Your friends are right. You will not get OPT because you used more than 12 months of CPT (I am assuming you took 12 months of full-time CPT. If your CPT was part-time this rule doesn't apply and you will get your OPT).  You can definitely apply for H1. As of 9/3/2010 only 36600 H1 have been granted under the general quota for this year so you can still apply for H1 under the general quota or you could apply under the masters quota (13400 used as of 9/3/2010) .

Having two applications at the same time might make things messy though. I am not sure what the law is on this but I can definitely tell you that if your OPT application is denied before you apply for H1 it will make things easier for you. Talk to your international adviser and figure out a way to get the OPT application issue resolved ASAP. You don't want to have two applications in at the same time.This is just my speculation, I am not sure what the law says about having two applications in at the same time.