Confession troubles

I’m struggling with something. (Obviously) there was this dude last year, who I felt was way out of my league. Because we were in a group together, we talked, he told me a lot of personal stuff, we messaged occasionally outside of school. I liked him, and because I felt like I was good at judging people, I thought he liked me too. But the class ended, he deleted the account he used to message me and we never spoke again. Until now. My friend, who is really close to him, has him on his new account and not long after she told me about it, he followed me. I would like to date him. I’m a senior. I’ve never had a /real/ relationship. (Majority of them being with people I’ve met somewhere, long distance stuff). My friends are absolutely convinced that he likes me. But I’m just not getting the vibes, y’know? But I also dunno if I’m just telling myself that, which is another problem. All of my past relationships have all been with people whom have approached me first, and he’s someone who has been in a bad relationship, so now he doesn’t like asking people out to avoid getting hurt. So we’re both in the same boat when it comes to...not wanting to ask people out. I’ve got a big fear of rejection...I’ve asked my friends, and they told me too. But I thought I should try one last time and ask the people of the public.