior into 2 catorgories: flirting and friendly

Flirting:
She would choose to talk to me rather than some of the other members
She asked a singer to sing a song about us because it was karaoke night
She laughs at my jokes and funny comments
She gets excited when I ask if I can join/help her with a task

Friendly:
There is another guy in our club that she know for quite some time that she tease with a lot.
She is really a friendly person
When her friends are present she would interact with me less
But mainly its because she just a nice and friendly person