SUBREDDIT: r/relationships
TITLE: Me [17 M] wants to confess to my best friend [17 F] but don't want to potentially ruin the friendship
POST: I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this or if this is too generic or small of a problem to be posted here but I'm not really good with these types of things and neither are my friends. Basically I've developed feelings for my best female friend who I've known for a little over a year and I want to be able to tell her how I feel so that i can get it off my chest while also seeing how she feels about the idea of a relationship; the problem is that I'm a big wuss and I really treasure her as a friend as well and I don't want to lose her completely just to ease my own mind. Neither one of us has ever dated and we get along extremely well and go out to places with each other on a regular basis but other than the occasional flirting I get from her I highly doubt she feels the same way about me as I do about her which is why I'm scared of telling her. 

So I just wanted to hear ideas on what I should say to her so she understands that I really do treasure her as a friend and not just as a potential girlfriend or if I should even tell her in the first place and just hope the feelings pass
TL;DR: 
I'm a giant wuss who doesn't wanna tell my good female friend how I feel about her without suffering any awkward consequences, what should I do?