My daughter is on a gap year of a different sort, between college and grad school, but she frequently says how much she wishes she had done one between high school and college. @aboveaverage , it sounds like your main worry is what your friends will think if you decide to take a year off. Some may think it’s because you didn’t get in anywhere decent–that’s your main concern, right?–but you have to do what is best for your future.
If you decide to do this, take the time to learn a valuable skill. A family friend became an EMT before starting at Harvard, and ended up keeping his job all through college. He’s now a junior there. You can tell your friends that you will go to college year after next, but first, you’re going to learn how to build cellos, or something like that. That will only help your application when you apply to college.