Indeed, I find that many frum people are what we like to call Yentas. I think this is because we live in close proximity to each other and we have close knit communities, so everyone is interested in each others business. I think you will find the same is true in small towns all around middle America- it’s not exclusive to frum people.
Also, especially in the situation you described, high school aged kids always want to be in the know. Machers are looked up to, so most teenagers are always looking for an interesting scoop to tell their friends and classmates