Soo I need help

There’s a boy that I like but I wouldn’t say like Crush status. I’m more so interested in him, but I kinda wanna start like “talking” to him aka flirting. I just don’t know how to... but I think he might be actually interested in me... because today my friends and We had a different lunch (I’m in 9th grade) and there weren’t any open tables so we sat done with his friends and him. So we were having lunch and we laughed and smiled at each other and we caught each other looking at each other and we like texted each other and I would text him back and he would text within seconds of my response.. So could I have a chance or does it seem he’s interested???