Loyalty gets tested when standing with your friend costs you some clout. Pay it.

Loyalty is free right up to the point where it costs you something socially. Standing next to somebody unpopular puts you on the wrong side of the room, and that is the only moment the word means anything, because everything before it was just agreement. Most people discover here that theirs came with conditions. The price is usually smaller than it looks beforehand.

When your turn arrives, stand where you actually think you should, without making a performance of it. Sit down next to them, or just say the plain fair thing out loud. The room moves on within a week and you still have to be you.