Why do I have to pay my "friends"?

After my old "friends" ran away from me and made it clear they didn't want anything to do with me, another group asked me to hang around with them. A week later they said that unless I wanted to walk around on my own at lunchtimes while everyone else was on the field, I'd need to pay them 5 pounds a week to be their friend and get permission to hang around with them. Scared of being alone, I paid them and now I feel so hurt that nobody wants to be my friend. But being on my own would make me feel so humiliated. What do I do?