Selena Gomez lets her pearly whites shine in this new shoot from Parade magazine.

The 16-year-old actress dished to the mag about friendship, being a role model and being romantically linked to Taylor Lautner. Check it:

On embracing the role model role: “I think that its part of the job where you turn into a role model. It’s not something I aimed toward. But now that it’s kind of a title, I do embrace it, because it’s very sweet to have little girls have posters and T-shirts of you. I’m only a teenager. I’m also going to make mistakes. But I’ll try to keep those mistakes to myself.”

On her friendship with BFF Demi Lovato: “[Princess Protection Program is] about fitting in and doing the right thing. But, more important, it’s about friendships. It’s good to have a girl-empowering movie that’s fun. On tour and on our shows, we are forced to be mature. So when we get together, we’re able to be 16. We have sleepovers and do each other’s hair and makeup and all that stuff.”

On the media linking her with Twilight hunk Taylor Lautner: “I love talking about boys. I used to worry about it, but I decided that it’s wrong not to go out to eat with friends or to the movies, because people might see me. It’s exhausting to shield yourself all the time. Still, it seems that boyfriends are all people care about when they write about me.”

On a few of her favorite things: “It irritates me when people think I live such a special life and that I’m spoiled. I’m an only child, but my grandmother babysat 13 kids at once, so I grew up with a bunch of kids around me. I had lunch at Subway today. My favorite food is fried pickles at Hooters. I hate it when people don’ bother to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ I’ve met the nicest people in L.A., but I’ve also met the meanest.”

On still being billed as the next Miley Cyrus: “I don’t get mad about that anymore. It kind of comes with the territory. I know there’s never ‘the next.’ You’re your own person. I’m not here to be ‘the next.’ I’m here just to be Selena. That’s it!”
Source 2