Kash Smith

Kash is a supporting character in the novel The Stalker Case of Max Fanheart, and the main love interest of Greta. He is in charge of making the visuals machine for Kumar's Musicale Production.

Appearance
Kash is of average height, and has fair skin, sandy-blond hair, and light-blue eyes. He has a small amount of muscle, which is mainly hidden by his hoodie. His hairstyle is described as being similar to that of Leonardo DiCaprio from Shutter Island.

Personality
Kash has a shy, almost introverted personality. He is uncomfortable talking with people he doesn't know and avoids most (if not all) social situations. When in the presence of close friends, he opens up more, being more talkative and even displaying more of a sarcastic sense of humor.

It's shown that Kash is extremely self-conscious about himself, which is mainly shown with his crush on Greta. He worries that his social anxiety will annoy other people, which is the main reason why he never confesses his feelings to Greta.

Despite this, he has a dream to become an inventor and gets his chance to pursue this dream while making a visuals contraption for the Kumar's Musicale Production. The machine's success proves he is very skilled in mechanics, implying he spends most of his free time tinkering with machines.

Greta Watkins
Kash develops a crush on Greta sometime before the events of the novel (implied to have happened during the Into the Woods production in Performer's Life), having fallen for her friendly demeanor, bubbly attitude, and performing talent. In turn, he is unaware of Greta having a crush on him, becoming amazed by his skill in inventing. Both, however, are afraid to confess their feelings to the other, fearing rejection (Kash believing she will get annoyed with anxiety and Greta believing he will get annoyed with her 'girly-ness'). These crushes lead to minor teasing from their friends (Max, in Greta's case, and Nate, in Kash's case).

Once Kash gains the courage to confess his feelings to Greta (at the insistence of Sarah), Greta panics and runs away, which leads Kash to run away in shame, believing she thinks he's pathetic. The two later make up when Max fixes the misunderstanding.

Kash volunteers to help Nate with his investigation to rescue Max after she is kidnapped, not liking seeing Greta so upset. It's unknown if they pursue a relationship in the future.

Nathan Kemp
Out of most of the characters in Kumar's, Nate seems to have a somewhat close yet combative friendship with Kash. Knowing of his crush on Greta, Nate innocently teases Kash, often times stating that Kash does things in order to see Greta. However, if Kash ever tries to turn the tables and tease Nate about his crush on Max, he responds with annoyance and threatens to hurt Kash. Despite this, they seem to get along quite well, often talking when not doing anything.

Sarah Martins
Though they don't share many encounters during the novel, they are shown hanging out at the Halloween Carnival. Kash tells Sarah about his crush on Greta and she pressures him to confess to her. This implies that she is his confidant and that he may have a large amount of trust in her.

Christopher Fowler
Similar to Nate, the two have a casual friendship and are seen chatting at times.

Mental Condition
Kash suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder, a chronic mental health condition in which social interaction cause irrational anxiety. It's very common, with more than 200,000 US cases per year. Symptoms include:
 * Psychological: depression or fear
 * Also Common: anxiety, palpitations, social isolation, or sweating

Trivia

 * Actors of choice to play Kash: Nick Robinson or Ansel Elgort.
 * The name "Kash is taken from the name Cash, which is from an English occupational surname for a box maker, derived from Norman French casse meaning "case". The surname "Smith" means "metalworker, blacksmith" from Old English smiþ, related to smitan "to smite, to hit".
 * Kash is said to be named after Johnny Cash ; however, his parents misspelled the name on the birth certificate, but decided to keep it, thinking it'd be unique (meaning the author didn't know how Johnny Cash's name was spelled, but decided to keep it).
 * Referencing his name's origin, Kash shares his birthday with Johnny Cash (February 26).


 * Kash was originally going to start out being in love with Savannah before falling for Greta. It was later decided that her loud, angry personality may be too overwhelming for someone like Kash, so it was changed to him just being in love with Greta.
 * Kash dresses up as John Ryder (shown in infobox pic), the main antagonist from the horror film The Hitcher . This may imply that he likes horror films.
 * Kash has his hair cut to a style similar to that of Leo DiCaprio 's in Shutter Island.