Should I ask her out? Or just get to know her better?

Basically, I got to know this girl in the photographic club in school. Her friend told me she had an interest in me( not sure what that means but yeah), she'll laugh or smile at the jokes I crack when no one else would. Would just chat with her in school or online via Whatsapp. she'll joke around with me sometimes also. And my friends said I should quickly ask her out before the interest dies. Assuming it hasn't, it's been a month since I was told that. Should I ask her out soon? Or just get to know her even better? She said she wants to focus on her studies now and my friend said I'll most probably get turned down if I ask her out. Others say I should quickly ask. What should I do?