Mine did not really have cliques but there was definitely some bullying. I may have occasionally been involved in that. Nothing physical of course but words can be pretty fucking hurtful.
I had a relatively similar experience. Some people were definitely treated like shit, but there's was nearly none of what's classically considered bullying, especially of a physical nature. Im not pretending it was some utopia where everybody got alone, but the vast majority of people were far too busy worrying about their own shit.