“I wasn’t in my mirror like Zoolander, doing the Blue Steel!” she says. “The red contacts were enough. I read all four Twilight books in one week. It’s such a phenomenon, and I wanted to be able to say that I was a part of it.”

When asked about Kristen Stewart, Dakota said,”We became really close, like we’d known each other for our whole lives. We talk all the time. I’ve never been such an evil character, and because I do know Kristen so well, being mean to her was really weird. It’s like, Sorry, dude! The relationship that Joan and Cherie have in the script is kind of the one that Kristen and I have in real life…minus the destructive part.”

In an e-mail from the Eclipse set, Kristen talks about her costar, writing, “Dakota is one of the most consistently moving actors I have ever worked with. I’m always better with her.”

Speaking about her career, Dakota says, “I’m going to get older, And I want to act for the rest of my life—it’s what I love—so I have to move forward with my career. The choices that I make might not always please everyone, but I have to do what I feel is appropriate and right for the time.”

“I get my rebellion out through my movies. I’m boring in that way. I enjoy having a normal life. I really wanted a home base, because I feel like no matter how old people are, they remember homecoming. They remember their senior prom. And I really wanted that.”

Dakota doesn’t date much. “One boy from my school,” she says. “I have a small class, so the pool is very limited. Everyone kind of knows everyone.” Dakota’s studying psychology and cement sculpture while she weighs movie offers. She is also a (rumored JV) cheerleader. Bring that up, and her response is, ”I’m varsity now, thank you,”

-For the complete story pick up the December/January 2010 issue of Teen Vogue, on newsstands November 17!