Personally I always just kept to myself in high school so I have little clue how to advice dd moving forward. So dd (16) has been friendly with a girl in her grade via social media since last year and the girl had always been nice to her, like encouraging her and helping her. The girl is very popular and while my dd has friends, she's not like "in the clique". Because of being friendly with the girl, dd had started to interact with her friends too, and one of them seems to be particularly manipulative.
The manipulative friend texted my dd saying how the girl likes dd romantically and dd was skeptical at first but the friend gave all these details about how the girl is scared dd won't want to kiss her, etc. Dd kind of bought into it and texted the girl about it, and she brushed it off. The friend then said the girl was just nervous. Dd probed the girl one more time and the girl faked a confession, and dd thought it was real because she really trusted the girl. The girl kept probing her and dd got the impression from their group that "dating" within their group means being besties for a while so she eventually said yes for the girl to shut it down.
The friend, however, still continued and their group would call out the girl's name when dd walked past them at lunch. Dd decided to probe with the friend one last time in case she hurt the girl and got a dismissive response saying that she doesn't remember. dd then unadded her and the friend messaged her on another platform saying things like "why did you unadd me I'm in tears". Dd ignored her. She has not heard from the girl since the fake confession.
Dd is pretty much done with the friend but she is conflicted about the girl and also their group. The group sometimes interact with dd and dd has a lot of fun as she is very playful and energetic.
What would you advise her? Thank you