Not sure how to handle this

My daughter is 12. A few weeks ago, she told me a friend has declared herself a lesbian. I explained what that meant and she was fine with it. She herself wasn’t interested in it, but didn’t care that her friend did. To each her own. However, days later she confessed to having a crush on my daughter. She proceeded to “flirt” and really get pushy with my daughter. She was very uncomfortable and had no idea how to handle it all. So she just avoided this friend for a few days. She found out through another friend that the lesbian girl had made it all up. She’s not a lesbian and isn’t interested in my daughter; she and her group of friends did this as a prank. My daughter is very hurt that someone she thought of as her best friend would do something like this to her and that the rest of her friends were in on it. She’s hardly spoken to her now former friend since. She’s told me that when she sees her during class breaks, she and her group laugh at my daughter and make kissing noises at her. Now my daughter is basically alone because this girl group WAS her friend group. I’m at a loss for how to handle this. How do I help her? Do I speak with the principal? He’s a good man and is very tough on bullying, but this is a sort of touchy subject, especially being as young as they are. I’ve tried speaking with the other girls family, but got absolutely nowhere. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? This seems like such a strange thing to prank someone. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/34hsew7