I want to know if I should tell a long time guy friend I like him ?

I really like this guy and Iwant to tell him.But i don't want to iour friendship be weird if it doesn't work and I really don't want to lose him as a friend.And we're posibly going to know each other for long time like the rest of our lives even if we don;t want to.I've known him for over half of my life and I'm in Junoir High.