We'll always have Paris: They're friends, they're enemies, they're frenemies

Keep your friends close -- and your frenemies even closer.

What's that? You've never heard of "frenemies"? It's really quite simple: Friend + enemy = frenemy.

It's not necessarily a new concept -- businesses have long used the term to describe friendly competitors.

But lately, in the cat-eat-cat world of actresses, pop divas and celebutants, the term has taken on a decidedly darker meaning.

If you keep up with the tabloids, you already know that it's starting to feel a lot like junior high around here as young celebs use the mag/rags as an updated variation of the slambook:

Buddy up, break up, then make up -- maybe even get a leg up.

And, experts say, it's not just some superficial Tinseltown phenomenon. It has become a popular spectator sport. And a practice that many non-celebrity women are imitating.

Look up "frenemy" in a pop-culture reference book and you'd most likely find Paris Hilton's picture -- she's practically made a career out of using the media to manipulate her camera-ready "friendships."

Here's a quick primer, just in case you haven't been following along: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were best friends, but then they weren't, because, as Hilton told the tabs, Nicole knows what she did.

So then, Richie's hanging with Lindsay Lohan. But wait, The Lohan is BFF with Hilton -- except for the part where Hilton is caught, on camera, laughing, as C-list pal Brandon Davis makes an, um, unflattering reference to Lohan's hair color. Then, Lohan, in a fit of payback, returns the favor by dissing Hilton to the paparazzi -- an incident conveniently caught on video, of course.

But who cares, 'cause Hilton is hitting the town with Britney Spears. Oops, we did it again -- make that "was," because, the last we checked, they both, like, totally hated each other. Oh yeah, and Hilton and Richie? Friends. Again. Or, so they say.

Immature? Yes, but even so -- we like to watch.

Perhaps no one knows this better than Katrina Szish. As a contributing editor to US Weekly, Szish makes a living trying to keep up with the ins and outs of Hollywood's Mean Girls.

And their snarky little smackdowns?

"That's why US Weekly [and other such publications] exists," Szish says on the phone from her Manhattan office. "Now, more than ever, celebrities are in the spotlight for this reason."

Even non-tabs have noticed: Check out Newsweek, which chronicles the escapades of Hilton and Spears in its Feb. 12 cover story.

"This frenemy concept [is] part of what makes Hollywood Hollywood," Szish says.

And fortunately for those who make it their business to know, "there's always," Szish adds, "one diva who's more divalicious than the others."

Take Paris Hilton. Please.

The heiress who is most famous for being famous is the biggest "oh no, she didn't" tongue-wagging favorite, according to Szish.

"Whenever there's a problem, there's one girl that it all comes back to," Szish says. "It's like 'six degrees of Paris Hilton.' There's always a connection to her -- she's the ringleader."

Hilton's recent flash friendship with the newly single Spears epitomizes the very essence of frenemies, Szish says.

Furthermore, that brief Hilton-Spears accord, neatly squeezed in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, was a very media-savvy move, as the resulting split by the blond bombshells was reported by the likes of US Weekly and Page Six with the kind of gravitas normally reserved for divorce.

"Paris is a marketing genius," Szish says. "These (fake friendships) help her career."

Still, it's Szish's opinion that Hilton's media moves are most likely powered by immaturity and self-doubt.

"Paris has to be the most insecure girl in Hollywood," Szish says.