It’s a delicate situation…

I’m sure my situation is not that uncommon. I didn’t really check around to see if a question like mine has been asked before. But I’m really lost. I’m a junior year in high school and I’m a girl. I’m in a drama class and there is this boy in my class who is really cute, sweet and funny, He is the most fantastic actor that I have ever worked with and I’ve fallen pretty hard for him. Aside from the fact that we only met a few months ago and we don’t really know each other well, I think he might be gay but I honestly have no idea. Half the people I talk to tell me that he is gay and the other half tell me he’s not. It would be one thing if he just didn’t like me as more than a friend, but how am I supposed to find that out? If I tell him that I like him, and he is gay, then that makes everything so much more awkward. And what if he is gay and he doesn’t admit it to me if I tell him I like him? He doesn’t seem to have much interest in me romantically, but I’m hoping that’s just because he doesn’t know that I like him. I don’t want to miss out on my chance if he’s not gay but I don’t want to make things awkward by just flat-out asking him if he’s gay. But I really like him and I’m tired of all this frustration. How would I go about asking him if he is gay, telling him that I like him or even just strengthening our friendship?