How do I ask out a girl i like?

There's this girl at my school that I really like and every time I try to ask her out I wimp out and ask something else like "can i borrow a pen" or "did you see that episode of (insert name of tv show we both like her) last night". Her friend told me she likes guys who are nice,honest,and smart (i'm all of these except very rarely I'll tell a little,hard to notice fib)