If there’s one star that’s on the rise, it’s definitely Nina Dobrev. The leading lady of The CW’s Vampire Diaries will be taking a bite out of the box office this October with the release of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Bulgarian-born beauty opened up to Seventeen Magazine and dished about her upcoming flick, the importance of “girl time,” and her red-hot romance with costar Ian Somerhalder.

Check out a few snippets from the interview below!

On her character’s abusive relationship in The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

“It is a really heavy topic, and I hope my character gives girls some perspective. I think more than anything, girls allow abuse to happen because they’re embarrassed it happened and that they allowed it to happen. They know its not right. Let’s say a girl gets into an argument with her boyfriend, and he hits her. In the heat of the moment, she’s shocked, but when she has time to cool down, she thinks, “Well, I egged him on. It’s kind of my fault.” She starts justifying why it happened and then making excuses for it. But there is no excuse for it. That’s why it’s so important to show girls that they can admit that its not their fault.”

On her relationship with Ian Somerhalder:

“The first time I was on the cover of Seventeen, the cover line said “Nina: Why she wouldn’t date any of her co-stars.” And then cut to two years later…its funny that I said that, but you know what? I was honestly what I believed at the time. I didn’t want to be dating one of my costars—my goal on the show was to be professional. But sometimes you can’t help who you have a connection with, and you can only fight it for so long—which I did for a really, really long time.”

On the importance of “girlfriend time”:

“Girls weekend with the Vampire Diaries girls has become a big deal! Its our quality time. Its so much fun to unload and not feel guilty complaining or talking about your insecurities or bonding over things that you thought were on your own about. When we get there, we go to dinner or cook dinner together, watch movies, lie on the beach and take tons of pictures. This year, we went to Disney World—I wanted to have funnel cake and pop, and just be immature with my girls. I think the most important thing about doing a girls’ weekend, or spending time with your friends whenever, is that even though you’re growing up, you should never stop having fun or getting excited about things!”

For more on Nina, check out www.seventeen.com/nina and be sure to pick up the October issue of Seventeen when it hits newsstands on Sept. 11!

Photos by Yu Tsai for Seventeen