I (16M) have a crush on a girl (16F), but she’s SUPER shy, what should I do?

Hey everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot about the right next step with my crush, but I’m not sure what to do since she’s really shy around guys.

Here’s the story:

For almost two years now, I’ve had a crush on the same girl. My sister is best friends with her sister, and about a year ago, my sister told me that I should go for it since my crush is a really lovely, cute girl (she didn’t know she was my crush at the time). So, I decided to try messaging her on Instagram since we both followed each other, but we hadn’t really interacted much in person. I tried to play it off as just being friendly, but I didn’t get far—she was super dry with her replies, barely saying anything and not asking questions in return.

At first, like most guys, I thought she wasn’t interested, so I didn’t think much of it. But almost a year later, my sister got the inside scoop from my crush’s sister and found out that my crush was actually really shy and had been stressed when I messaged her. She even talked about me to her whole family, so they all know about me now.

Knowing that she’s just shy, I decided to approach things differently. I’ve been trying to build a relationship with her more slowly. For example, I’ve been joining her biology class sometimes during my spare because I have some friends in there I hang out with, and I’ve noticed that she sometimes glances at me and even giggles with her friend when I show up. It’s a little subtle, but I think it’s helping her feel more comfortable around me and hopefully keeping me on her radar.

I also just got Snapchat and have seen her on my quick add with over 10 mutual friends, so I’ve been tempted to add her. But I’m unsure if it’s too soon, considering what happened with my Instagram messages. I’m worried I’ll just get dry replies again.

I’m really torn because I don’t want to rush things and make her uncomfortable, but I also don’t want to move too slowly and seem like I’m not making progress. Any advice on how to approach this?

TLDR: I’ve had a crush on this shy girl for almost two years, and about a year ago, I tried messaging her on Instagram, but it didn’t go well—she was super dry with her replies. I thought she wasn’t interested, but then my sister (who happens to be best friends with my crush's sister, so she got the inside scoop) told me that my crush is just really shy and had been stressed when I messaged her, even talking about me to her family. Now, I’m trying to approach her more slowly, like randomly joining her biology class and getting a few smiles and giggles from her. I’m tempted to add her on Snapchat since we have a lot of mutual friends, but I’m unsure if it’s too soon or if I’ll just get the same dry responses again. I don’t want to move too fast or too slow, and I’m really stuck on what the right move is.