There's this one girl in my class that has shown interest in me (constantly looking at me, acts submissive around me, complimenting my guitar playing publicly, throwing comfort and shit tests, lots of others). 9/10 times I engage conversation by usually teasing her, and she responds positively. She very rarely starts conversation with me, or with other guys in my class who also tease her. But she always talks freely with guys who are strictly friends with her.

I feel like my hypothesis is that I've never actually complimented her directly at all, and shown too little interest in general, which is a habit of mine, and therefore she's too nervous to show verbal interest out of fear of rejection. Would I be right there?

Should I tell her that I like her? Or something more lowkey such as that I like something about her?