Is it true that you don’t need to be friends with your classmates?

I am a high school student and I went trough something in my old school.I randomly talked to an adult and they told me that you don’t need to be friends with your classmates and I really understand it now .with my classmates now I am somewhere in the middle. I get well with everyone for now but I know for a fact that things won’t stay the same bc groups started forming and it’s kinda sad .for me it’s my first time experiencing this kind of feeling where I get along with everyone and I am included in all the small or big groups that is why I am saying I am somewhere in the middle but I am scared that later they will make me choose sides .sincerely I don’t want to happened what happened at my old school where there was so many small groups and gossip(God I hate it ),since I moved my mom doesn’t even care about my grades she is happy that I am starting to be an extrovert human again.but then again now there are classmates that don’t really support each other nor do I want to gossip so that is why I am saying that I finally see what that adult told me .for now I am just there I get along with everyone,I am scared things will go the wrong way if not this year probably next…