> Apparently they tried this some time ago...

it sounds to me like OP wasn't a participant in this group (and is only after finding out about what happened), though I could be misinterpreting it

Even adults have a hard time stopping that kind of thing. Especially when it's non violent.

Also it wasn't like he was just bullied and shunned, he hung out with those guys too. I even did a road trip with that group. So it was a complicated thing that probably also evolved after school ended.

I don't think I ever thought about quantity of friends as a thing. It's not like it's binary whether someone is your friend.