Hey everyone. I am (21 M) looking for some perspective on a situation that happened at my university recently.

​There is this girl I have been seeing around campus and I find her really attractive. We have made brief eye contact a few times for a second or two here and there. I really wanted to approach her but she was always with a large group of four or five friends. I didn't want to interrupt them so I waited.

​After lunch I finally saw her with just one friend. I decided to go for it but I think I made my first mistake right away. I approached from behind and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She seemed really startled and surprised by it which made things feel a bit awkward immediately.

​I told her that I knew it was random but I thought she was cute and wanted to talk to her. She said okay and we exchanged names. I also asked about her course and told her mine. It turns out she isn't in my year but she is in a different program.

​Then came the Instagram part. When I asked for her handle she showed me her profile on her phone. I explained that I couldn't follow her right then because my Instagram was in my laptop then she said okay tell me your id, I said actually it's currently deactivated and I usually only use it on my laptop at home. She looked pretty skeptical and asked me if this was some kind of dare or a prank. I promised her it wasn't a joke and eventually she typed her ID into my phone for me.

​I went to class and about an hour later I reactivated my account and sent the request. I didn't hear anything for the rest of the night. When I checked the next morning I saw that she had rejected the follow request.

​I really like this girl but I feel like the "deactivated account" thing made me look like I was lying or being sketchy even though it was the truth. I also realize now that approaching from behind probably wasn't the best move.

​What should I do when I see her around campus now? Should I just totally ignore her and stay away or is it okay to give a small nod? I really like her and she's the first girl I've approached in campus, I feel like I was quite close but messed up... How can I fix things and ask her out? Any advice on how to handle this would be appreciated.