Eating Contest / Rhonda's Glasses - S2-E13
Continuity mistake: In the last scene, Rhonda is seen through the bus's rear window as sitting in the back of the bus - but just before that, she's talking to the girl with the frizzy hair in a seat closer to the front.
Answer: The episode doesn't really elaborate on who the kid was and what his motives were, so its pure speculation as to why he took it. Perhaps the kid could simply want a ball all for himself and decided to just take it, or was simply a rotten kid. The truth is the kid's motives are not important to the story other than it highlights Arnold was having a lot of trouble getting through the list.
Lummie ★