Twisted sisterhood: ah, sisters. Ya gotta love 'em!

You love her unconditionally, but she can completely make your skin crawl. She warns your heart and drives you crazy at the same time. She's your sister, and the way, you feel about her is more complicated than it is simple. That's why GL rounded up some sisters to chat about the dynamics of their relationships with each other. It was interesting, to say the least, to sort through the complex details of the tangled-sister glue. Yep, that's right--you're stuck with her.

MIXED-UP EMOTIONS

Savannah and Peyton

"I like to hang out with her, but other times, I just want her to go away." That's Savannah, 12, talking about her sister Peyton, 10. Savannahs comment pretty much cuts straight to the true nature of the sister relationship: ambivalence.

It's well-established that almost all siblings have mixed feelings about each other. There's an innate love/hate factor because, whenever another kid comes into the family, the others automatically feel like they've been knocked down a few rungs on the parents' priority ladder.

"Any child resents the shift from center stage when a new sibling joins the family, but the threat of displacement has a special impact on girls," says Terri Apter, author of The Sister Knot. "When love and attachment are mixed with rivalry and envy, [girls] often report feelings of guilt and low self-worth."

Guilt for hating the "new addition" she knows she's supposed to adore. And low self-worth as in, "Hey, what's up with the little bundle who's stealing my thunder?" A pattern of competing with one another for your parents' attention is sparked ... and the cycle continues. So, you see, you were born to bump heads.

Still, it's like you're innately wired to have each other's backs. "Most of my friends are friends with Peyton, too, and I get really mad when they pick on her for stupid things, like the way she laughs," says Savannah.

The two also have a brother Ryan, 8, and while he is, of course, a major force in the girls' world, it's inevitable that sisters will more deeply relate to one another. "She's a girl and can understand me better," says Savannah. "I don't really share secrets with her because she's too immature, but sometimes when we talk, things come out and I give her advice."

We don't need to tell you that getting along with a sister isn't always sunshine and chat sessions, and our conversation with Savannah soon swings in a different direction. "Mom always sides with Peyton because she was a middle child, too," Savannah observes. "So sometimes I'll do something on purpose to get her in trouble. You know, to get back at her."

Peyton, too, seesaws from adoration to irritation when talking about her big sister. "I want to be smart like Savannah. She's really good at reading," Peyton boasts. "She can read a whole book in a day when she's grounded."

But? "She orders me around, like she can't do things for herself. She's really lazy, in my opinion, and bossy. I don't want to say anything bad about her, but she also has temper tantrums. I don't hate her--I just don't like the things she does to me. But I love her. Like, yesterday, I was at the grocery store with Mom so I picked out the ice cream Savannah likes.... She would never do that for me."

FRIENDLY FIRE

Rhea, Stacy and Ashley

"My sisters are also my best friends," says Stacy, 8. And while she says she feels just as close to some of her friends as she does her sisters, that emotional confusion sibs have for each other is apparent as she adds, "But I don't ever hate my friends like I hate my sisters."

Her sisters are Rhea, 15, and Ashley, 7. "Hate" is a strong word, we know, but we totally get it that Stacy is actually using it to loosely describe the intense anger that only a family member--not a friend--could bring out in an otherwise soft-spoken girl.

So what is it exactly that sets sisterhood apart from friendship? Well, lotsa things: Sisters share life experiences, they usually live under the same roof, they have to drop the politeness and be totally themselves, and they have a full-on forever-and-ever connection.

Sisters often have to share clothes, toys, a bathroom and, lots of times, even the same bedroom. This is enough to challenge any relationship, and Stacy's little sister Ashley confirms that the issue of sharing is at the root of many sisterly conflicts: "They don't let me play with their stuff, so I hit them and then they pinch me. But I'm no tattletale."

After growing up for many years with a batch of big brothers, Rhea, the teen of the three girls in this family, genuinely appreciates her little sisters: "When I was little, I only had brothers so I know what it's like not to have anybody. I always wished I had a sister. I'm happy now that I have two."

It's just that she didn't wish for them to be all up in her crawl 24/7. "I have to include them in everything," Rhea relays this common complaint of big sisters everywhere. "They want to be right there when I have friends over."

"Yeah, but friends might not always be friends," Stacy points out. "Sisters will always be sisters. But two is enough. I don't need any more."

WHO'S WHO?

Fori, May-May and Cat

A girl is bound to see bits of herself in a sister. Yet, Apter stresses the importance of carving separate identities: "A sister presents us with someone similar to us, but she also reveals our differences. She challenges us to find our own niche."

Comparisons are inevitable, particularly when sisters are close in age, like Tori, 14, and May-May, 12. "Other people compare us more than we do," swears Tori. "I do tap, and my sister takes ballet. My parents make a bigger deal out of the ballet. 'You're creative; your sister's graceful.' I can be graceful, too!"

The oldest, like it or not, assumes a role-model position, packing on the pressure: "If they do something wrong, my parents say they learned it from me."

Then there's the imitation-is-flattery aspect, and Toil knows her sisters aspire to be like her: "If I wear a lot of belts or tie my shirt back, they copy. May-May rolls her eyes if I have my hair a new way, but there she is a week later wearing hers like mine. It bothers me, but I know it s because she looks up to me.

If May-May dresses like her sister, maybe it's because she wears hand-me-downs. Or maybe not. "Tori has her own original style that doesn't look so great on me," says May-May, drawing attention to the fact that while she often mimics her sister, they have their own distinct vibes. "She'll say, 'This was my favorite shirt,' and I'm like, 'Uh, thank you,' and I stick it in a drawer."

Tori and May-May spent nearly a decade as a duo ... and then came Cat, now 4. Jealous much? "I don't get jealous, but I do get annoyed. She's little so she gets away with stuff, but then she's a big girl," May-May explains. "It helped that everyone thought I'd be jealous because I wanted to prove them wrong."

May-May has ways to deal with the emotions that come with losing her spot to a tot: "If you get involved, it's not too hard. I like helping out with her. Plus, she's a good excuse for playing Barbies or dress-up or having a princess ball."

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Julie, Melyssa and Rachel

Yeah, the whole concept of stepsisters is sometimes painted in a hideously ugly light. But, truth be told, many girls love, love, love their stepsisters. Take Melyssa, 17. She cares a great deal for her stepsis Julie, who's 23. Julie's dad is married to Melyssa's mom, so he's Melyssa's stepfather. Not too confusing, is it?

Thing is, while Melyssa and Julie sort of share one parent, they haven't shared much else--other than a few weeks here and there whenever Julie had visits with her father. And that always left Melyssa wishing for more. "I definitely always wished I had a sister," she says.

Careful what you wish for, right? Because Melyssa's mom gave birth to Rachel, now 4, gracing Melyssa with a half-sister (they have the same mother but different fathers). That's when a twinge of uneasiness took hold. "When she was first born, I was kind of grumpy," says Melyssa. "I took it out in my moods. And, now, it gets on my nerves when she goes through my room and my stuff. But I'm so glad I have her."

And that's what drives home this point: Even if sisters aren't full-blooded, it never means they're not wholehearted.

DOUBLE TROUBLE!!

"Many twins admit they get a lot more attention than their friends and that they can control that by playing up the twin thing," says Vikki Stark, author of My Sister, My Self. Of course, like the twin daughters of President Bush, some are fraternal and do not look alike. But the author notes that even twins who are identical in looks can have opposite personalities. What's most interesting is what is called "the lack of a stimulus barrier," which allows twins to absorb emotions from each other's moods. Vikki spoke with Megan, 15, who says of her twin sister Aviva, "I want her to be happy 'cause when she's not, it ruins it for me, too. It happens a lot that we come home from school and maybe I had a detention. She gets sad and I feel bad I made her sad, and she feels bad because I feel bad."