Advice for a young lesbian please :)

Hello, I am a 13 year old girl who needs some advice. Here is my story:
About a year ago, I joined an after-school robotics club in 6th grade. I became good friends with this one girl in 7th grade (you know where this is going). We always got along and had each other's backs. We didn't see each other very much because of the grade difference, but every few days, I would go see her at lunch or vice versa. At this point, I always thought of her, but never considered her a crush. At the end of that year (me in 6th and her in 7th), she came up to me and gave me a memorable hug, then I realized;

Oh crap, I have a crush... On a girl... On my older friend.

During the summer, I thought of her; I had fantasies of me running up to her and hugging her. Fast forward to the first day of 7th grade: I hoped that she would be behind me when I got out of the car. I visioned it like the movies: two people separated for a long time running towards each other, smiling and embracing each other when they meet. After setting my backpack down on a bench, I heard a familiar voice calling my name. My crush ran up to me (and looked cuter then ever ) and hugged me better then anyone who has hugged me. Trying to conceal my anxiety, we talked until the first bell rang.


After a few weeks, I pranked a friend both me and my crush new: I sent our friend an anonymous "pranktext". She soon realized it was me. A couple days later, I got an text from my crush. DUN DUN DUNNNNN. When me and my crush first started to text, we texted about school and the new school activities we were in. (we both didn't join the robotics teams because of busy-ness) I began to notice the winking emoticons she sent me and the occasional heart. As we texted more, we became more "flirty". She once told me that she plays setter in volleyball. With my limited volleyball knowledge, I knew that you need to be good to play setter. I quote from my text "You must be really good if you play setter " She responded with, "I bet you're really good at water polo )" This change in texting made me excited. When we first started texting, she began to hug me every time we saw each other (usually at break as we pass by).

With this change in texting, I began to make settle moves like wiping an eyelash from her face or touching her arm or hand. She also made settle moves, but not as much (or I never realized her actions). For example, she told me that her hands were cold and asked me to feel them. So I did; she held mine and looked into my eyes. I'm not sure if this is a settle move, but one of her friends asked her if I was her little sister, she said yes. I obviously played along with it.




I know that I have a chance that she likes me, but I am still not sure. I am afraid that I am getting wrong vibes by these actions and it's not so simple to ask her if she likes me because she's a girl and we are in middle school. (Gay couples are not very common in my middle school) I am afraid that if I tell her, I'll end our friendship. Currently, I am not out of the closet and nor is my crush (I believe). I truly love this girl, it isn't the first girl I've liked, but the first true crush I've had.

I would really appreciate if you could tell me how I could increase the relationship with my crush to a higher level. Should I just go for it? Should I make a big move? I know I'm young, but please, I want to get advice from a real experienced person and not an article on Google.

Thank you so much.