RANT, RANT, RANT. . . was that High School enough for you?
I never said that the OP wanted to do a proposal, for that matter, I've seen magic used in some very beautiful proposals over the years and even helped stage a couple of magical weddings (still trying for a funeral, though). My objection had to do with two things; how would you feel if another guy approached you in this kind of scenario . . . a situation I love putting the young horn dogs in because they rarely think about how they come off in the girl's mind when it comes to these little rituals. Secondly, I wanted the OP to see just how using a trick in this manner can ruin your reputation and make you look like a total buffoon. But understand, none of us knew the other conditions around things, such as the girl already knew and liked you. . . kind of an important detail when weighing this kind of thing.
Of course, there is the other side of the issue; why ask when you decided you were going to do it anyway?
When if Comes to Getting Beat-Up for Reading. . . this is a policy in many gangs and why, back in the 1960's, one of me best chums would hide under his sleeping bag with a pen-flashlight Reading so his fellow Hell's Angels (literally) wouldn't know that he was taking classes @ Berkeley (this was during the summer of love -- 1969 -- San Francisco, etc.) There are many situations in which one's attempt at improving themselves can prove dangerous, especially given the new American game of trying to outlaw intellectualism (for real. . . fundamentalism christians are pushing to outlaw certain forms of scientific research, what can be taught in schools from a "scientific" point of view, etc. they want to do for us what the Taliban has done for Islam -- keep it stuck in the middle ages).
May sound far-fetched but it is a very ugly reality; I've seen it in family situations where they thought being a "book worm" is what made someone gay . . . redneck 101 logic.
The "real world" is ugly and filled with lots of contradiction and illogic; things rational thinking (and educated) people can rarely comprehend because it makes no sense, but it is real and it is a mentality that has a powerful and growing base in some regions where biblical misinterpretation and extremism is taking precedent in people's lives. I'm totally amiss as to how to deal with this plague, but I know it is a dangerous thing that can add to the destruction of Western civilization as we know it today.