How do I get to know a guy I like?

Ok so for starters, my name is joey. I’m in 8th grade and I started liking this guy at my school. Let’s say his name is (Shawn). So we share common interests like drawing, he’s honestly really hot and dresses well and is genuinely a really nice funny guy and we have a similar friend group. Him and I hardly talk and we kinda hated eachother before. (I’ll back up to a year ago). So we always had this tension due to competition with drawing because we’re both really good and people would always compare us with eachother. We also kinda share the same best friend. But that’s not the big reason. The big reason he hates me is because before I knew I was gay, I tried to hide my sexuality (let’s say her name is Adeline) so Adeline and I are very alike, kinda to the point where it’s uncomfortable. I cared about her but I didn’t really like her that way. I tried to date her but in doing so, I took her away from Gray (they liked eachother since 4th grade but never dated) and I could tell it reeeeeaaallllyyy hurt him. I felt so bad because she was his life. (It didn’t work out between the girl and I and I apologized to her) Whenever he looks at me, I can see how much it still hurts him. I don’t know why but I really started taking an interest into him. At first I just wanted to talk to him because I’m tired of the tension and we sit next to eachother in class and I really thought him and I could be really good friends but I stared developing feelings for him. Whenever he talks, I blush so bad. I try my best to talk to him and it’s slightly getting better. I bought him a present for his birthday and we never really talked before that. When I gave him the paint set, he looked very confused/ shocked and said “oh? Thanks” and made a face which I can’t tell what it meant. Then I say hi to him whenever I see him and he said hi as well. (Fast forward a week or two). I’m in asb and I worked as an intern for a college and career day. When his class came in, I couldn’t stop blushing and i was scared of making it noticeable. Luckily it was dark due to a presentation. Someone asked the career presenter “how did you start this job” and the guy responded “I started as a paid intern” then Shawn looked at my name tag that said “Joey: Unpaid Intern” And he looked at me and smiled and said “aww poor joey he doesn’t get pain” and everyone laughed (not at my but with me). I also blushed really bad. I can tell he’s kinda gettin more comfortable but it’s still a lot of tension. Now here is where the advice comes in: how do I get to know him better without letting him know I like him and how do I know if he is bisexual or gay? Most of our friends say to me that they think he is probably gay because he dressed very well (cuffed jeans with clean brown hiking boots with a casual blank gray shirt with a flannel or sweater that matches it perfectly and he has amazing hair) and also people say they can sense it. I honestly don’t know because his voice isn’t feminine (I’m not saying his voice has to be feminine). And he has a masculine body (again not stereotyping) (btw I’m the same way so people harldly guess I’m gay)

 

I just realized I made a mistake. I said “in doing so I took her away from gray” but I meant Shawn not gray

 

Ok I messed up a lot on this thread so I’m just gonna restart

 

Thank you but I already tried. It only gives the option to report

 

I also made a new one already called “liking my frenemy/ ex’s ex” but thank you so much for helping