Hey John, might have to dispute you on the No.1 British Fan title there bud!
But that's another conversation...
Right, avoiding the embarrassment and rejection factor is pretty important as that stuff hurts. If I were you I would try to find out as much as I could about the girl without being creepy(!) and seeing if you actually might be compatible. If not, you just gotta chalk it up to a bit of fantasy and move onto the next one. If you do think you might be compatible then you have got to make a move. You'll hate yourself if you think there's a chance it will work and you did nothing. But what to do? I gotta go with the 'laying the foundations' approach myself. If your eyes meet you just give a cool smile and see what you get back, then you pass her in the hall and you give her the nod and see what happens. If she's smiling back at you then get to 'Hi' and then the 'Stop and chat'. Don't ask her out though, if you've got as far as the Stop and chat then this is where you get to find out more stuff about her and also find out if she will like you maybe more than friends. This might take a couple of weeks, but you wont get hurt this way. Let us know how you get on and by the way, good to see not only a brit on the board but one from just up the road as well.