Should I confess to my crush or not please advice

Created By  Psycho killer on Mon Sep 25 2023 19:24:38 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

I'm in my senior year of highschool , and I like this one boy who sits next to me . The problem is he's very popular as he has many friends and I'm a social outcast a quite girl who has very few friends like 2 of them , I'm also very shy and introverted. and he has many loud and naughty type friends ,so I don't know. I know that he might like me too like 65 percent sure but I dn't know. Like I said I barely even talk to him and don't even know if he has a gf or not. I'm afraid that if I confess than he's gonna tell his friends who will bully me and spreaad rumors but he teases me and is a flirty type please I really need your help , and advice as I'm sure y'all are very experienced.
So lemme get into deatail how it all happend my friend said to him jokely that I like him which at that time I didn't but she's the type of person who makes jokes often as she's the class clown so you know. After that he wwould always look at me and say something about m to his gurl best friend but then he was back being cold to me again so I didn't think much about it. Recently this yearf as it's our last year he has been acting weird as he sat next to me which I assume is because he's friends are there and if he sits next to me it's harder for the teachers to noctice , so he talk as much as he wants. Then I didn't come for 4 days he asks about to my friend as many others did. The thing is I'm so shy and quiet in real life ,like I can talk to people that I vibe with but not with everyone especially boys. He's friends are the biggest problem so I'm afraid if I confess then he's friends are gonna know about it please help.