They were scared of her aura. Thanks for the chapters!!!
Bunch of chumps, just shoot your shot, and if she turns you down, and everyone makes fun of you for the next 2 years, and on your last year a bunch of dickwads try to set you up with a fake date, and then your friends slowly start distancing from you, at least you tried, you got to learn who your real friends are, and survive experiencing rejection which is not even that bad
Talking from experience, high-school will become a distant memory eventually, and the bad times will remain in the past with the bad people, but imagine if it had worked out, plus it also means you avoid peaking out at high-school! (Yeah this last one is me just doing copium)
My point is, I would have gone for it, even more since Kyouko is actually a nice person and she wouldn't use your feelings to make fun of you a year later just to entertain her friends, the problem there is really everyone else being jealous and trying to sabotage your relationship, teenagers are the worst after all