How about instead of telling that you like her straightway, you first make sure whether she likes you or not by completely cutting off contact with her to see whether she attempts to initiate a conversation by herself and when that doesn't happen for a while, you wait a little longer and start realizing that maybe she wasn't into you at all but the bigger and more hurtful realization comes when an year has passed; then you know she didn't even care enough as a friend but moreover this whole ordeal has left you so much emotionally scarred that you are scared to talk to girls on the grounds that all roads will lead that way. So yeah, this way you also pretty much lose everything.